Wolves Wild

More signs of spring cropping up in the middle of winter. Oak buds beginning to develop half way through January.

One of the cygnets on West Park lake swimming right towards me. The bird may be mature next year.

Oak-apples are galls, deformations in the tree produced when a wasp lays its egg there. These, on a tree near Berry Brook on Northycote Farm, must have been fairly recent. As they age, they turn a darker, duller brown.

Female blackbird on a fence overlooking the poultry pens at Northycote Farm, possibly on the look out for getting a little of the hensgrain.

Just after I took the pictures in the previous post, the parakeets flew from the island and landed high in one of the conifers closer to the path. This is the one less obscured by the branches.

The ring-necked parakeet pair in West Park. One is feeding on an alder on an island on the lake while the other keeps on watch.

Neither bird has the red patch of feathers at the back of the neck (the “ring” of their name) which marks the male. But they are definitely acting like they are paired.

Black-headed gulls choosing the edge of the ice as the place to congregate on the partially frozen boating lake at West Park.

Birch catkins beginning to develop at the end of December.

Staffs & Worcs Canal seen from two of the bridges crossing it. Hinksford Wharf on a sunny winter day, and the morning sunlight on the new growth on a weeping willow at Newbridge.

Pair of tufted ducks on the West Park boating lake. The drake with the tuft at the back of his head has drops of water over his back from a recent dive. The female (as in many bird species) has plumage less showy than her mate.

Ripening seeds of old man’s beard plants, covered in frost or lit by early morning sunlight.

Two of the geese at Northycote Farm, bathing together in the same tub of water. Each of the birds seemed to be preening the other one’s feathers as they swam round and round.