David

The regimented ranks give the clue that these aren’t actually wild.

But they are still welcome as another sign that spring may at long last be almost here.

This hazelnut has been opened and eaten by a squirrel. The wood on which it is resting is a bench by the South Staffordshire Railway Walk. It is just about possible to make out the holes left behind by woodworm.

A bracket fungus. The visible stage should be out in the spring and summer, but this specimen had appeared before the end of January.

This oak tree was in the middle of a frosty field near Lapley. Pictured on a misty day in mid-January.

These bright mushrooms grow from towards the base of trees.

The pictured specimens were growing on different stumps along the railway walk in the Smestow Valley nature reserve and its continuation into south Staffordshire.

This lichen was growing on the sawn-off top of the trunk.

Moss was covering this and several other bracket fungi on the stump.

This ear fungus was growing on a tree stump near the pools by Donington church. Other growth on the same stump tomorrow and Wednesday.

The oak behind Boscobel House which is claimed to be a descendant of the one where Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester. From the road the tree does not look likely to last much longer.

One of the first sights on heading for Wolverhampton city centre from the railway station, the Prince Albert is somewhat overshadowed by the bulk of the Chubb Building.