David

This goose and duck seemed to be operating as an ill-assorted pair, at least for the purposes of trying to hustle bread from me as I walked along a towpath.

White plumage in water fowls means they are probably domesticated, though possibly now escapees.

They were hanging out on the canal at Wightwick recently.

This small and ornate statuette is one of a pair from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur.

It is in the British Museum. Its twin is in a gallery in the United States.

Still weather where there are lots of chances for spotting the water lingering on plants after the latest bout of rain.

Here are a couple of roses I noticed recently.

Another tiny insect, possibly a shield bug, standing on a nettle leaf.

This view of a roadside thistle’s flower was taken early last month.

A ragwort in Barley Field: the last of the flowers was going over, most turning to seed, some of which had already dispersed.

This tiny insect on a nettle leaf had a carapace banded in pale and very dark green.

The more delicate cousin of the garden pest, bindweed, is often found on roadsides.

Broad-leaf trees have begun the change into their autumn colours before they lose their leaves entirely.

At the end of last month, Tettenhall ridge showed only the slightest signs of this starting. On the same day, a tall beech on Albert Road was already a mixture of reds and yellows in the crown.

Earth stars often grow in places were they are obscured by other vegetation. This one was only visible through a gap in a dense howthorn hedge.