David

A lone ladybird, probably a 7-spot, crawling over one of the flower buds of a thistle, shortly before the bud opened. It looks like even the prickles have prickles.

Flowers on a cistus (rock rose) when they were not yet quite ready to open. The petals of the opened flowers are white.

The not really wild garlic growing in a front garden on Tettenhall Road. Its flowers had now all opened. Some, indeed, had already been fertilized. Having done their job, they had gone over, leaving the developing seed to begin to ripen.

When coot chicks first hatch, some of the down on their heads is bright red and spiky. These were very young, and from a nest only a couple of yards from the shore of the West Park lake. So they were swimming very near to the footpath.

A slim and elegant hoverfly taking a moment to rest in the sun. It was possibly a ladder-backed hover fly.

This time, when we spotted the West Park Canada goose goslings they were on the opposite shore of the lake. They were right by the bank, and the lakeside footpath, busy feeding.

We were headed that way. As we got nearer, we started discussing whether we could make a diversion to avoid disturbing them. But then a couple came along the path in the other direction.

The adult birds got the goslings into the water for safety, and led them swimming, still close to the shore, right by us.

As soon as we left the area, they were all back on dry land again, with the goslings back to eating steadily.