Category: David

Gorse can flower at any time of the year. In winter their yellow is a contrast to the bare or even barren appearance of much of the vegetation.

The source of the next few posts is a brief stay in Devon over Christmas. Birds I didn’t expect to see there, any more than in the west midlands, were emus.

But just a few minutes stroll from Ilfracombe harbour, an enclosure held several of them. They were spending most of their time scanning the ground for food, perhaps worms. An English winter is rather different to the sorts of weather in their antipodean homelands, but they looked like they were doing fine.

Bullrush seed head growing horizontally. The warm, wet winter has helped a layer of algae to grow on the upper surface, turning the colour from brown to green.

The herons of the previous post, now flying off. Although I was a long distance away, they probably objected to the attention I was giving them.

Two herons standing in the middle of a field of winter wheat, midway between the canal and the Smestow Brook.

Lichen growing on top of lichen on a canalside tree trunk, all making a semi-regular pattern in yellow, green and grey.