Tree of heaven

Tree of heaven

Exotic trees often produce the strongest colours of autumn. The tree of heaven originated in China.

Its leaves turn a subtle mix of yellows, oranges and even pinks.

The large flower or seed head of this one shows it is a female tree.

Tree of heaven

Slug on a towpath

Slug on a towpath

One set of creatures which have benefited from the long spell of wet weather has been slugs.

This one was sliding along the canal towpath near Compton in the middle of the day a couple of weeks ago.

Slug on a towpath

Dahlia flowers with raindrops

Dahlia flowers

Another gift from the new world, and now a common garden plant. It seemed like there was at least one raindrop still resting on every petal of this group of flowers.

Hollyhocks after rain

Hollyhocks after rain

Late-blooming hollyhocks at the start of this month. The flowers are enhanced by the water drops on them after recent rain – a common theme this year.

Old and new leaves on a willow

Old and new leaves on a willow

Pictured at the start of this month, a willow shows the buds of next year’s leaves growing while the ones they are to replace are still on the tree, although showing their age.

Shiny rose hips

Rose hips

It may have been a poor year for fruiting for many plants, but not for this rose bush growing in Barley Field.

Post number 2000: Autumn scene, West Park

Autumn scene, West Park

View across the floral bed to a large tree whose leaves were just beginning to turn autumnal at the end of last month.
With this post, the number of posts has reached 2,000, with at least one post a day since September 2009. There have been more than 3,500 photos and 35 short videos, almost all taken within a day’s round trip travel of Wolverhampton.

I don’t feel any nearer to exhausting the range of subject matter than I did when the blog started.

Spider in a sunlit web

Spider in a sunlit web

Cross spiders are a common species in gardens. There are lots of them about at this time of year.

This one was easy to spot because the sun was catching its web, which still held some drops of water after overnight rain.

Young blackbird on a wall

Young blackbird on a wall

The rather odd appearance is of a young blackbird  just about to get its adult plumage (about six weeks ago).