Author: David

Young shelducks on the river Exe at Topsham recently. The ducklings were perhaps a couple of weeks old when we saw them, so already quite big. It was also a large brood: thirteen ducklings.

The young ones were being assiduously cared for by both parents – quite often this task falls to the female alone in ducks. Indeed, we saw another set of shelduck young nearby being cared for by the mother alone.

The pictures were taken a little while before sunset, which was also around the time of the high tide that day.

One of the last flowers on a bramble beside a quiet country lane: nearby blackberries were already ripening fast. Growing on the bush right by the flower was a lichen, thriving in the warm moist south Devon climate.

These black swans are a long way from their native Australia. They are among the descendants of birds which were deliberately introduced in Dawlish, south Devon, back in the last century. Now they can be found not only in Dawlish itself, but popping up anywhere along the coast between Teignmouth and the Exe estuary.

These were at Topsham, just below the tidal limit of the Exe.

Yet another scarlet tiger moth that landed and rested for a prolonged period on a vertical surface – this time a wooded one.

The West Park cygnets out on one of the lawns, cleaning the down they will soon be loosing. Also lost; one of the five cygnets. The others were still growing fast, and seemed to be thriving.

Teazles: plants with serious defences built in. The flowers are spiky. The leaves are spiky. The stems are spiky.