Wolves Wild

Mosses on the tops of walls captured some of the recent snow, and held on to some after almost all on the ground had melted away.

Tufted ducks (tufties) on West Park lake. Every winter twenty or so overwinter there. Shortly before lockdown one began last year, they were joined by a ferruginous duck (fudgie), a much rarer bird, possibly wild, possibly an escapee from a wildfowl collection.

The fudgie looks quite similar to the female tufties – the ones without a white patch on their sides – but with a different eye colour. I’m keeping an eye out to spot it, if it returns. No sign yet.

More fungi which emerged before the recent cold spell, were frozen solid, and have now thawed unscathed. These scarlet elf cups were growing on dead wood in the undergrowth by the side of the Railway Walk near Newbridge. Its fruiting bodies are ones which appear in the dead of winter.

Zooming in to a spot high on one of the trees on the island in the West Park lake. How soon can you spot what attracted my attention?

A slightly warmer day in the middle of this winter’s first long freeze, before the ice and snow cam back.

Ear fungus which had previously frozen solid, here had thawed out again, without any ill effects.

Some of the same, pictured before the freeze started, in this post.

To celebrate a tier 4 Christmas Day, strolled to the city centre to try to get some pictures of the resident starlings. But they weren’t cooperating. They were around, but only visible as occasional glimpses in the distance.

Someone had left grain for birds on a footpath near the market. No sign of starlings though that is one of their regular haunts. But a flock of house sparrows were there, eating and socialising in nearby bushes, unworried by human presence.