Just to confuse matters this site has two names. For the purposes of Wetland Bird Survey Counts it is known as North Troy Gravel Pit but it's official name is Helicon Lake. Located just north of Troy Mill Lake the site is dissected by a narrow causeway and a small branch of the Grand Union Canal known as the Troy Cutting.
It is here that barges were once loaded with gravel during the industrial era and horse drawn along the Grand Union Canal. Today it is much quieter and the cutting is narrow, it's banks fringed with aquatic vegetation. There is no public access to the lake as it is managed by a local angling society but views are obtained from the causeway.
A Eurasian Coot poses for me at the Troy Cutting while many insects busily fed on and amongst the aquatic vegetation.
Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle feeding on Hogweed flower.
A male Emperor Dragonfly rests briefly on Reedmace.
I located this Harlequin Ladybird which is an invasive species that was first discovered in Britain in 2004. Since then it has rapidly spread and is now present throughout much of the British Isles.
A Comma Butterfly showing off the white marking on its under-wing from which it gets it's name.
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