City centre nature ramble

 Heading out on a shopping trip to Derby city centre doesn't seem like an obvious place to go for a nature ramble but sometimes it's surprising what you can spot. Admittedly if you use one of the shopping mall car parks you need barely see the outdoors at all but we prefer an open air car park from which a short walk leads along the riverside before reaching the main shopping area.

Out first 'nature find' was a clump of fungi on a grass bank as we left the car.







Then we walked on, past this natural 'yellow line' edging the road, through fallen leaves, under autumnal trees, to the riverside.
































Here, behind the Council House, is a pretty spot to stop and take a minute to watch the Derwent flowing past, and see what birdlife can be seen.

Someone (not me) had been feeding the birds so the steps were full of squawking, squabbling seagulls, pigeons and geese.













The swans had headed downstream away from the fuss, but usually there's a family of them to be seen (I counted seven on one occasion). I've also see a cormorant fishing from broken trees, swept down by flood water then snagged on the weir, but there was no sign of him today.








The geese are quite interesting though. There's mainly a mix of Canada and Greylag, but a white 'farmyard' Aylesbury(?) escaped from somewhere a few years ago, and now lives wild with the others, even raising what appears to be a pale grey cross-breed Aylesbury/Greylag family.