Category: David

Northycote Farm jackdaw with an abnormally narrow and twisted beak, which must make feeding difficult for the bird. It has nevertheless survived the winter and looks otherwise healthy – a sign of the rich pickings available there.

View showing just how close Doxey Marshes are to Stafford’s centre. I was standing in the marshes when I took this picture. The windmill is a well-known landmark on the edge of the built-up area of the city centre, separated from the edge of the marshes only by the road with street lights peeping above the bushes here.

Chinese goose swimming on the lake at West Park. At one time there was a pair – this one seems to be the lone survivor.

Until recently, I had never noticed gulls resting on the top branches of trees, either inland or by the seaside. In the past month or so I’ve seen black-headed gulls in several places doing it.

These were by the River Avon at Stratford.

Views across the Exe estuary from Topsham. The larger wreck by the far bank has been gradually disintegrating for years.

The building in the background of the first picture is the former lock cottage on the Exeter Canal, now used for self-catering holiday accommodation.

The long dangling flowers of a Garrya elliptica (silk tassel) bush. The plant originally came from the far west of America.