David

The house whose roof is pictured is on a normally fairly busy minor road. Wood pigeons and magpies are normally the dominant birds perched on roofs. But this was mid-morning on New Year’s Day, and very few motorists were about yet.

These spiders’ webs were anchored in the seemingly dead stems of an ivy a few days ago. They were showing their form clearly because of the hoar frost which had formed on them.

A view on a calm and overcast New Year’s Day.

The swan above is one of a pair which spent the cold spell near the Windmill Lane bridge on the Staffs and Worcs canal, and had what was obviously a frequently met expectation of being fed.

The birds in the other pictures were on the boating lake at West Park, which stayed partially frozen even in the temporary thaw around the new year.

A hand-held camera zoomed in as closely as possible in poor light conditions means there is some camera shake even though the bird is still just a splash of colour in the centre of the picture. But even on an overcast New Year’s Day the vivid colours were unmistakable.

More on the heron whose patch is around Compton bridge. This time it was fishing from the private mooring which can be seen from the pavement on the bridge (this picture, however, was taken from the towpath).