Category: David

Yet another of the West Park magpies prowling round, disturbing the soil under wood chip mulch and short grass, doubtless hunting for invertebates to eat.

Yews are dioecious – the trees bear either male flowers or female, not both. These male flowers were already opening in mid-February. A search of nearby female yews showed no signs of their flowers, not even buds. The normal flowering season is March to April.

Pair of swans on the West Park boating lake, swimming in the swan threat posture – wings raised from the body to make them look larger.

The cobb (male) was in front, the pen (female) only just behind. In the shots of single birds, the cobb is swimming from left to right. The pen seems to be headed straight for me. Actually, she changed course to make for someone standing near to me, feeding bread to birds.

Middle of the month, and daffodil clumps developing buds of the flowers which were not yet open.

The roots of this yew in West Park seemed to twist around each other. The tree looks ancient, but is unlikely to be older than the park (founded 1881).

A long way from the sea, this flock in flight is some of the black-headed gulls resident in West Park.