Rime on the berries and leaves of ivy bushes recently.
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Category: David
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Frost on a nettle
Frost on the remaining seeds of a nettle.
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Thistle in winter
The remains of a robust thistle on the morning after the first heavy frost in mid-January.
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Rosebay willowherb in winter
Rosebay willowherb with its extremities coated in frost.
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Berlin interlude – reed by a pool
A tranquil scene, but the biggest open-air party in Europe would take place a few hundred yards from this spot later that night.
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Berlin interlude – oyster fungus
The wild cousin of the one whose natural habitat is on the shelves of the more upmarket supermarkets.
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Berlin interlude – fungi on tree stumps
These fungi were all growing on tree stumps, at knee level and so convenient for viewing.
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Berlin interlude – the Zoo
Trying to improve my video skills by practicing on zoo animals.
Featuring polar bears, hippos, including the zoo’s most latest star, a recently-born hippo, pelicans and kangaroos.
Our closest relatives among the great apes also put in an appearance, behind glass sadly: gorillas, chimps and the zoo’s fascinating bonobo family.
The herons which appear are free loaders. There is at least one heronry in the trees growing in the zoo, and probably several in the nearby Tiergarten. The herons descend on the zoo to try to grab the fish which the keepers are distributing as food for the pelicans and other zoo birds.
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Berlin interlude – rooks
Again I was surprised by how near the city centre these rooks were living. The rookery which features below was surrounded by blocks of flats, although it did also overlook the river Spree.
The individual above looking at me quizzically was prospecting for food in the company of a couple of hooded crows, including the subject of the first picture in the previous post.
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Berlin interlude – Hooded crows
Two members of the crow family today. Here is the hooded crow, a bird which only turns up in the wild in Britain in Scotland and on the Isle of Man. They look like carrion crows with fancier plumage – indeed the two species can hybridise where their ranges overlap.
On a previous visit to Berlin in the autumn I noticed a fair few of these birds around. But this time, in the middle of winter, they seemed to be everywhere across the city centre.
