Wolves Wild

A small insect searching for the last grains of pollen on star magnolia flower. Is it a tiny fly or some sort of beetle?

Birdsong in a Wolverhampton garden early on the morning of 11th April 2024. Technically, it was a few minutes before dawn, but the day was heavily overcast, so it was already as bright as it was going to get.

A first attempt at recording ambient birdsong using the excellent Merlin app, and using the app to ID the birds singing.

It picked out one or more sparrows, blackbirds, wood pigeons and blue tits. I think there’s also a magpie or carrion crow in there as well.

During a brief period when the rain clouds gave way to sunshine, a house fly warming itself while resting on a dustbin lid.

The flowers on a star magnolia were already showing signs of the punishment they had been taking from the weather when I grabbed this picture earlier in the month.

Two ladybirds, different species, were resting on the same thistle plant. The harlequin ladybird, colour scheme yellowish with black spots. It’s an intrusive species, originating in Asia. First recorded in Britain twenty years ago, they are now very common.

The other is a 7-spot ladybird, which is also common, with a reputation as a gardener’s ally in the constant effort to control pests.

In a favoured spot which catches the sun for most of the day (when it’s not cloudy) hawthorn flowers were forming and the buds beginning to open by the first week of April.