Wolves Wild

Close-up on one spike of a purple heather in flower.

A cormorant swimming on the River Exe by Exeter Quays, heading down-river. A moment later, the bird took off and flew towards the other side of the river to join several of its fellows on one of the protective buoys strung across the weir.

Alexanders plants were really common by the side of roads and lanes in south Devon, and the yellow flowers were beginning to open on some of them in mid-February.

The River Exe directly below the church at Topsham. When the tide is out, as it was here, a wide stretch of very soft and squelchy looking mud is exposed. A pair of teal, wading through the mud, prospecting for things to eat.

Yellow mushrooms growing by the side of a south Devon lane last month. They were probably yellow fieldcaps (Bolbitius titubans).

Confident enough to be singing, this dunnock was near enough I could have stretched out to touch if – if the bush hadn’t been in the way.

Reedmace, a.k.a. bulrushes, by the River Exe just downstream from Exeter Quays.

Black-headed gull, already in breeding plumage in mid-February, boldly standing on the quayside by the River Exe at Topsham.

A couple of shots at one of the many reed beds in the Exe estuary area. One stalk was standing taller than its fellows, stark against a threatening sky. Looking just a little lower down, the bed formed one mass.

The RSPB Bowling Green Marsh Reserve again. A shelduck upends to feed on the bottom of one of the shallow pools, while nearby, another duck snoozes.

Fungi, possibly velvet shanks, rotting the tree they are growing on. In their turn being sustenance for the white mould growing on them.

Wigeon, constantly whistling to one another, swimming on a stretch of the open water at the RSPB Bolling Green Reserve. Others moving as a group as they fed among the tussocky grass.