Dear Readers, in winter you have to take your pleasures where you find them, and often nature has a way of hiding beautiful things in plain view, as if inviting us to take our time and pay attention. I was really struck by this skeletal leaf, eaten down to its skeleton by some little detritivore, possibly a slug. I love the way that you can see the intricacy of the structure of the leaf, and the way that it has folded over into itself like a little cage.

And there are still spiders’ webs everywhere, such as the one completely encasing some of the florets on this cypress.

In fact, once you get your eye in the webs are everywhere….

But not all the pleasures are small scale. Of course I had to wander past the swamp cypress to see how it was looking. The whole of the woodland burial site is carpeted in its russet leaves, but there are still plenty more to fall.

And then, how about this bird! He seemed a bit lost, as if he’d somehow been left behind when the rest of the flock headed off to mangle some Spanish chestnuts or cause havoc somewhere else.

I will never get over the sight of a bright green parrot at the top of an oak tree. I’m sure even a hundred years ago it would have seemed impossible. This parakeet seems very plump though so I imagine he’s doing ok. And after a few minutes he found his little friends and the whole lot of them flew off with all the kerfuffle that I associate with parrots. I have never yet met a shy, quiet, discreet member of the parrot family, though possibly they exist. Do let me know, Readers! I know that my Australian friends have parrots, cockatoos, budgerigars and all manner of Psittacines busting out all over. Are they all as gregarious and chatty as these ring-necked parakeets seem to be?