David

From a, presumably planted, patch in front of the tax office on Tettenhall Road.

The butterfly was getting itself warm for the day spreading its wings on the ground close to Compton lock.

The flower and leaves at the end of a horse chestnut twig almost completely opened up (above), and, on a different tree, just beginning to open (below).

The blackthorn bushes at the edge of Barley Field in the Smestow Valley LNR were at very different stages when this picture was taken at the end of March. The bushes at the top of the ridge, like this one, had their flowers completely out. Those lower down the slope were barely even budding.

Large patches of last year’s growth of rosebay willowherb could still be found on rough ground locally late in March.

Successive stages in the unfolding of hawthorn leaves from the bud. The pictures are of different twigs in the same hedge, and were taken within a few seconds of one another.