Category: David

Comma butterfly speading its wings on ground in Compton Rough, warming itself in the spring sunshine.

Great white egret on the far shore of Tillington Pool in the Doxey Marshes Nature Reserve, Stafford. Then something disturbed it, so it took off, heading for a quiter spot.

Cluster of velvet shank in the Pendeford Mill LNR – probably growing on rotting wood underground.

Nest in the bole of one of the trees by the pedestrian crossing of the ring road at the Chapel Ash roundabout. Two mistle thrush chicks (which should have had time to fledge by the time this is posted). Although they were just below eye level for the people passing, no-one seemed to notice them.

I fired these shots off very quickly to avoid disturbing the chicks or the parent bird which was tending them. It looked like one of the chicks was trampling the other as it searched for a comfortable position to lie down.

Honeybees from one of the hives at Pendeform Mill LNR getting ready for their first flight of the morning. Among them is one bee which has already made one foray, and returned with its pollen baskets full.

Ravens often nest on inaccessible ledges on cliffs, but such sites are conspicuous by their absence in the west midlands. The alternative is high in a tall tree, as here on the Pendeford Mill LNR, right in the midst of the heronry. One of the adult ravens is half-visible over the rim of the nest. The other was flying in and out of the nest, presumably gathering food.