David

A starling on a vantage point well-protected by thorns.

The bright sunlight brought out the speckling and iridescence in the bird’s plumage.

Fibbbersley is one of Walsall’s Local Nature Reserves. It is in Willenhall, near the border with Wolverhampton, and one of the many Black Country LNRs where nature has reclaimed a one-time site of mining, quarrying or industry.

Razor strop fungus, also known as birch polypores, can last for up to a year, almost always on birch trees.

This one had been around for some time.

A scarlet elf cup fungus growing on timber near the canal at Newbridge. The timber had been on the ground long enough to be supporting a healthy growth of moss.

These were growing on another pile of timber by the nearby Smestow Valley Ranger Station – pictures of others from this patch in a previous post here.

Today’s pictures were taken in mid-February.

A dead tree in the woods by the ruins at Northycote Farm, pictured on one of the few sunny days recently.

A bracket fungus growing on a willow tree in the small wood between Finchfield and Merry Hill, seen from below and from above.

CORRECTION: identified by Lukas Large as probably a blushing bracket