Some late-summer shots

A common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) on its bed of dry grass tries to extract some extra warmth from a cloudy morning at the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Fingringhoe Wick nature reserve……

…… and nearby a speckled wood (Parage aegeria) does likewise.

Ivy is an understated, but prolific, not to mention important source of late-summer nectar for numerous kinds of insect. Aside from the abundance of wasps, bees and hoverflies, a stretch of ivy-smothered wall near Colchester, just a few metres long, was adorned with a dozen stunning red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

An elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) caterpillar wriggling hurriedly across a path in West Wood, Thundersley. It seemed undetered from its progress, even when handled, perhaps urged on by the its imminent pupation, which takes place on, or in the ground.