The reed bed at the edge of Perton’s upper pool almost seemed to glow in the early morning winter sun. The heron (I hadn’t seen it for a long time) was alert at the water’s edge. It seemed to be on the watch for prey in the reeds rather than to water.
Bringing a bit of brightness on a dull early January day, alyssum flowering in a front garden.
Before Christmas, there had been a flock of around 25 and 30 goosanders on the upper pool at Perton. Last week, all I could spot was this lone female, on the gravel by the inlet.
Deceiver mushrooms. The markings on the caps are not usual, and may have been left by snails crawling all over the fungi.
In mid-December, this mandarin drake stayed for several days on the lower pool at Perton, but when I visited just before Christmas I couldn’t see any sign it was still around.
Last week he was back, perhaps having found the spot where people come to feed the birds. He was swimming round near the ducks, geese, swans and gulls by the inlet to the upper pool.
Red flowers (not the more usual yellow) on a hamamelis, a.k.a. witch hazel in one of the front gardens on Finchfield Road facing Bantock Park.