Author: David

Isolated among the litter of the leaves which fell last autumn, a lone crocus with a flower just on the point of opening.

As we went through the entrance to Bantock Park, there was a mistle thrush on the ground, looking for things to eat in the short grass. nearby, a handful of redwings were doing the same.

As I was getting my camera out, someone walking his dog came towards them. The birds retreated to the safety of nearby trees.

The mistle thrush stayed on the branch, watchful and occasionally preening.

Yuccas in parks and front gardens across Wolverhampton flowered around the turn of the year, I think for the second time. This is what was left after the flowers had shrivelled on one of the plants in West Park.

Probably scarlet elf cups are my favourite fungi. Cup fungi fruiting bodies have a distinctive shape. These in particular have a bright colour not often seen in nature in the depths of winter, when they appear.

They grow on dead wood, usually fallen twigs and branches, and they are a centimetre or two wide when full grown. So despite their vivid colour, they can be easily missed among the leaf litter and other detritus.

There’s a patch of the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve not far from the Newbridge access points where they have been for the past few years. I’ve managed to get down to see them every year, but this year I left it so late that I thought I might have missed them.

Caught them just in time, although these, in the Paddock, look like they would be unlikely to be around for much longer.

Daffodils by the pond at Bantock Park, mid-February as the flower buds were just beginning to develop, but not yet showing any trace of yellow.

A tree had been brought down, fallen right across the Smestow Brook near Newbridge. These fungi were growing from the trunk, directly over the middle of the stream.

The fruiting bodies must have emerged after the tree had fallen. There were more tiny ones speckling the trunk, just emerging. Because of the position of the fungi, there was no way of getting close enough for a proper ID even if I’d wanted to.