Dangling seed-heads on a riverside plane tree. This year’s leaf buds and the lichen encrustation on the branches can also be seen.
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Author: David
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Exe 6: hungry swan
This swan was on the Exeter canal, not far from its seaward end at the Turf public house.
I was as hungry as the swan. The Turf is a welcoming pub when it is open. Sadly, it stays closed early in the year until the school half term.
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Exe 5: two members of the heron family
A little egret feeding in the river Clyst just before it joins the Exe at Topsham, and the brief snatch of video I got of a grey heron on yacht moorings right near the centre of the village before it was disturbed and flew off.
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Exe 4: early violets
Violets flowering early in February in the (normally) gentle climate of south Devon. In fact, this picture was taken in a brief thaw, only a few hours after the one in the previous post.
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Exe 3: frosted seaweed
As each tide receded, it left behind ice on the mud and elsewhere, as on this seaweed.
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Exe 2: green plover feeding
This green plover was prospecting the ground not far from the hide on the RSPB reserve at Bowling Green marsh, Topsham.
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Exe 1: avocets feeding
Because of the cold weather, I haven’t been getting out for recent pictures of Wolverhampton wildlife.
To carry on the daily posts, the next few days will have photos and videos I took on a long weekend by the Exe estuary in south Devon earlier this month.
Today’s video features the bird whose name has been borrowed by the marketing department of the rail line to the east of the Exe between Exeter and Exmouth – the avocet.
Avocets are wading birds. Here they are seen feeding by searching muddy water and soft mud with their delicate-looking upcurving beaks. The last bird might be finding its prey by sight in the clearer water of a tributary of the Exe.
The Exe estuary is the winter home to thousands of avocets.
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Former coral reef, the Quarry, Wrens Nest
View of the taller hill of “Fossil Mountain” from the top of the smaller hill. The hills are remnants left on the fringe of one of the former quarries that are spread over the nature reserve.
They are the remains of a coral reef which grew when the land which one day would form the Black Country lay under a shallow tropical sea.
The hills are extraordinarily rich in fossils, which are best found by looking in the erosion debris below them.
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Ornamental conifer
The extraordinary pale colour of the leaves of this conifer is a strong hint that it is a cultivated variety, as was its location in a churchyard.
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Ear fungus on a fallen elder
There were ear fungus all along the trunk of this fallen elder – the species they are most commonly found on. The hollowed-out part was pointing more or less downwards, so these will have grown after the tree fell.
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Seven Sisters, Wrens Nest
The Seven Sisters former quarry in the Wrens Nest Nature Reserve looks less attractive now all the underground workings have all had to be filled in with sand to stop them collapsing.
Hopefully, there will eventually be funding to do the work which is needed on them.
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Sedgley Beacon
The top of Sedgley Beacon, looking towards the radio masts.