A handsome landscaped lake, forested banks, open water, marginal vegetation … and a mass of algae indicating eutrophication (and a heatwave)

Reed Mace and Water Mint beside the lake

Branched Bur-Reed beside the lake

Small Red-eyed Damselfly; many Black-Tailed Skimmers raced above the water and around the marginal vegetation, with a few Emperor Dragonflies and some blue damselflies (Common Blue or Azure).

Cattle grazing on the dry grass of the pleasantly English parkland landscape, in a prolonged heatwave

Weld (Reseda luteola), a tall handsome forb even when past flowering.

Female Common Blue butterfly on Creeping Thistle

Meadow Brown, once so common I wouldn’t have thought to photograph it: now declining across Britain, but happily still thriving here at Osterley. Also around the meadow flowers were plenty of Gatekeepers.

Small Copper