Wolves Wild

Young heron on the hunt in a patch of reed on the shore of Sandfields, by the canal at Compton. It was watchful but stayed in position even though there were three of us watching it from various points on the towpath opposite, and a couple with a small dog passed by on the footpath just behind it.

Tiny mushrooms growing in the moss on the base of a tree trunk in West Park.

Magpie inkcaps in Castle Grounds, Bridgnorth, gradually spreading from the spot under a mature oak where they first appeared. For several years they have all been coming up in the same patch of earth, well covered in wood chip mulch under a clump of trees. This year there were a few still in the original place. But there have been more in flower beds on the other side of a path.

Goosander pair, probably the same birds featured in the previous post, now moved a hundred yards or so upstream of the Severn bridge, continually diving as they fished together.

Malw and female goosanders which were together on the sandspit at the tip of the Bylet at Bridgnorth when I arrived, presumably a pair. By the time I had got my camera out they had got on the Severn and were fishing together.

Bonnet mycenae, several different related species of small mushrooms, perhaps around an inch tall with thin stems and conical caps. Common but inconspicuous. Species very hard to tell apart (many impossible without specialised equiptment such as a microscope).

One of a pair of wagtails which were running round on the tarmac between the Molineux Hotel and the ring road, searching for insects.

Jelly fungus, oissibly witch’s butter, growing on a fallen tree trunk by the path at Northycote Farm.

Glistening inkcaps can be found any time from spring to late autumn, growing in clusters on dead wood. Sometimes on hidden roots, other times on tree stumps, as these fungi on a stump by the former Tettenhall Station platform.

Autumn colours in the foliage of a liquidambar tree reflected in the lake at West Park.

Clitocybe (funnelcap) species mushrooms growing on a grassy bank under trees right beside the ring road.

Smestow Brook looking downstream at Wightwick, with an ivy-covered fallen tree trunk lying across the water.