When coot chicks hatch there is a red patch in the down above their beaks, presumably a trigger for their parents to feed them.
As the young get bigger and more independent, this red patch is replaced by down the same colour as covering the rest of the bird – the stage this year’s first broods have now reached. These pictures from West Park
Cucumber green spiders – tiny, bright green and quite common, thoug I had never noticed them before life under the pandemic meant more time carefully looking at the plants in the garden.
Females about a quarter inch long; males (second and sixth pictures in set) about half that size.
Two squirrels seen on a recent visit to Bantock Park.
One had found a bit of ice cream wrapper, and was licking it with evident enjoyment.
The other was very protective of the peanut it had been given.
Goslings with parent Canada geese cropping short grass, lit by early morning sun. One of the young ones is very much smaller than the others.
Another brief visit to West Park by a heron – once again there one day
Bratch Locks – originally opened 1772 as a three lock staircase, later converted to three separate locks, with only yards separating their gates. Notoriously tricky to navigate. Above thr flight is a small octagonal toll house, which is half-hiding the lock-keeper’s cottage beyond. The cottage is one of the few on the canal network still occupied by a lock-keeper.
Bratch Pumping Station, across the road from the locks. Built 1895 in finest Ruskin-inspired pseudo-Venetian gothic. Built to supply Bilston with a water supply independent of Wolverhampton (the two were separate municipalities as recently as 1962).
Still used for water extraction from the sandstone underground, feeding the Goldthorne Hill reservoir. The original steam engines long decommisioned but still in situ. In normal years there are open days where one of the engines is steamed up.