ffutures | Picspam - Crossrail, Crow, Fungi, Squirrels, Mandarins, a Chinese Barge and a Pretty Flower

I haven't made a picspam post in a while, so it's time for another selection.

First, some track being transported into the Crossrail tunnels, and a weird little engine which presumably has some special function

(later) I think that the bigger engine is a normal diesel that brings them to the tunnel, the white engine is an electric shunting engine of some sort to take them into the tunnel.

Next, a big crow that was watching me when I passed a construction site yesterday.

A colony of weirdly coloured bracket fungi I noticed by the canal a couple of weeks ago:

A very friendly squirrel that came begging for nuts in the park last week - the second picture is with an infra-red filter, anything that shows white reflects infra-red:

A pair of Mandarin ducks I saw on the canal last week:

A Chinese restaurant on a barge - there's a coot's nest to the right. This is where I've seen a cormorant a couple of times, but not so far this year.

And a rather pretty but very small flower I saw by the canal today, but can't so far identify. I don't know if it's native to Britain or something escaped from a garden. Anyone know?