Medieval packhorse bridge crossing the River Blythe near Hampton in Arden, with lichen growing on its stonework. The bridge is at the centre of a small wetland Local Nature Reserve, with the West Coast Mainline passing on an embankment above.
Swans on flattened reeds on the bank of the River Sow, just a few minutes walk from the centre of Stafford/
Fluffy pussy willow catkins just beginning to develop. These were on a poolside tree on the Packhorse Bridge LNR, Hampton in Arden.
Little egret on Doxey Marshes didn’t like me passing by even though I was some distance away and on the other side of the River Sow.
Blackthorn bushes, with their long a vicious spines, flower early in spring before their leaves are out. The bushes at the back of Barley Field were covered in buds a couple of weeks ago.
Unidentified fungus growing on a fallen tree trunk in the woods at Northycote Farm. To me the fungus looks like a solidified foam.
Several different lichen types growing on the twigs of a small oak tree in the Packhorse Bridge LNR, Hampton in Arden.
Coot and gull standing on the same fallen bough as they kept watch on the River Avon at Stratford.
Mosses on the top of a wall, getting ready to release their spores.
Gull which has got a black head, because it is a black headed gull, now with the breeding plumage which has the dark brown (black-seeming) feathers on the head.
Flowers on some of the hellebores growing in Bantock Park.
Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais recommends an unusual use for the neck feathers of a goose, still attached to the living bird.
To find out what, go to your favourite search engine with the term “rabelais goose neck” [WARNING – sixteenth century French toilet humour].
