David

A pied wagtail searches for insects when there was snow on the ground. A few days earlier, and on the other side of the park, another one spends a while scrutinising a footpath for similar prey.

Candlesnuff fungus growing on a tree stump by the Railway Walk at Newbridge, showing no signs of harm after being frozen in the recent cold spell.

A thaw during the recent cold spell. The ice half-covering the West Park lake began to thin and melt (it was later to thicken and spread again). Black-headed gulls claiming the retreating surface as they place they should gather.

Mosses on the tops of walls captured some of the recent snow, and held on to some after almost all on the ground had melted away.

Tufted ducks (tufties) on West Park lake. Every winter twenty or so overwinter there. Shortly before lockdown one began last year, they were joined by a ferruginous duck (fudgie), a much rarer bird, possibly wild, possibly an escapee from a wildfowl collection.

The fudgie looks quite similar to the female tufties – the ones without a white patch on their sides – but with a different eye colour. I’m keeping an eye out to spot it, if it returns. No sign yet.

More fungi which emerged before the recent cold spell, were frozen solid, and have now thawed unscathed. These scarlet elf cups were growing on dead wood in the undergrowth by the side of the Railway Walk near Newbridge. Its fruiting bodies are ones which appear in the dead of winter.