Category: David

One of the houses excavated from the sandstone cliff at Holy Austin Rock, Kinver. Now a National Trust property.

Tufties, tufted ducks more formally, floating on the West Park lake and occasionally preening. The males have the more noticable black and white plumage; the females mainly black and brown.

Views across the lake at Wollaton Park, Nottingham to Wollaton Hall in its dominant hilltop position.

It’s about five miles from Nottingham city centre. The park, encroached by housing and a golf course compared to the glory days when an entire village was wiped away to create it, is now one of the city council’s public spaces. The lake attracts waterfowl. There’s herds of red and fallow deer. Extensive woods managed for wildlife are again a haven for birds, and are also well-known for fungi in the season.

The hall is now the venue for some of the city’s museums, including a Natural History Museum.

Scarlet elf cups growing on rotting wood under moss on the edge of Compton Rough, a splash of late winter colour.

Small group of male goosanders on the lake at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. They had been fishing near the shore, but were retreating from the busy footpath.

The same rail featured in yesterday’s post, making a brief visit to the inlet of the Penk at Perton Pool. moving very fast and randomly, hard to keep in frame.