This month's images - May 2020
	A female Banded Demoiselle in the Ouzel Valley, 27 May 2020.
	A Figwort Sawfly in the Ouzel Valley, 27 May 2020.
	A Cinnabar Moth at Sandhouse Lane Nature Reserve, 25 May 2020.
	A young Starling taking a drink in our garden, Alwins Field, 25 May 2020.
	A young Rook in our garden, Alwins Field, 25 May 2020.
	A small caterpillar (larva) of the Orange-tip Butterfly. It was in All Saints churchyard, Leighton Buzzard on 23 May 2020.
	As you might guess from the antennae, this beetle is called a "Longhorn Beetle", specifically the Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens). It was in Linslade Woods on  22 May 2020.
	The swollen hind femora on this beetle give it the name "Swollen-thighed Beetle" or "Thick-legged Flower Beetle", even though it's only the males that have the big thighs. Linslade Woods, 22 May 2020. Its scientific name is Oedemera nobilis.
	This female Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly has been visiting our garden pond for the last couple of days and today was laying her eggs in the water. Alwins Field, 21 May 2020.
	Male Broad-bodied Chasers start off with yellow-brown colours similar to the female but develop blue on the abdomen as they mature. This one, seen in our Alwins Field garden on 21 May 2020, has a little way to go.
	This Carrion Crow had just taken water from a trough on the Alwins Field allotments. It seemed to swallow the water, then flew up on to a shed roof and regurgitated a globule into its beak, as shown here. Then it flew off to its nest. Alwins Field, 18 May 2020. (Its eye looks strange as the nictitating membrane is pulled halfway across the eye in this photo.)
	There are two very similar night-flying moths, the Grey Dagger and the Dark Dagger. This is one of them. Alwins Field, 18 May 2020.
	Female Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis) in our garden, Alwins Field, 17 May 2020.
	Mallard ducklings on the canal towpath near the Globe Inn, Linslade, 15 May 2020.
	Male Reed Bunting singing out to defend his territory in the Ouzel Valley, 15 May 2020.
	Egg of Orange-tip butterfly on Jack-by-the-hedge at Leighton Buzzard railway station, 8 May 2020.
	Female Orange-tip butterfly egg-laying on Jack-by-the-hedge in Mentmore Road, 6 May 2020. Female Orange-tips do not have an orange tip to their forewings.
	Germander Speedwell, Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.
	Downy Emerald dragonfly, Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.
	A male Orange-tip butterfly on Lady's Smock at Tiddenfoot WP,  4 May 2020.
	One of several mining bees digging nest holes in a beach at Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.
	A Common Whitethroat singing from his favourite perch in the Peace Meadow at Tiddenfoot WP, 4 May 2020.
	A Cream-spot Ladybird in our garden, Alwins Field, 2 May 2020.
	A micro-moth called the Sulphur Tuft Moth (Esperia sulphurella), Alwins Field, 2 May 2020.
	A male Balloon Fly (Hilara maura), Alwins Field, 1 May 2020. Only the males of this species have the "balloons" on the front legs, from which they spin silk to give to the female of their choice as a nuptial gift. This fly is small (about 7mm) but a predator.
	Jackdaw with a bulging gular pouch (loads of food in its throat) in our garden, Alwins Field, 1 May 2020.
	Rook tucking in at the bird table in our garden, Alwins Field, 1 May 2020.

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