Wolves Wild

Happy Valley, Great Malvern. The tree-shaded road leading up the Malvern Hills from the town has a small stream or ditch running down the side. A goldcrest made a very brief dive into the stream, bathing itself.

My camera had been left on settings which were right for the bright sunlight beyond the shade of the trees. The bird’s dip was so brief I didn’t have time to alter the settings. Result, these two snatched shots. Impressionist pictures, with the ghost of the goldcrest in the ghost of the stream.

Kestrel over the Malvern Hills, hovering over Worcestershire Beacon. Every minute or so it would swoop, probably after one of the many meadow pipits which were around. Whatever its intended prey, it never seemed to be catching anything.

Hiding in the short grass at the head of Green Valley, a small heath butterfly waiting for the morning to warm up a little more.

Yellow wagtail moving along th brickwork of a drain, a minor inlet to the canal at Newbridge, looking for insects.

It looked quite small, but perhaps not quite so small as the usual greenfly or blackfly. It’s some type of giant aphid, resting on a hazel leaf.

A hot, hot day at the start of this month. Two broods of ducklings which had been about the ifrst to hatch this year along the canal, now getting their adult feathers. The two groups were together – and all alive. To keep cool, they were playing. Doing all the thinks kids aren’t supposed to do at the swimming baths. Charging at each other. Power-diving, submerging only for a second. Shaking like a wet dog to dry off.