Category: David

Small pool at the top of one of the fields between the Railway Walk and the canal in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve.

Recent clearance has opened up the path which climbs to the pond, previously pictured here.

Robins may be small, but they defend their territories aggressively most of the year.But at this time of year they get even more assertive in proclaiming their patch as the breeding season approaches.

This robin was on a branch of an elder bush hanging over the Finchfield Brook by the footpath off Coppice Road.

A peculiarly-shaped fungus which was just poking above the short grass under one of the conifers in West Park.

Lichens are composite organisms: a fungus and a plant working together, often to grow in a spot where it seems the only source of nutrition is the air. Many lichens produce structures rising proud of their main growth to disperse the spores or diaspores through which they reproduce. The ones rising here are towering and trumpet-shaped, indicating the lichen is possibly Cladonia fimbriata, a species often found on the tops of walls.

This one was growing on the top of the wall of Compton Hospice. It is growing surrounded by moss which is also sending up its fruiting bodies. They look like tiny elongated bladders on the end of long, thin stalks.

Long-tailed tits and a bluetit enthusiastically feeding on a fat ball in the bird feeding area at Northycote Farm.

The crocuses seemed to spend a long time as unopened buds this year. These were growing towards the back of Coppice Wood.