Fungus in the Wild: A sunny day in Cobham

FRIDAY, 27th JANUARY 2012.

It was a beautiful morning, so I was up and out early. I started out waiting for a Kingfisher on the Mole, but it didn't materialise and I couldn't resist checking if the Little Owl was in its tree. It was.

A Little Owl rests in its favourite tree, with half an eye on the nearby footpath.

Then on to Painshill Park, where a couple of days earlier I had counted ten Goosanders, including three females. They were all still there.

The female Goosanders are very proud of their hair-styles.

"What was that you said?"

A male and female Goosander.

Seven of the group of ten Goosanders present today.

All the regulars were there. I was particularly pleased to see Mr Dodgy Duck, who together with his sister Daffy, has what appears to be a split lower beak mandible through which his tongue permanently hangs. I first saw them three years ago, so I presume it doesn't inhibit them too much. The fact that there are two of them suggests that it is a genetic defect.

One of the many Swans on duty today at Painshill.

... and a Greylag Goose rests on one leg.

Mr. Dodgy Duck, with his tongue hanging through a split lower beak.

A fox speeds away.

A pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers "posturing".

Itinerant Cormorants often rest in the tree providing the highest point of the lake area of Painshill Park. This was the first time however that I had seen as many as five there at the same time.

Cormorants relaxing and exchanging gossip as a break from their various journeys,

The highest Cormorant decides it's time for him to go.

A Tree Creeper doing what Tree Creepers do.

"We can see you!" A family of Squirrels.

I could see (and hear) two Goldcrests working their way through a conifer, searching for insects and spiders for lunch. They ignored my presence, but they are so fast-moving that getting a good portrait while they are feeding is not an easy task. So I have about thirty pictures of brown blurs or tail-end views, and I have posted below the one shot in which an eye and a beak are visible, if somewhat obliquely.