Category: David

A scrambled egg fungus on a tree stump attracted a slug out to eat during the middle of the day.

One of the many unbellifers which thrive in the field behind Compton Lock.

Scrambled egg fungus (it has other, less appetizing names) is supposedly a fairly common fungus, though I have never noticed it before this summer.

It grows on tree stumps and other dead wood – those shown here are on wood mulch.

Once it appears, its appearance changes rapidly over the course of a day or so. It starts off the pale yellow colour which gets it the “scrambled egg” monicker.

It then fades to a white which soon develops a dirty-looking brown, grey or black surface.

Tassels on the future cobs growing on the top of a maize plant.

The thistles in this large patch were setting off their seeds into the breeze. This was the only picture from a series which actually managed to show one of the seeds heading off.

The thistle patch was in the top corner of the Smestow Valley Reserve’s Barley Field.

The beetle is tiny, but its vivid colours make it easy to spot in contrast to the white of the umbellifer flower it is feeding on.