David

Velvet shanks which have already been around for a few days. They have something, perhaps a mould, growing on their upper surface.

These were growing in the same place at the same time as those in the previous post.

Velvet shank fungi are among the few brightly-coloured growing things in the depths of winter.

These were growing from a tree trunk fallen across the platform near the Smestow Valley Ranger Station a month ago. Although they had only freshly grown, something had already begun to nibble at them.

Mahonia early-spring flowers, some still as unopened buds, others already losing a few petals.

Flowers beginning to come out on another of the shrubs in West Park.

Bird footprint left behind in soft mud. I didn’t see the bird which made it, but based on the birds feeding on the ground nearby it may have been a blackbird or a song thrush.

Pink and white hellebores, flowering by a roadside on a sunny morning after rain recently.