Wolves Wild

Feeding enthusiastically to get into peak condition before the breeding season, two male house sparrows spend time eating the fat balls in a bird feeder.

Cleavers, stickweed, sticky willy: most of the names for this hedgerow weed point to its persistent clinginess. Mostly, plants which stick to clothing do so with hook-like attachments to the seeds. It’s a method for having the seeds cling to fur or feather and get dispersed from the parent plant.

Not this weed. It seems like very part of the overground section of the plant has a magnetic attraction to fabric. At the moment, the plant is just a few inches long. It will grow, possibly, to stretch some to three or four feet, with the leaves also elongating.

One of the shovellers on West Park lake, a drake, taking a pause from swimming round in small circles to eat. It was dozing in the lee of the island, an eye still half open looking out for trouble.

Heather buds just before the flower buds began to open. When they did, the plants were a mixture of white and green heathers.

More signs of spring on Tettenhall upper green. These snowdrops had been planted by the side of the road leading up from the traffic lights at the top of the Rock towards the Tettenhall shops. This road runs through a short cutting, so the neighbouring section of the green forms a bank. So the snowdrops were conveniently on ground which varied between my waist and shoulder height as I stood on the pavement. No need, therefore, to get into any kind of awkward position to picture the flowers on their own level.

Tufted duck on West Park lake watching me warily. In winter, the handful of these birds which can be spotted on the lake at any time of year increases to a gathering which usually numbers some twenty to thirty or so. The drakes almost always outnumber the females present.

Another tuftie drake on the same day. This one was heading away from me, with the breeze catching the tuft – the feathers sticking out from the back of the head.