One of a long-time resident pair of mistle thrushes in West Park, finding things to eat. The pair can often be seen prospecting the lawns near the bandstand. This one’s mate was within sight when I took these pictures, but too far away to be worth photographing.
Flowers on one of the maples in Compton Park. It was quite breezy when I took these pictures, so I had to use quite a fast shutter speed to freeze any movement. The wide lens aperture meant that even flowers a little further along the twig aren’t in sharp focus.
Black-headed gulls standing in long rows on the railing at the edge of the lake in West Park, and on the remains of a fallen dead tree. In one or two of the pictures, a coot had insinuated itself among the gulls.
Turkey tail is a common bracket fungus growing on tree trunks and fallen wood. It appears in long-lasting clusters, with each “tail” a little less than an inch across.
I broke off one of the fruiting bodies in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt at getting a spore print. One picture of fruiting bodies on a tree; then of both upper and lower surfaces.
The spores emerge from the underside, from pores rather than gills.
Once again a duck with mixed parentage ending up by the lake in West Park. This one had pale plumage, but looked rather small to have been a mallard x farmyard duck cross.
Recent snowfall makes it likely that there will be animal tracks, where something has wandered round in search of food. These footprints were made by a blackbird. Their outline is already blurred after a bit more snow fell.