A tight cluster of sulfur tuft mushrooms hiding under a rhododendron bush in West Park, a spot where some grow about this time every year.
This picture taken before the recent spell of snow and ice. The mushrooms will still be there – this is one of the minority of species which can survive freezing solid then thawing out again.
They’ve melted away not – perhaps they realised that lockdown number three was coming. Here are a few snowmen I noticed on my walks in the past few days, and one snow dog for variety.
Snail (or perhaps slug) trails on a window pane formed the nucleus for frost to crystallise on a winter morning recently.
Snow lying after Christmas; bird feeders busier than ever. A dunnock spends some time eating sunflower hearts. Magpies and wood pigeons on the ground, gathering the grain spilled from the feeders by smaller birds.
Snow after Christmas, then lying for several days. A male chaffinch gathering up seed fallen from a feeder. As far as I know, this was the first visit to the garden by a chaffinch in the whole year.
Rhododendron bush by one of the entrances to West Park, starting flowering in late December. The bush flowers early every year.
