The wild cousin of the one whose natural habitat is on the shelves of the more upmarket supermarkets.
David
Berlin interlude – fungi on tree stumps
These fungi were all growing on tree stumps, at knee level and so convenient for viewing.
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.
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.
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.
Berlin interlude – gulls
The guano which sticks to these railings even in rainy Berlin gives some idea how rich the pickings are for gulls on the river Spree.
Berlin interlude – woodland birds feeding
Not many pictures of local wildlife recently. I’ve been away, and the poor weather doesn’t encourage me outside. Here are some pictures of woodland birds eating at a feeding station in Tiergarten, a large park in central Berlin. The blue tit (above) was tolerant of me standing in the open nearby taking pictures.
So was the nuthatch (below). It is eating a seed it has taken from the feeder, not the bud at the end of the twig.
These tree sparrows would be strictly a countryside bird in Britain.
Lichen on one of the Aldi erratics
The erratics featured in the previous post have a rich crop of lichens growing on them: an indication that the air there can’t be very polluted. This is one patch of the lichen on the largest stone.
Three large erratics
Three large erratics which have been tidied away to a quiet corner of the car park of the Aldi supermarket now on the site of the former Fighting Cocks pub.
Brown roll rim toadstools
A common mushroom which can appear pretty much any time in the second half of the year. Brown roll rims have a mutually beneficial relationship with many types of trees. The underground section interpenetrates with the roots of the host tree. The fungus uses the tree as an energy source, and in return gives up minerals which it has got by breaking down dead organic matter in the soil.
The funnel shape of the cap is often more pronounced than in these specimens.
