Category: David

May (hawthorn) just beginning to flower at the start of the month, at what was also the beginning of thd first spell of really warm weather this year – and a time of accelerated development for many plants.

The heron featured in the previous post, a couple of minutes later.

When I had got far enough round the lake to spot the bird again, it was on a branch near the water. It seemed to be alternating between scanning the water, and eating something it found on nearby branches.

It took off, flew briefly and landed on a higher branch. There it grabbed a twig in its beak, and took off again. This time it flew an even shorter distance to land by another heron, which it interacted with, starting off by presenting the twig it was carrying.

My local bird expert suggests they may have been indulging in a courtship routine. This starts with the male presenting nesting material to the female.

The presumed male’s nuptial plumes can be seen in the last two pictures in the set.

Heron standing in a weeping willow by the boating lake in West Park. Just after these pictures werd taken, the bird flew off, heading round the island, seemingly chased by a carrion cros.

Banded demoiselles, beautiful damselflies (beautiful demoiselles look similar). These had territories along the canal in the Wightwick and Castlecroft areas in July 2014.

They were all along that stretch of water then. But last year I made several visits to the same area, and didn’t spot any.

In the spring of 2015 an otter (or even a pair) regularly showed themselves in the Severn at Bridgnorth and nearby in broad daylight.

I only managed to see it once. Some of the pictures I took then were posted at the time (here, here and here). But I fired off a lot of shots in the short time I was watching the otter. So the shots in this set were left out last time.

Fluffy young coot swimming in the Birmingham Canal by Fowlers Park, back in July 2014.

I must have been taking lots of shots of young birds around then, not to have posted these pictures at the time.

One photo shows this chick in the background, and the members of a neighbouring coot family – adults and somewhat more mature chicks – close to the water’s edge.