Wolves Wild

Half in early morning sunlight, half in shade, a fallen sycamore leaf on the short grass of a football field on a frosty morning.

A thin layer of ice covered the shallow pool on a frosty morning.

Another view through the morning mist on Boxing Day. Castlecroft Bridge carries a farm track across the Staffs & Worcs Canal.

Magpie on the ground. The light catching its wing and chest giving the feathers an iridescent pale blue colour.

Mallards swimming in deep water in what is normally a riverside field. The birds can be seen in the distance in the pictures in the previous post.

The River Blythe at the Packhorse Bridge Local Nature Reserve, Hampton in Arden, normally a narrow, rather gentle stream. These pictures, taken from the historic packhorse bridge a few days ago, show the effect of the recent heavy rains.

The tree stump and the line of fence posts mark the top of the normal left bank of the river and the edge of the bordering field. That field was almost completely covered to some depth with water, which seemed to extend back towards a nearby lake. The river was flowing not just under the bridge, but altogether perhaps three times its normal width under the causeway leading to the bridge.

Small earthstars with a patina of green, presumably from algae growing on them.

Growing, like this one, by The Royal metro stop.

One of the West Park squirrels taking time out to deal with an itch before looking whether I had any peanuts on offer.

This winter’s rain and winds mean there have been very few frosty mornings. When it happens, frost on sunlit morning adds a finishing touch to the appearance of the vegetation of winter.

The growth rings, unevenness of the bark, and especially the grooves left by the saw have provided sites where the crystallisation of the frost has been focussed on this tree stump.

For many years, there used to be a pair of exotic Muscovy ducks at West Park. More recently, it seems down to one, which still looks impressive.

Like the turkey, the bird has a misleading name. This species, too, originated in the Western hemisphere.