Wolves Wild

The cormorant which is sometimes visiting West Park lake, busy fishing.

It perches on a fallen bough, carefully watching the water for a fish it thinks it can catch. At the same time, it keeps a wary eye out to check that I am not a threat. But the focus is on scanning the water for a potential victim.

Prey spotted, and it’s off, under the water before I can catch it moving. Up it bobs again, a large fish grasped in its beak.

The neck twists, thrashing the fish, which is dropped in the water once or twice. Finally, the bird gets hold in what is possibly just the way it wants, and the fish is swallowed whole. It disappeared down a neck which looked narrow than it was.

Now the cormorant swam up and down a short stretch of water by the bough which had formed its perch.

To be continued …

Flower buds beginning to open on another garden camelia. This time it’s a bush with pink flowers.

Ring-necked parakeets have been established in Wolverhampton for some years now, nesting in the Tettenhall ridge / Smestow valley area. Nearer the city centre I’ve heard them quite often in West Park, glimpsed them there very occasionally, and sometimes seen them flying over the streets nearby.

A few years ago, a pair investigated a hole in the trunk of one of the trees on the island in West Park lake, and seemed to have decided to nest there. A few days later, a gale blew down the tree. Parakeet presence in the park reverted to often heard, rarely seen.

Early in February, a parakeet was once again investigating a hole in a tree; a tree which happened to have been a near neighbour of the fallen one. Since then, almost every time I’ve been to the park, there’s been one or more parakeets visible. Sometimes it’s just been brief glimpses of them flying off because they spotted me first. Usually, as here, they have been high in a tree and more than half-hidden by the lower branches.

A small puddle in the middle, and other drops of water left on the petals of this garden primrose.

One of a long-time resident pair of mistle thrushes in West Park, finding things to eat. The pair can often be seen prospecting the lawns near the bandstand. This one’s mate was within sight when I took these pictures, but too far away to be worth photographing.

Flowers on one of the maples in Compton Park. It was quite breezy when I took these pictures, so I had to use quite a fast shutter speed to freeze any movement. The wide lens aperture meant that even flowers a little further along the twig aren’t in sharp focus.