Category: David

White camellia flowering at the back of Exeter cathedral close earlier this month.

Before we went down to Devon, the top attraction in the area we were heading was a group of two or three penduline tits, which were being reported every day. They were reported while we were on the journey travelling down, then not sighted again until we were under way travelling back home. Often the way with bird watching.

As a consolation this kingfisher was in a reedbed on our first visit to the RSPB Dart’s Farm hide to try to see them.

It was so far away that it is just a dot in the picture, but its electric blue feathers against the dull yellow of the vegetation makes it unmistakable.

Yellow mimosa flowers on stems rising from the tree’s branch contrasting with the blue of a sunny winter sky.

Members a of the crow family are not normally considered cute enough to be candidates for Valentine’s Day images.

Here are magpies on a branch and carrion crows on the ground, strengthening their pair bonds a few days ago.

To the naked eye, the carrion crows looked like they were kissing.

Aconite flowering on a frosty morning and a (different) frost-free day.

Dawlish Warren attracts visitors because of the birds and plants on the nature reserve and (especially once warmer weather returns) the long sandy beach.

But there are also magnificent views. Southwest is the sandstone cliff with a natural arch at Langstone Rock, screening Dawlish itself from sight.

In the distance across the estuary is Starcross. The building here with the tall tower is not a church, but the one-time home of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Atmospheric Engine – a scheme to power a railway without locomotives by using air pressure.