Collared earth stars growing by the path along the Penk at Perton recently. The fruiting bodies of these distictive fungi must have been out for some time and got rid of most or all of their spores. One of the peridoles – the roughly spherical casing of the gleba or spore mass – had collapsed in on itself, a bit like a deflated football.
Magpie on the frozen mud of a dried-up puddle in, West Park. It was pecking unenthusiastically at the surface, looking for something to eat.
Oyster fungus on the fine old vine of a mature wisteria. Oyster fungus are cultivated commercially, destined for the supermarket shelf and the kitchen. They are also a white rot fungus, a fatal parasite on trees and similar woody plants.
Clumps of snowdrops growing in the wooded area in front of the house in Bantock Park.
Pair of coots just starting building a nest near the edge of Anglers Pool, Perton, late in January. One bird was frequently pecking at the neck feathers of the other – reinforcing the pair bond?
Clumps of a particularly bushy moss and a lichen growing on a gnarly twig.
