David

Can you identify this tree? Hint – it is not a Christmas tree.

Picture taken 26th September.

And, for a somewhat clearer view, this picture was taken at the start of this month when most of the other trees had lost their leaves.

Boletes are toadstool fungi which have pores rather than gills at the base of the caps, through which to release their pores.

This common bolete is one of the easiest boletes to recognise. The upper surface of the cap appears to crack, revealing pinkish or reddish flesh below.

Frosted leaves, a sycamore key and a tiny web.

But already the new year’s growth is peeping through.

Bunches of keys holding last year’s fruit hang from the same branches of the ash tree which are already showing the buds of the new year’s growth.

Moorhen striding gingerly over the frozen boating lake in West Park.

Even a partial freezing of the West Park boating lake is causing a problem for these birds.

The squirrels of West Park are so used to being fed that it is moot whether they are wild.

These are such spectacular mushrooms, so here are another couple of them.

This fungus looks like a congealed foam on rotting wood, including, as here, on tree stumps.

This closer view also shows tiny puffballs nearby.

This flock were systematically going over the patch of ground which was very soft after recent rainfall.