David

Leaves and flowers slowly opening on one of the West Park whitebeam trees. The first picture was taken almost two weeks before the other two.

Mistle thrush gathering worms on one of the grassy areas of West Park. There’s been a pair (perhaps the same pair) with a territory near the bandstand for some years. This one will have been gathering a snack for nest-bound chicks.

Flowering on the bank of a canal near you (probably). This common sedge was between Compton and the Meccano Bridge.

A squirrel on the grassy area by the upper pool at Perton, busy eating. Every so often it would finish off whatever it had in its front paws, dig at the ground, and grab another handful.

It’s not too late to rush out now. These pictures were taken about a month ago, when bluebells were just about opening. But they’re still worth seeing if you head for your nearest wood.

The next coot nesting site along, the same morning as yesterday’s post. Another coot stuck on the nest brooding. It also had an appropriately-sized piece of paper already resting on the nest.

Shortly after the previous bird started moving its paper to form a cover, this one began the same routine. Perhaps the paper was more awkward to control, or maybe the bird was less confident in what it was doing. Perhaps it was less of an issue: the tree above the nest gave more cover. Whatever the reason, this coot seemed to end up with less complete cover, and to have taken more effort in the process.