David

More pictures from earlier Decembers today. These magpie inkcaps appeared for several years in the Castle Grounds park in Bridgnorth, brought in on the wood chip mulch. The fungi must have consumed all they can extract – there’s been no sign of the mushrooms for a couple of years now.

A short winter visit to West Park four years ago – these pictures taken on new year’s Eve 2017 – an Egyptian goose which was concentrating on preening.

More pictures from pre-pandemic Decembers, which I never got round to posting at the time. Saw these collared earth star fungi on a Boxing Day walk in 2013, were growing under the hedge by the footpath along the canal at Castlecroft.

December 2010, the day before Christmas Eve. A snowy towpath by the canal at Compton. A heron, huddled against the cold, hoping for fish.

December 1st, 2009, a bright and frosty morning. Waxcap mushrooms in the short grass of the Upper Green at Tettenhall, decorated with crystals of ice.

This winter, swans are gathering on West Park lake in record numbers. Most years, the population reaches somewhere in the mid teens. Currently there are at least twenty two. These were seen on a cloudless morning when the reflections of the sky turned the lake bright blue, and added a similar tint to some of the swans’ feathers.