Category: David

Old man’s beard seed beginning to ripen, not yet developing the whispy white fronds which give the plant its name.

A climbing plant sometimes found covering hedges, it also grows abundantly on the face of the cliff by the river at Bridgnorth.

Views across the River Avon at Stratford, looking towards Holy Trinity church downstream or the tramway bridge upstream. A thin mist rising from the water.

Pictures taken just before and just after sunrise. I like the period in the weeks immediately after the clocks go back. The photography-friendly early morning light is not too early, but still early enough that the only people about are those hurrying to work.

Bunch of glossy black privet berries ripening in a garden hedge.

Autumn colours don’t always mean the reds, yellows and browns of leaves preparing to fall, or the reds, yellows and blacks of ripening fruits and berries.

At this time of year the unripe mistletoe berries are the same green shade as the plant’s leaves and stems. They will eventually turn white as they ripen in time to be used as Christmas decorations.

These were growing conveniently only a few feet over head height on some of the apple trees in the orchard at Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

Female pheasant looking around as it crossed on of the paths in the large garden at New Place, one of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust properties in Stratford on Avon.

Seen on a visit to the Woodland Trust’s Himley Plantation over the weekend, common stinkhorns. Quite a few others making their presence felt by their smell, but hidden in the undergrowth.

The tip of the fungus is normally a sticky brown layer which has the spores, usually a darker colour than the “egg” the fruiting bodies emerges from. Although these specimens looked fresh, the spore-containing layer may have been washed off by the overnight rain.