https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/4106209344
Two harleqin ladybirds on a fence post. They are showing some of the rich variation in appearance of this species.
Wildlife from Wolverhampton and nearby
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/4106209344
Two harleqin ladybirds on a fence post. They are showing some of the rich variation in appearance of this species.
Black-headed gulls are the type of gull most often found inland.
As these pictures show, the name can be misleading.
For most of the year, their heads are white. The black heads are only on the adult birds during the breeding seasons. Even then, the colour is actually a dark chocolate brown which looks black in most lights.
These gulls had landed on the rail around the boating lake in West Park as they kept one beady eye on the people feeding the birds.
The white flecks or warts on the cap of this toadstool are the remnants of a veil which surrounds the mushroom as it pushes up through the soil.
Rain will wash them off, leaving a pure red cap, as here. The yellow marking near the apex is where something has begun to nibble at the fungus.
Further rain, especially heavy rain, will also begin to leach away the bright red colour, leaving oranges or yellows. Such can be seen in this rather bedraggled specimen.
In shape, it looks like a tiny, squashed cup, without any visible stem.
Grows on open soil under trees.
These are new specimens. Very soon, they become paler on the outer surface, and more and more resemble fragments of discarded orange peel to a casual glance – a process which has gone a little further along in the specimens below.