David

Candle snuff fungus forms clumps or patches of small growths which look a little like the wicks of part-used candles.

This year, the conditions seem to have been particularly good for candle snuff fungus; there’s lots of it about.

This patch was in Hawthorn Wood recently.

The trees on the top of Tettenhall ridge turning for autumn. Those lower down, by Meccano Bridge, were still green.

This patch of honey fungus was showing the signs of having been around for some time: cracked, contorted, and slightly nibbled away.

It was growing around a tree stump in Bantock Park.

A yarrow still in flower recently by the canal at Castecroft.

A cluster of warty puffballs were growing on a tree stump.

The fungi were very small, and so tightly grouped they were squeezing into one another.

One of the Smestow Valley buzzards riding a thermal over Barley Field as it gains height to go off hunting.

Little grebes return to the canal near Compton to make their winter quarters every year. They prefer to stay near the bank opposite the tow path.

The frequently dive and completely submerge themselves on the hunt for small fish. This one wasn’t fishing, but drinking the water it was swimming in.

Glistening inkcaps grow as clusters of mushrooms on dead wood. Often, as here, the wood is buried and invisible.

A spider had thoroughly entangled the top of this ageing dock plant, which was right on the edge of the canal at Castlecroft.

Comma butterfly feeding on ivy flowers. Both pictures show its long tongue reaching out for nectar.

It moved, showing the two wings on either side of its body. As far as I know, all butterflies have four wings, but commas are one of the few species which hold themselves so that it is easy to see each wing.