David

Autumn is the peak time for fungi, so that’s why they are dominating the posts at the moment.

The panther cap is not a particularly common mushroom, but this one was growing right by a canal bank near Compton.

This specimen seems to have proved a reliable food source for something small in the way of the local wildlife. All pictures are of the same individual. The top two are views from the side and top; the lowest picture was taken a couple of days earlier as the toadstool emerged, already nibbled at.

The steep angle of the cap of this toadstool gives it a funnel shape.

This series of pictures are of two fruiting bodies of the same fungus.

The top two pictures show the toadstools directly from above.

These next two show the same toadstools from the side, in the same order.

These two pictures show the so-called ring, the structure around the stem.

This final picture shows how the two were located in relation to each other.

These cross spiders are huge, and have grown very rapidly – presumably the female of the species.

The top two pictures are of the same individual, as seen first from above and then below.

This tiny mushroom was just visible in the recently mown grass is the barley field in the Smestow Brook Nature Reserve.

A bee getting nectar a couple of weeks ago.

These mushrooms were growing in lawn-length grass on the edge of a local playing field.

This chrysalis had taken up residence on the lid of a barbecue.

This clump of tiny mushrooms had pushed their way through tarmac which had only been laid down a couple of months ago. Pictured newly emerged and then a day later.

Unmistakable in the way it does resemble an old man’s beard when the seeds are riper, but even stranger looking at this time of year.