Take a gentle stroll around West Park at a time when very few people are around, and there’s every chance of spotting at least one rat. Once anyone (or any dog) gets too close, they scuttle of to the shelter of the undergrowth. Their preference, as here, is shrubs and bushes where the leaves come close to ground level.
The coot chicks were several days old by now, but there were still no signs they were ready to venture out from the nest. They were, however, raising their heads higher, showing more clearly.
Another species of inkcap mushroom. This time it’s common inkcaps (Coprinopsis atramentaria) growing on a fallen tree trunk. They were almost directly across on the other side of the Railway Walk from yesterday’s glistening inkcaps.
I arrived at the West Park lake just as this pair of swans were coming to the end of the co-ordinated routine which is their pre-mating ritual. For perhaps a quarter of a minute, the cob mounted the pen, his weight half submerging her in the water.
Then a brief reprise of the pre-mating ritual as they paid attention to one another. Necking takes on new meanings when performed using necks as long and flexible as these.
By the platform near Cupcake Junction tearoom (the former Tettenhall station on what is now the Smestow Valley Railway Walk) a group of mushrooms growing on dead wood. These are glistening inkcaps (Coprinellus micaceus). These look as if they have already attracted the attention of some slugs or snails.
The dead wood they are growing on can’t be seen: it’s probably dead tree roots. Lots of fungi grow on dead wood, and play a vital role in recycling its constituent elements.
Ever on the alert, watching and listening, a magpie stalks on a patch of short grass in West Park, occasionally stooping to pick off another insect.