A Very Hungry Caterpillar

I visited Fishers Green nature reserve this afternoon and was rained upon but got lots of nice shots.

While I was in the hide a squirrel came to the bird feeders. I noticed its swollen teats, which made me feel a little differently about them. I shot a reed bunting too. Got a lovely downy cygnet from the bridge and found an absolutely gorgeous, bright yellow, chicken of the woods fungus. A black-backed gull posed nicely on a post and then I spotted my Great Crested grebe family. A bit sad, the parents were chasing their zebra-headed chick away as they had sex on their minds. She kept posing on their new, rather exposed, nest and eventually I captured him mounting her. In the meantime their chick was trying to tag along with a family of Canada geese. :(

I walked to Hooks Marsh and got a nice shot of some fishermen with an out of focus poppy in the foreground and a heartily singing sedge warbler.

When I got back to the car I noticed that a couple of trees on the edge of the carpark were festooned with webs and denuded of foliage. I have decided to post this pic of a bird cherry ermine moth caterpillar dangling on its thread of silk because it is topical. It has been reported recently that a whole street in Hampton, London has been affected.