Wolves Wild

There’s lots of wisterias in and around Stratford on Avon: these pictures were taken in late April, at the peak of the flowering season.

They only cover a small sample of the ones we saw on a brief visit. Sites represented include the garden of New Place and a house in Old Town.
But the most impressive was from the first property in Shottery to come into sight when taking the footpath from Stratford. The house’s garden wall is perhaps ten feet tall and fifty yards long on the two visible sides. This entire wall was covered with innumerable wisteria flowers, Very impressive!

A magpie probes in the grass by the Seveern at Bridgnorth, seemilngly undisturbed that I was sitting on a bench nearby.

“Black” tulips (actually a deep purple) in the garden of New Place, Stratford on Avon.

A wagtail stalks through the long grass under the apple and pear trees of the orchard behind Anne Hathaway’s cottage near Stratford on Avon.

A greater celandine flowering beside the canal footpath near Wightwick Mill lock.

Coots are usually the first waterfowl to hatch chicks each year in West Park, and have the highest number of breeding pairs.
These were from a nest which must be particularly well placed, where the first chicks appear. It’s also right by the turtle’s favoured subathing perch