Consall in May

 Spring has sprung and summer is on its way.  There are masses of bluebells in the woods above Consall Forge Country Park in Staffordshire.  Pictures cannot do them justice and they need to be seen with the naked eye as the changing sunlight and selective vision produces a magnificent changing pallet of blue on green.

 Chaffinches were collecting bedding for their bests.  I suspect that in view of the mild winter and the fact that we have fledgling sparrows in our garden at present, the chaffinches are probably already preparing for a second brood.

 Hover flies are starting to appear in some numbers as are the various chirominid midges and other insects of early summer.

 By the canal side, the trains were running on the Churnet Valley Railway - steam and diesel.

I was quite pleased to take this picture of a diesel engine pulling carriages, reflected in the canal by the side of the towpath, as it trundled down the valley floor at a steady pace.  A canal narrow-boat in the picture would have been just as satisfying.