David

This moorhen was bathing: splashing itself with water.

Has a surprising number of culinary uses considering the small size and the delicacy of the individual flowers, and the potential toxicity of other parts of the plant including stalks and leaves.

Yarrow seems to be common by canal towpaths locally – here by the Stourbridge canal.

The feathers scattered along the canal bank are signs that these mallards are moulting to go into eclipse plumage, the winter livery which is less showy than that of the summertime males.

One of the commoner orchids. This one was just a couple of minutes walk from the Waterside development.

This non-flowering plant is very common above the upper waterline on the walls of canal locks locally.