Category: David

Lichen growing on a branch of one of the bushes in a hedge. Parts of the surface are developing cup-shaped projections, which may be the fruiting body of the organism.

Velvet shank mushrooms growing on a fallen tree trunk opposite the Wildside Activity Centre. Because they were growing right by the towpath, it was easy to get pictures looking upwards at the base of their caps, showing the gills and the stems with the velvet-appearing surface which gives the species its name.

The pond in Turners Field on the edge of the Smestow valley, almost completely covered in a thin film of ice.

West Park magpie prospecting one of the lawns for food. It was Christmas Day. There were people in the park enjoying the wintry sun, but there was less human disturbance than usual.

Jackdaws on a chimneypot and a tv aerial. Altogether there were some 6 or 8 in a group, perhaps a family party. They spread themselves out, two to a roof, on houses on both sides of the road.

As the present cones of this conifer ripen, buds of the flowers for next year’s cones are beginning to develop. The old needles are yellowing before falling off, with the first green signs of what I presume are their replacements just beginning to show on the nearest twig.