David

Earth star fungus under the hedge by the canal towpath near Castlecroft.

Probably a different species of earth star to the ones pictured in a post last week.

The kestrel featured in a recent post started to fly as soon as I had been able to take one photo.

I thought I had disturbed it.

But all it did was fly to the middle of the field, and start to hover.

After a short while, it stooped. It flew off to perch in a more distant tree. As far as I could tell, it had caught something and wanted to eat.

These pictures are in reverse order: the lower on the page, the earlier.

Ivy leaf with frost crystals growing from the rim earlier this morning.

Kestrel perched at the top of an oak tree between the canal and the Smestow brook at Wightwick recently, keeping a sharp look out for prey.

Copious flowers on one of the viburnum bushes in West Park during the first week of the new year.

More pictures from the group of waxwings by the canal
at Compton last week.

Most of the group resting high in an alder.

One perched in a hawthorn, as another lands.

The same two birds, their crests and wings showing well.