Category: David

Tall weeping willow growing by the canal very near to Autherley Junction, with the leaves on its drooping branches just beginning to turn an autumnal yellow.

Brain purple-drop fungus, also known as jelly drops or purple jellydisc, inconspicuous because it is normally small, but distinctive when spotted, gelatinous and pale purple.

It grows on dead wood, often on fallen or felled tree trunks which have been left to recycle naturally, as here in the wood at Himley Plantation.

The parasol, probably the largest mushroom there is a reasonable chance of coming across in England (though the related shaggy parasol grows almost as big and is a lot more common).

The ones pictured in this set were in a group of fifteen or more in Himley Plantation in mid-October.

View looking over the small pond at the top end of Turner’s Field in the Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve.

Adult heron standing high in one of the conifers on an island in the West Park lake.

Common inkcaps growing in a patch of short grass at the bqck of the new Sainsbury’s store on the edge of Wolverhampton city centre. Some of the mushrooms had only recently emerged, others had more or less completely deliquesced: as they lose their spores, the caps turn to a black mush from the rim inwards. Apparently this helps the spores disperse more effectively.