Category: David

Red and green leaves on a ground hugging plant growing on the landward side of the dunes at Dawlish Warren.

Enigmatic footprint in the sand of the dunes at Dawlish Warren. The nature reserve gets long list of mammals. Have you got any suggestions what this one could have been?

For some time now there has been a black swan living on the River Exe. A couple of years back I saw it swimming near the Quay, by Exeter city centre.

Last week it was some miles further downstream, paddling by Topsham Quay. As it passed directly below it looked in fine fettle.

Cockle shells left behind on the intertidal zone of the bay in the river beach by the bird hide at Dawlish Warren.

In the absence of the penduline tits, the stars of the show were a group of two or three water rails on the RSPB Bowling Green reserve, regularly showing themselves close by the footpath to the viewing platform.

They were foraging close by a pair of moorhens, and it was striking how small the rails looked in comparison. As they foraged in the part-frozen soil they often disappeared behind tussocks of grass. Sometimes only their tails were visible, looking remarkably like rabbitsscuts.