Wolves Wild

Close-up on one spike of a purple heather in flower.

A cormorant swimming on the River Exe by Exeter Quays, heading down-river. A moment later, the bird took off and flew towards the other side of the river to join several of its fellows on one of the protective buoys strung across the weir.

Alexanders plants were really common by the side of roads and lanes in south Devon, and the yellow flowers were beginning to open on some of them in mid-February.

The River Exe directly below the church at Topsham. When the tide is out, as it was here, a wide stretch of very soft and squelchy looking mud is exposed. A pair of teal, wading through the mud, prospecting for things to eat.

Yellow mushrooms growing by the side of a south Devon lane last month. They were probably yellow fieldcaps (Bolbitius titubans).

Confident enough to be singing, this dunnock was near enough I could have stretched out to touch if – if the bush hadn’t been in the way.