Category: David

The leaves are round(ish). They are quite a bit bigger even than an old penny. But that’s what the plant’s name compares them to.

Shells near the sea. The whelk shell in the main picture was a minute’s walk from the shoreline, carried inland by a gull or wader wanting a tasty snack.

The other pictures in the slideshow are of shell left behind on the beach at Exmouth by the retreating tide. The currents had left the razor clam shells in particularly artistic arrangements.

End of February, no sign of violets in the west midlands even beginning to flower yet. But down in south Devon most of the ones I managed to spot had already begun to set seed. This was one of the rare exceptions where a flower had not yet begun to go over.

Little grebe, possibly the bird which as been around in summery plumage all winter, on the canal earlier today.

It was fishing in the water by the boats moored at Newbridge boatyard. I just managed to set off this shot before a group of kayakers arrived. The grebe first tried to retreat to a quieter spot of water. As the disturbances continued it was off – no sign of it later.

Dark bellied Brent geese commute annually between their summer breeding grounds in Siberia and their winter refuge on the coasts of western Europe, several hundred in the Exe estuary.

Their preferred food is eel grass, which grows between the high and low tide marks in the estuary. When the water is low they graze on this.

When high water drives them ashore, they gather in hundreds on Bowling Green Marsh or Exminster marshes, sometimes crossing the river in large flocks to shift between these two areas. Smaller groups separate off to search for food in the short grass of Dawlish Warren golf course (main picture).

An alexanders in flower at the end of February. Attractive, but this plant, which originates around the Mediterranean, is so prolific it is becoming a pest, mainly in coastal areas.