The fur-like appearance of the catkins of a pussy willow. These catkins were just beginning to open almost a month ago, on one of the trees overhanging the lake in West Park.
When this Canada goose landed on the lake at West Park, it presumably thought it had found a large stretch of open water with no other birds already present to get in its way. In fact there was a large patch of very thin ice, not quite melted away after a cold spell. The line of open water its landing created is probably about half the length of the wake it would have left if the ice hadn’t been there.
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Barberry (oregon grape) flowers opening
Known as the holly-leaved barberry (or berberry) or as the Oregon grape, it’s another exotic bush, and one which produces flowers early in the year. The spiky leaves are indeed reminiscent of holly.
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Singing great tit
As I stood under a tree in West Park, a great tit was flitting about the branches singing at the top of its voice. I had to crick my neck to get these pictures.
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Breaking: alder leaf buds
Leaf buds on an alder just about to open. Pictures taken on one of the frosty mornings a month ago.
Another rare (for me) actual sighting of parakeets in West Park, only a little while after seeing one of the birds investigating a hold in the trunk of one of the trees on the island.
This time, three of them were high in the branches of a tree almost directly above me, along with two or three magpies. The magpies were less than happy with the parakeets presence, but seemed to be having no effect on the intruders.