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David

Bylet ducklings

Bylet ducklings

By the downstream end of the Bylet at Bridgnorth, a mallard with nine ducklings which looked like they may have hatched earlier that morning. The ducklings were enthusiastically exploring, with a couple of them swimming some distance from the protective gaze of the mother.

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David

Early spring flowers: canalside cowslip

Early spring flowers: canalside cowslip

A single cowslip growing by the edge of the water of the canal near Compton.

Early spring flowers: canalside cowslip
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David

Bylet goslings

Bylet goslings

Goslings in the sidestream of the Severn along the Bylet at Bridgnorth. There’s two broods here: one of four goslings, the other of two.

The fluffy goslings are likely to have hatched that day, or the day before.

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David

Early spring flowers: horsetails

Early spring flowers: horsetails

Looking like a miniature conifer wood, a cluster of horsetails, non-flowering plants triving as weeds.

Early spring flowers: horsetails
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David

Early spring flowers: hellebores, seeds ripening

Early spring flowers: hellebores, seeds ripening

Their brief flowering season already over, these hellebores had seeds which were already ripening. These were in the Dutch Garden at Bantock Park.

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David

West Park tufties: the summer crew

West Park tufties: the summer crew

What remained in mid-April of a larger tufted duck flock which had overwintered on West Park lake.  Over the winter, numbers of males and females had been approximately equal. Here the drakes heavily outnumbered the ducks.