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After a long hiatus, I thought it was time I did a bit of updating (I seem to have missed out July).

A Speckled Wood resting on a dock leaf at Brickfield Pond.

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Coltsfoot seedhead

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Hidden

Coltsfoot flowers peek up between old boards at Brickfield Pond, Rhyl.

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Coltsfoot - A ray of sunshine

A small yellow Coltsfoot flower, for me a sign that spring is here. Smaller (and prettier) than a Dandelion, the dainty Coltsfoot brings an early splash of yellow to acidic disturbed soils.

This one is growing next to the footpath at Brickfield Pond. The flower appears on a stem with no leaves, and in a month or so the leaves will appear after the flowers have gone.

It was a plant that I quicky learnt to recognise as a Forestry student, as it was a popular source of "emergency tobacco". The leaves can be dried and used in place of tobacco - and are today still used in many herbal cigarettes. Smoking Coltsfoot used to be a recognised method of treating Athma and Bronchial disorders as far back as Greek times (The latin name means 'Cough dispeller').

More info about its herbal uses and properties can be found at www.purplesage.org.uk/profiles/coltsfoot.htm

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Seem to have gone a bit abstract today, above 'The Chase', and below 'Shooting the Ink'.

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A Murmuration Musters

A Murmuration of Starlings (Sturus vulgaris) starts to assemble on an electricity pylon. They gather here each evening, as it's a prominent local landwark. Small flocks of starlings follow the river and then along the power lines to gather, waiting for an invisible signal - then, seemingly as one, they head off around Rhyl, performing stunning aerobatics over the rooftops before settling for the night.

I normally resize images before posting, but have left this one full size in case anybody wishes to do a count!! Hopefully I'll re-shoot this in the coming days when a) I haven't got to rush out after work and b) when there is just a bit more light. This was shot at ISO800 and hand held, so not as much detail as I would like. The picture also needs a bit of movelment, ideally as they all take off!

An interesting piece on Starling Murmurations here.

See also Day 35 , Day 17, Day 7 and the "Through the Seasons" page.

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'Another' lunchtime walk picture, today a detail.

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Lunchtime walk around Brickfield Pond.

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On the Edge

Aperture Priority f4.5 at 1/320 second, ISO 100 handheld

Taken for today's Daily Shoot project (assignment #443), however it didn't make the cut because I found the water in the bottom of the frame too distracting, however I actually prefer this picture to the one I did submit, as it helps both put the reeds in context, but also gives it movement and vibrancy.

The picture used for the @dailyshoot was this one:

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Late Afternoon Reeds

It's nice being able to walk home in the daylight, so this evening I took a detour via Brickfield Pond. Had a lovely view of a Kingfisher, and then headed past some of the reedbeds. Grabbed a few shots before heading home, beneath huge murmurations of starlings.

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'Love is in the Air' (or at least on the water).



With St Dwynwen's Day fast approaching, these two coots treated me to a lovely courtship display on Brickfield Pond. The birds would separate by about twenty feet, and then swim rapidly towards each other, with heads lowered, similar to last week's fights, but when they met they would give a faint call to each other and preen each other as they turned. The male would then dive, and a minute later re-appear bearing a "gift" of weed for the female. I found the display suprisingly tender for what normally appears a slightly brusque bird, and it was done for each others benefit rather than an overt display to other coots. I could have watched all afternoon if I hadn't run out of time!

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Yes, "another" picture of Common Reeds! Regular viewers to my Flickr page will spot quite a few images of Common Reeds. Every day I try to find time to walk around Brickfield Pond. Some days it takes an hour, and I can take 200 pictures, other days I struggle to find inspiration for 1. Today was closer to the latter (Tuesday is a tough day for me), and today I took 11 images. Five were immediately edited into the bin, leaving just four to choose from for today's blog - I'm glad one just came up to scratch.

Anyway - enjoy the 'un'common.