David

Bindweed flowers, coloured a delicate shade of pink. Spreading along the wall of the former lock-keeper’s cottage by Wightwick lock.

Another find from peeping over the front walls of gardens. These lurid boletes were a recent growth, but had already proved popular with some of the local wildlife – probably slugs or snails.

This year, the yews seem to have lost almost all their seeds very early, with lots brought down by winds and birds earing up what remained. I did manage to find one tree with a few still on.

They look like berries, but the seeds are actually on tiny cones. The squishy red jackets are arils: tasty to some birds, poisonous for people.

A spider’s web, visible as it caught the sunlight. I couldn’t see the spider itself, but is will have been lurking somewhere nearby, waiting for the web to catch something more substantial.

Fruits and berries are ripening. Fungi are starting to get a little more frequent. And the first changes of colour of autumn leaves has begun, starting at the extremities of the affected trees.

These are on a tall maple, growing by the lake in West Park.

Forcing its way up from under the concrete base of a garden fence, a mushroom of some kind. Probably not one of those which is good to eat.

Two swans, likely a pair, by the West Park island, just visible through the overhanging tree branches. As they preened, they looked almost like a singe creature with long flexible necks at each end.

Blackberries slowly getting darker and shinier as they ripen. Pick and eat to confirm they also get juicier and sweeter.

Quite a lot of the flowers were never fertilized this year. The weather this spring did not help bring the insects out.

One of the rats in West Park, probably a young one. It was very quiet, no people or dogs for the rats to worry about. Bit it was still very wary. A robin flew by, and the rat retreated under the hedge until the bird had gone. Then it was back to forays on the footpath.

Remains of the flowers surround the developing seeds on the stem, where one flower still remained.