Wolves Wild

Pair of mistle thrushes with a territory between the bandstand and the boating lake in West Park. Here they were searching one of the lawns for worms to eat. They were less prone than usual to take flight when people passed, perhaps being in greater need of eating at the end of a spell of hard weather.

Just a few seconds of video, but it’s enough for this mistle thrush in Wolverhampton’s West Park to capture and eat two worms. I had lots of tries at showing this in a still photo, but always managed to take the picture just too soon or too late.

Pollen-tipped catkins on a pussy willow, another sign of the approaching spring to look out for from late February.

It’s winter. The weather hasn’t been of the best. Even when I’ve been out, I’ve been leaving the camera at home. So, from my stock of old but unpublished pictures, something exotic.

Black swans are native to Australia. There is a small population of them based in Dawlish. Sometimes they range rather more widely around the south Devon coast. This one had come up to the tidal limit of the River Exe at Topsham on the outskirts of Exeter.

Berry brook on the northern edge of Northycote Farm. The boundary between Wolverhampton city and Staffordshire follows the line of the brook, which has marked boundaries for all of recorded history.

A squirrel scratching itself, then finding something to eat on the ground.

An experiment in recording video using a mobile phone.

No sign of dabchicks (little grebes) on their usual winter territories on the urban stretch of the canal from Wightwick northwards this year. These pictures are from six years ago, when one hung around long enough to develop its breeding plumage before moving off to its summer residence.

Well into February, so its time to be on the look out for frog spawn like this. It’s probably not worth making a special excursion to where these pictures were taken a few years ago. The pond in Turner’s Field has recently been very disturbed, and may well have lost its attractions as a breeding spot for amphibians.

Female tufted duck, with a less eye-catching plumage than a male, swimming by on West Park lake.

Patterns: bubbles trapped under the ice of the then frozen West Park lake. The bubbles seemed only to be forming along one small stretch of the shoreline.

Goldfinches spending a long time eating seed, with briefer visits from green finches, bluetits and great tits.

Frost crystals forming on a branch of a rose bush during the recent cold spell.