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David

Dutchmans breeches

Dutchmans breeches flower

Normally a garden plant, with flowers that have a shape resembling the leg of traditional dutch trousers.

This one must have been an escape. It was growing in a hedgerow near Worfield. The pictures were taken just before the flowers were completely out.

Dutchmans breeches leaves

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David

Wild-type rose

Wild-type rose

Actually growing in a neighbour’s garden.

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David

How quickly the gulls move in

How quickly the gulls move in

Black-headed gulls settling in the muddy field shown in the previous post. The gulls were previously resident elsewhere in Compton Park, but have moved to an environment where they are more at home.

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David

Former playing field, Compton Park

Former playing field, Smestow Valley

A former playing field next door to Smestow Valley Reserve’s Barley Field. To become the water feature for the residential development on Compton Park, and currently a muddy expanse.

The field is in the lower course of the Graiseley brook. This is one of the hidden streams of Wolverhampton, enclosed for almost all its length since Victorian times. It joins the Smestow just beyond the Railway Walk and the Staffs & Worcs canal, which are behind the trees in the background of the picture.

The brook used to run underground here, though evidently close to the surface – parts of the field became marshy after rain. Now it has been exposed.

The recent heavy rain has filled up the brook, as well as converting the rest of the field to soggy mud. The picture was taken yesterday. The mud might have dried a little with today’s welcome repite in the weather.

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David

Horizontal spider’s web

Horizontal spider web

This small web was (more or less) horizontal in the long grass of Barley Field in the Smestow Valley LNR.

The heavy dew showed it was built up of a complex network of filaments, not the traditional radial and concentric circles pattern.

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David

Yellow lily

Lily

A plant growing in someone’s front garden: it just caught my eye.