Cormorants dive for fish, but they don’t have water-repellent feathers unlike some diving birds. After a plunge, they need to hold out their wings to let them dry.
The young cormorant was standing still, wings stretched for a while. The Canada goose behind it was having a short sharp shake. Despite appearances, one bird was not copying the stance of the other.
Towards the end of the patch of late August rainstorms, visitors to West Park lake possibly taking refuge from the weather. When we saw them there were two herons, though only one features in this series of pictures. The five (possibly six) cormorants may have been a family group: there were two adults and the rest were juveniles.
The Severn at Bewdley around sunset, looking upstream. As it goes past the town, the river is running more or less north north west to south south east. On the right (west) bank the land rises fairly steeply, so the sun is hidden well before sunset.
Upstream from the bridge, the riverside road quickly gives way to a footpath. Not far beyond the town, there’s an extensive woodland in the Wyre Forest.
One last example of the variety of plantings the gardeners at Bewdley Museum had manage in their limited space. Firecracker vines originate in the new world. They’re also known as Spanish flags. In the picture, only vestiges remain of the flowers. When full out, the colours are supposed to resemble those of the Spanish flag.
Still from the walled garden in the museum at Bewdley, were a variety has been packed into a small space. This hibiscus, its flowers blue rather than the more common red, were fade when we saw them.
A little egret in the Severn at Bewdley, fishing and preening. Sorry for the quality of the pictures: mobile phone camera aren’t the best for shots of distant wildlife, even if it’s one of the larger birds.