David

The goosanders which turned up on the upper pool at Perton before Christmas seem set to stay for a while. Its’s harder to estimate how many now that they are scattered around the water, but numbers are possibly in the teens.

Last time I visited, there was one lone female on the lower pool. She’s the one in these pictures.

Vivernum (guelder rose) berries are bright red and glossy, but seem to be ignored as a food source by birds all through the winter.

The main flock of shovellers were not far from the biggest group of tufites. Numbers had again roughly doubled since my previous visit to West Park. There were about twenty swimming together as well as the few stand-offish ones. Much of the time, the shovellers were engaging in the activity which gives them their name: swimming in tight circles with their beaks just below the surface of the water, straining it for the small particles of whatever it is they eat.

Tunstall Water Bridge carries the Smestow Brook across the Canal, after the brook has passed across Dunstall Park racecourse.

Another day, another visit to West Park. In less than a week, the number in the winter visitor duck flocks seemed to have doubled. There were about forthy tufties swimming together in this group, as well as a few more in smaller groups or pairs elsewhere on the water.

Silk tassel bush (garrya elliptica) catkins, and those from a holly bush, both with a thin covering of frost crystals.