David

I’ve been on the look out for earth stars all winter, previously without any success.

Finally, tried a spot in the undergrowth by the footpath along the Penk at Perton. Most years, there’s a handful of collared earth stars (by far the most common species) there. This year, I stopped counting when I got to twenty.

Every winter, alder trees have a mass of long dangling male catkins and cone shaped fruits hanging from the same twigs. The female catkins, shaped like the fruits, will begin to develop soon, green rather than brown in colour.

These were on a tree by the Penk at Perton.

Velvet shank mushrooms grow on dead wood in the winter months. When they are wet after rain, they look like they are slimy.

Finchfield jackdaw flying off to a safer spot after being disturbed by someone walking their dog.

Every time I go along the Railway Walk between Newbridge and Compton, the ear fungus growing up the trunk of an elder looks like it has a different texture.

Ice on the then partially-frozen surface of the West Park lake. Bubbles of air below the ice, several inches across, seemed to have been spawning much smaller bubbles.