Wildlife from Wolverhampton and nearby
This far, I’ve not seen very many mushrooms this autumn fungi season. So here’s one from a dozen years back. It’s some kind of russula – the group of mushrooms sometimes also called brittlegills. Possibly it’s a charcoal burner.
It was growing in Himley Plantation: a Woodland Trust property which can be good for fungi.
A long-bodied cellar spider, barely moving from the centre of its web, even when I brought mobile phone up close to get these pictures.
Thrusting up where a garden wall met the pavement, some interesting-looking mushrooms. I couldn’t bend down far enough to see stems, but I was assured they were there.
It’s not just Halloween decorations, appearing earlier and getting bigger every year. Some spiders do indeed become more noticeable as the evenings draw in.
Prominent among them are cross spiders. They, or more precisely the females, are big enough to be noticed as they sit patiently in the centre of their webs. They’re common in gardens, and can sometimes be found is sheds and other outbuildings.
The males are much smaller – earlier in the year, the females were, too, before they built themselves up in preparation for laying their eggs.
Fungi can be spotted at any time of year: there are some species which send out their fruiting bodies even in the depths of winter. But the best time for finding lots of different types is the autumn.
These are plums and custard, so called from their colours (a hint of the yellow of the gills can be seen here). They are not good to eat.
Often found on tree stumps. This stump, in a front garden, has now produced examples for the last few years.
Birdwatching from the beer garden of the Bridge Inn at Topsham. A little egret standing by the River Clyst, preening itself while waiting for the tide to drop a little before starting fishing.
Much excitement. The feathers on its plume, and some on its head, were reddish / brownish. Could it be a cattle egret, rather than a little egret? There are birds from all three egret species around in the Exe estuary area, though little egrets are by far the commonest.
The excitement didn’t last. Cattle egrets don’ have plumes. Perhaps the darkened feathers are from the bird getting estuary mud on itself – it’s about the right colour.