A small flock of tufted ducks gather to overwinter on the lake at West Park every year. There’s probably more to come yet, but fifteen or so have already arrived. Here’s a few of them.
West Park on a frosty morning. Despite the cold, a pair of pigeons, getting amorous.
Funnel cap mushrooms growing in short grass by a quiet side street. Possibly aniseed funnel caps (Clitocybe odora), but I didn’t check the colour of the gills.
Some of the birds from the resident black-headed gull flock at West Park. Not one of them with a black head. They won’t until next year’s warmer weather triggers the growth of their breeding plumage.
There have been a few frosts, so the main fungus season is drawing to a close for the year. I still have a stock of fungus pictures taken earlier in the autumn, which I’ve not got round to posting yet. This is the first instalment, white fibrecap mushrooms seen various locations around the city.
Moth seen from below. It came to shelter on the outside of a window pane during an evening with heavy showers.
Birch boletes. Quite large mushrooms, brown, always grow within a few yards of a birch tree. Under the cap, no sign of gills. Instead, a spongy surface with pores through which the spores are released.
It’s probably the last time I’ll retrun to this subject this year, but one more time with pictures of fly agarics. These were earlier this month, different spots in Bantock Park.
Yarrow still flowering earlier this month – a wildflower with a flowering season lasting from early summer into early winter.
A mass of the feathery seeds developing on old man’s beard escaping over a garden fence, lit from behind by early morning sun. A native clematis, often found on hedges and fences.
Mossy bells, tiny brown mushrooms likely to be found on mossy lawns (surprise).
One of the West Park carrion crows, breaking the pattern of black-headed gulls on a fence, and down closer to the water.