This feeding party of black-headed gulls had a couple of jackdaws as hangers-on. They were spending an unworried Sunday using the Wolves training ground as a dining area; secure in the knowledge that I was the other side of the fence.
Category: David
Clouded agaric, possibly
Old man’s beard with seeds
Honey fungus close-up
Blackened waxcaps
Lightly-frosted buddleia leaves
Red admiral butterfly on a brick wall
Tiny mushroom in short grass 2
Tiny mushroom in short grass 1
Views on Barrow Hill LNR
Barrow Hill in Pensnett is a fascinating local nature reserve run by Dudley council.
The former claypit at Tansey Green is outside the bounds of the reserve, and is now a privately-run fishing pool. The world’s earliest known three-dimensional fossils of conifers were found here. They were originally buried under ash from eruptions of the Barrow Hill volcano three hundred million year or so ago.
The fossil-containing layers on the site have now been re-covered with spoil from the claypit for preservation. Some of the excavated fossils can be seen in Dudley museum.
A stretch of the Pensnett railway walk, once the course of one of the many railway lines which criss-crossed the area serving the numerous mines and quarries. A stretch of the railway walk forms the western edge of the LNR.
The chimney is all that is left of one of the mines which used to be active in the area which is now the LNR. The distant view shows the land beyond, which continues to be working farmland to the present day.