Wolves Wild

Lady’s bedstraw flowering with its sweet scent. In the days of straw matresses, was used to perfume the straw, supposedly especially in bedding for pregnant women.

Grey wagtail on the search for food in and by the Smestow Brook as it passed over the Water Bridge. Small and lively bird which seems to time its appearances at the bridge when I have only brought a relatively low powered camera lens.

Not a very salubrious subject, but a sign of wild animal activity just a few yards from one of the main raods into the city. Badgers have dug a hole in the soil to use as a latrine.

Moorhen on the engine hatch of one of the narrowboats in the canal moorings at Newbridge.

Mycenae, small spindly mushrooms, growing on wood chippings in Castle Grounds, Bridgnorth.

Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) dragonfly at rest on one of the trees by the Breadwalk at Ludford. This species seems to be more likely to be found away from the immediate vicinity of water than other types of dragonfly, and more likely to tolerate someone standing near to where they are resting.

Plums on the same branch ripening at different rates. Growing in the orchard at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery.

It’s been a good year for lords and ladies (wild arum) with lots of berries ripeing. A patch of the plants were growing in small groups at the end of Coppice Lane, Tettenhall.

Shades of green in these monkey puzzle flowers at the end of a branch on a tree by Codsall railway station.

Heron looking alert but unfazed at how close I was. Standing in a willow tree, no foliage back in January 2014.

Crinkly lichen growing on the trunk of a tree in Himley Plantation.

Common darter dragonfly at rest on the wooden railing of the pool at Compton Park. Another brief presence which seems to be over. The first summer after the pool had been made, it was alive with damselflies and dragonflies, several species of each, present in some numbers. Every year since, the vegetation has taken over more and more of the open water, and insect abundance has gone down.

This year there have been just a few damselflies, almost all common blues. Dragonflies have been few and far between for a couple of years now. If there have been any at all this year, I’ve missed them. Here is one from 2016.

UPDATE: weeks after I scheduled this to appear, I finally saw two male common darters in the area in early September. Pictures coming in October.