Category: David

The red stems of these elderberries match the colour of the unripe fruit, which darken to black as they become ready to eat.

A spider species often seen resting in the centre of large webs in the autumn, with a variety of vernacular names. Variously the European garden spider, diadem spider, crowned orb weaver, or cross spider. This close-up shows the origin of the last one on that list.

The ones on the webs are females.

The evergreen leaves of yews set off the lucious red of the berries – technically they are not berries, though they are usually called that. The dark bit visible in the middle is a cone, modified to hold just a single seed. The red outer is an aril. Like the flesh of a berry, its purpose is to get birds to eat it.

Look out for yews in churchyards, especially round old churches.

Ivy is one of the last plants to flower – through Ocotober and into November. The flowers attract a lot of insects, especially on warm, sunny mornings.

Sometimes there can be several red admiral butterflies on the same ivy, with the insects are so busy eating that it is possible to get quite close to them.

Rusty chains on a jetty in the fishing port at Brixham.

The weakest link is perhaps the chains themselves, which are probably the kind used to weigh down the nets in one type of trawling, and which ecologists argue cause damage to the sea floor and the things which live there.

Orange grisette mushroom growing under the trees at the back of Bantock House on the edge of the Pitch and Putt Course recently.