Looking rather furtive, a West Park squirrel excavating a morsel it had previously hidden.
Two herons, before the cold
Two herons in neighbouring positions on the shore of West Park boating lake island, pictured here before the very cold spell a the end of January / early this month. The more clearly visible bird is a mature adult. The other, half hidden behind dangling catkins, a juvenile.
Verdant moss with sporophytes
Verdant moss growing on a garden wall, with sporophytes rising above the cusion of leaves to disperse the spores on the breeze.
Crocuses, Bantock Park, about to open
Flower buds just about to open, purple and yellow crocuses in Bantock Park.
Gull gathering, frozen boating lake
Hard weather at the end of last month.West Park boating lake frozen, with just a narrow strip of open water remaining. The resident gulls gathering together into one mixed flock. When someone braved the cold to come to give the birds bread, they were up in the air and swooping before any of the waterfowl even noticed.
Collared earth stars, Perton
Collared earth stars growing by the path along the Penk at Perton recently. The fruiting bodies of these distictive fungi must have been out for some time and got rid of most or all of their spores. One of the peridoles – the roughly spherical casing of the gleba or spore mass – had collapsed in on itself, a bit like a deflated football.