Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
I didn’t spot this ear fungus growing on an elder stump as I walked through the Corsican Pine plantation at Newmillerdam last week. It looks so fresh that I suspect it must have grown as a result of all the rain we’ve had over the past week.
A pair of great-crested grebes were displaying at Newmillerdam this morning. Their face-to-face head-shaking display was interrupted by a third grebe which was soon chased off by the male. The male has more prominent cheek-ruffs and ear-tufts than the female.
A second bout of head-shaking was soon interrupted by the intruder and then all three birds dived out of sight for what seemed like a minute. Later we saw a single grebe diving near the war memorial, so perhaps this was the intruder who had decided to give the pair a break.