David

Two spiders webs on a metal fence, the one behind the other, made more prominent by the morning dew recently.

Mushrooms with fibrous-looking grey caps growing in short grass.

A mass of fungus growing from the base of a tree stump.

Seen on the green at Worfield recently.

The blackened remains of an older fungus were also present near the middle of the stump.

Squirrel standing on the stump of a tree which had been cut down at shoulder level. It seemed totally unconcerned at people walking close by.

One of the many swans on the river Avon in the centre of Stratford.

As the berries on this hawthorn ripen, the lichen growing on the tree forms the cups (or more accurately the ascocarps) which are its fruiting bodies.

Berries growing on garden bushes visible from the pavements.

I liked the combinations of colours, though I had no idea what types of bushes they were.

A red admiral rests on the dried-out stem of an old umbellifer, warming itself in the late-October sun. As it warmed its wings, it showed first their upper- then their undersurface.

A red cracking bolete growing on a grassy bank between the Civic Centre and the ring road. The splitting cap shows the reddening which gives it its name.

Side view showing the pores, rather than gills, where the spores come out.

A couple of days later, and a view from above showing how much of the mushroom had since been eaten.

Black-headed gull standing in shallow water in the Severn, at the tip of a small island near the (old) bridge over the river.

All the water birds gather on or by the island. It’s far enough from the river bank for them to feel safe, but near enough for them to get the bread which is thrown to them.