David

Lambs – at least two different species are represented – on Mary Arden’s Farm. A few sheep have sneaked in as well.

Lesser tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillars spotted by the railway station at Wilmcote. One on the leaf of a hazel growing by the ramp leading to the station. The other was crawling along one of the benches on the opposite platform.

Pictured just after Easter, a profusion of tulips in the gardens of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust properties in Stratford on Avon: the birthplace itself, as well as New Place and Hall’s Croft.

Each of these gardens was planted with a different mix of tulips and other flowers, with varying carefully chosen combinations of colours and of flower types.

First swallow I spotted this spring, by the house at the end of the bridle path by the canal at Castlecroft. One day a bird resting on the horse weathervane. The next day, what might have been the same bird was on the TV aerial.

Red body on a green leaf: cardinal beetles don’t go in for camouflage by protective colouration.

Stills of the same pair of swans and their dance performance on the River Avon at Stratford which featured in yesterday’s video. I was photographing the swans for about four minutes, but they were already well in to their act before I arrived, and look set to carry on well after I left.