Category: David

Turkey tail fungus growing on, and slowly killing, a buddleia bush. Turkey tail is a very common bracket fungus, which parasites many species f trees.

Round about this time of year, some of the short grass areas in West Park become a sea of daisies. This also makes those areas popular among many of the park’s birds. There’s often a mixed pack of feeding geese, with a few greylags among the Canadas. Magpies and carrion crows also favour the area, seeming to prefer it when they are the biggest birds around.

Leaves from the second of the neighbouring Japanese acers in Bantock Park. I find this tree’s red foliage less dramatic than its companion. The touches of green add variety, but I’m not sure they make it more interesting.

Lords and ladies (more formally, wild arum) flowers when they had first opened, at the start of the month, and before anything had begun to nibble away at them.

The spike at the centre holds the tiny flowers, and later the brightly coloured berries. It’s called a spadex, plural spadices.

Japanese acer near the house and the formal garden at Bantock Park. One of two planted near to each other with leaves which are in different shades of red when they first open in the spring.

One of the West Park magpies in a patch of long grass near the Conservatory. The greylag goslings, recently hatched and still tiny when these pictures were taken, were in the same patch of long grass being guarded by three adults.

I had my suspicions that the magpie was after bigger prey than insects hidden in the grass. So did the adult geese, who made sure the magpie never got too close to the young ones.