David

Grey wagtail on the grill covering the Finchfield Brook as it emerges from a culvert by the Railway Walk.

On a magnolia just about to flower, the petals just emerging from the furry bud. The same bud, seen from tow different angles.

Heron, fishing recently by the canal at Compton – don’t know why it wasn’t with other herons at one of the local heronries.

Moments after I had stopped to take its picture, a small yappy dog came running loose on the bankside footpath in the field behind it, so the bird took off.

Female yew flowers (compare the male flowers in the post yesterday, below). The female flowers grow under the stem they are attached to, the males above.

For a few days, a pair of jays turned up regularly for a snack of peanuts and fat balls. Here, one of them has landed in the buddleia bush where the feeders hung, checking out that all was safe.

They were very wary, so these soft focus pictures are taken through a dirty window.

Yews are dioecious, meaning some trees have male flowers, some female. These are male, on a tree by the Old Nursery pond.