Category: David

The pond at Northycote Farm with a thin cover of ice last week.

Uneven surface to the ice near the edge of the pond. Perhaps from gasses given off by rotting vegetation in the pond, the surface of the bubbles frozen before they burst.

Heavy rain must have splashed mud onto these snowdrops, growing in the woods behind Northycote Farm Country Park.

The recent wet weather had left it very muddy under foot at Northycote Farm Country Park last week. Most of the farm animals seemed happy with the conditions, especially the pigs.

Turkeytail is one of the commonest of the bracket fungi. It grows on dead wood, such as this East Park tree stump.

The green colour here is algae growing on the fungus – the upper surface of turkeytail fungi have bands of different colours, which sometimes include green.

The bandstand at East Park has been temporarily removed for some much-needed TLC. While it is gone, the base is left looking forlorn.

Scarlet elf cups are very distinctive fungi, shaped like small cups with a bright red interior and a pale white or yellowish exterior.

They grow on dead wood from many species of deciduous trees.

Supposedly fairly common in winter and early spring, but often hidden in the vegetable litter under trees, or even underground.

These were growing on a pile of fallen branches a short distance from the Ranger Station in the Smestow Valley LNR.