Category: David

Ducklings in the canal at Newbridge, still losing their downy plumage earlier this month. Perhaps a second brood.

Moorhens have raised a pair of chicks on the new pool in Compton Park this summer. The birds have spent a lot of time hiding in the reeds whenever there were people or dogs about. Now this chick is getting older it is spending more time in the open.

Berries at various stages of ripeness with a background of leaves mottled with age and possibly viral infection. Altogether an example of an autumnal colour palette.

These mushrooms are not particularly deceptive – their delicate pale purple colour is quite distinctive. The name comes because they are closely related to another species, simply called deceivers, which are pale brown and so variable in form that it is easy to mistake them for many other types of toadstool.

Striking berries on two spindle trees. One is growing wild by the Smestow Valley Ranger Station (recently opened as a tea room). The other in a front garden of a quiet side street only a few minutes walk away.

Like many other fruit and berries, the haws are ripening early this year, and are more plentiful than usual.