Wolves Wild

Lone mallard duckling on the downstream tip of the Bylet in the Severn at Bridgnorth, and on the water.

When I first noticed it, the duckling was setting off to walk the two feet or so to the edge of the water while the mother seemed to be sleeping. It took a little drink of water, then stepped in to swim briefly. It returned to the mother, then went straight back to the water. This time both began swimming, with the adult still staying close to the shore, watching the young one which was now swimming well into the channel.

Dutchman’s breeches, garden shrub with distinctively shaped flowers. These were on another of the plants in the Bancroft Gardens, Stratford on Avon.

On a recent visit to West Park, the water in the lake seemed to be boiling all along the shorelines, by the footpaths and the islands.

A closer look showed that it was the carp, thrashing about in the shallow water as they mated.

During a stroll by the canal earlier this month I saw several small blue butterflies.

When flying, they showed their bright blue upper wing. An indication they were common blues, not small blues.

But because they are small, wary and unpredictable in their flight, I failed to get any pictures of them in the air.

A couple of them came to rest on the ground not far from me, wings folded so the undersides were on display.

Flowers on bushes of an ornamental variety of broom growing by the lake in West Park.

More of the West Park Canada geese with a pair of goslings, this time ashore. The young ones were eating in a patch of short grass, the adults on guard and alert.