David

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.

The bird’s nest fungus is an uncommon fungus which looks like tiny nests holding miniature birdseggs.

A small clump of them were growing near the sandy stiltballs which featured in a post yesterday.

Another mushroom hiding in short grass on a lawn. This is the species most commonly found forming rings, though not here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/7794034524

This tiny, elegant mushroom was almost hidden behind a stalk of clover.

A very rare mushroom which grows on well-drained sandy soil. I noticed some growing by a quiet lane near Bridgnorth last year.

After this summer, I half expected they wouldn’t appear this year.

I went back to the spot a few hours ago. The area was much more overgrown than it had been this time last year.

But the stiltballs were, if anything, more abundant this time round.

Some had been drained of colour. These were very old ones, perhaps from last year.