Canada geese feeding

Canada geese feeding

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

Canada geese feeding

Lilac bonnet

Lilac bonnet

This delicately coloured mushroom grows in leaf litter – here at the roadside by the Million, a Forestry Commission wood near Kinver.

Lilac bonnet

Holly berries

Holly berries

Holly has bright red berries as winter comes, and deep green leaves all year long. It’s easy to see why it should be taken as a mid-winter decoration symbolising continuing life.

Holly berries

Cortinarius

Honey fungus, possibly

The stem is hard to see, hidden even in this short grass.

The cap is covered in a what looks like a made to measure yellow hairnet.

CORRECTION: identified by Lukas Large as probably a honey fungus

Gulls

Gulls

On the left is a lesser black backed gull. Next come two black headed gulls. Then on the right another lesser black backed gull, this time an adult bird.

All are surveying a playing field – a likely spot to find a roost of gulls in the city.

Puffball

Puffball

These fungi release their spores when hit by drops of rain, the escaping pores looking like puffs of smoke.

Two different puffball species for the price of one today.

Puffball

Hazel catkins

Hazel catkins

Already by early December the first signs of spring, even though it’s unlikely we have seen the worst of the winter.

Until recent years, the expectation would be that these hazel catkins would not come out before January.

Birch bolete

Birch bolete

Another common bolete species, this one found in association with (surprise!) birch trees

Mosses

Moss

Seem to be able to grow just about anywhere, even directly out of stone or brick walls, so long as they can get enough moisture.

The example above was growing from a dead bough of a rose bush, the one below on a stone bird bath.

Moss