Wolves Wild

Dunnock hopping round on the ground right by the busy riverside footpath in Stratford on Avon. It didn’t seem to be taking any notice of people nearby.

Growing in a recently-established local nature reserve by the river in Stratford on Avon, teazles with a light coating of frost.

A sunny but frosty morning early this month. A busy road junction where two major streams of traffic heading towards the town come together. By the junction a square lawn, the short grass coated in ice crystals. Spread around the lawn, a dozen or more redwings search for something to eat. They must have been finding enough. They were still there when we came back across the lawn over an hour later.

The Dirty Duck is a pub with a terrace giving a view on to the river in Stratford on Avon. Originally, it was the Black Swan: it’s now licenced under both names.

The river thereabouts is crowded (or overcrowded) with swans fed by people on the riverbank. They are, of course, mute swans, the native species. Their feathers are white, not black. Young birds are a brownish grey, still not black. There is a swan species with black feathers – Australian.

Earlier this month, we were surprised to see a black swan on the river there, actually on the stretch of water overlooked by the eponymous pub. It was in the midst of a group of four or five mute swans, seemingly swimming companionably with them towards the main bird feeding area.

I just had time to grab these shots on a mobile before it headed off upstream.

A crowned earthstar under trees by the riverside footpath / cyclepath by the Severn in Shrewsbury. Earthstars have (in my opinion) one of the most attractive shapes of fungi. They aren’t very common, and can be quite easy to miss, usually occurring in the undergrowth below trees or bushes. They do, however, tend to stick around for at least a few weeks once they appear.

Even among the earthstars, crowned earthstars rank only as “occasional”. This one had been kicked over, perhaps by a dog. That did give a clearer than usual view of its shape. From its state, it seemed likely that it had managed to disperse its spores before it was knocked over.

The remains of one of last year’s teazels and one of last year’s umbellifers growing on the banks of the Severn, early morning sunlight silhouetting some trees on the top of a ridge on the far bank.