Wolves Wild

Tortoiseshell, the first butterfly I noticed this season, resting by the path along the canal at Castlecroft.

Flowers on one of the yew trees in West Park. Not sure whether these are male or female flowers (the trees only hold one kind or the other).

Blackbird near the river at Bridgnorth. The ground was soft, and the bird was busy catching worms.

A patch of lesser celandines growing on the edge of the Smestow at Compton.

Pussy willow catkins covering a tree. Caught at the stage were almost all had developed the grey “fur”, but when only a few had started to cover this with they yellow pollen which it is the catkins’ job to disperse into the wind.

There’s a large gathering of geese on the Severn at Bridgnorth. Most are white-feathered, feral barnyard birds. Some are greylags, and others crosses between these two types.

On the day of my last visit, most of the geese were walking round on the Bylet and its mudbank and shale extensions. Just one goose, a cross, was a little further downstream, by the bank across the river, busy diving and splashing as it groomed itself.