Wolves Wild

The small pond at Bantock Park, with the marsh marigolds on its margin fully opened. In the background, Bantock House.

I’ve seen very few butterflies so far this spring. The cold and wet weathr won’t have helped, but it may be masking more serious problems.

This is the only one to date where I had a camera handy when it was around. A comma butterfly, very cooperative by resting on a birch tree, spreading its wings to warm up in the sun.

It had already been out for some time: there’s damage at the back of its right wing.

Getting from Bridgnorth’s Low Town to High Town by way of the Cartway is a stiff walk. But the Cliff Railway is currently closed while a cliff wall is being repaired. The various sets of steps are even more strenuous, so the Cartway it was.

As the top came into sight, an excuse for a brief pause. One of the houses, with a clematis trained to form an arch over the front door, at the peak of its flowering season.

It’s only occasionally I notice moorhens up in trees. This is the second one I’ve spotted up a tree in West Park, in many years of visits. The previous one was five years ago, at the same time of year. It was also on pretty much the same branch of the same tree.

White petals against a blue spring sky. These flowers were on a pear tree overhanging the pavement on Tettenhall Road.

A cob making a short hop move in a hurry. It never actually took off completely. Instead, it went from sitting in the water towards the middle of West Park lake, to sitting in the water nearer the shore, some twenty or thirty yards away. Half way through take-off it switched to decelerating for landing.

There was no obvious reason for the move, or for why it couldn’t just have swum across. It wasn’t doing anything in particular beforehand, and it wasn’t doing anything in particular once it landed. No swans around at either end, and no geese, ducks or coots in its immediate vicinity. No people who it might hope were going to feed the birds, either.