Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
Bilberry and heather grow amongst the gritstone blocks of this old wall on Hingcliff Common near a little stream called Ratten Gutter at Langsett. We’ve yet to get out there this year so this drawing for my next Dalesman article is from a photograph taken on 5 June last year.
Consisting mainly of sharp, glassy crystals of quartzite, gritstone weathers to produce nutrient-poor, acid soils.
A greenbottle settled on my sketchbook as I drew the first of the kingcups at the edge of the pond. Its blue-green metallic armour wouldn’t be out of place on a CGI robot but the it makes a living in the down-to-earth business of recycling: its maggot stage feeds on carrion.
The adult will also feast on carrion but is also attracted to flowers . . . and dung.
My macro photograph of a kingcup flower shows a cluster of stamens. The carpel, the female part of the plant, is almost hidden amongst them at the centre. The female carpels standing in the centre appear to be slightly notched on top, rather than rounded like the stamens and they’re very slightly greener.
