Category: David

Frost decorating a bunch of ash keys on a cold but sunny morning. I was able to take the picture from above: the keys were on a tree which had been felled because of heart rot.

Bluetit busily eating peanuts on a bird feeder.

The protective cage around the feeder makes it harder to see (and photograph) the birds. But it does mean they get the nuts, not squirrels.

Beaked earth star half-hidden in the sparse winter undergrowth under a hedge at Castlecroft.

I’ve seen this rare fungus at the same spot before, but not for three years, although I’m there quite often.

Crane fly (daddy long legs) resting on the leaves of an oak tree. Don’t expect to see until summer comes back.

Large numbers of fruiting bodies of ear fungus. They were growing along the branches of an elder tree, their preferred host, on the edge of Compton Rough.

The particular branch these were on was just above my head level.

As I’m preparing this post, the first real cold spell of winter has set in. Yet still the rain seems interminable. Depressing, even for those of us not living in parts of the country devastated by floods caused by excessive rain and human mismanagement.

So here are a few pictures of a cute fluffy chick. This cygnet was one of a brood raised by swans on West Park lake a couple of years ago.