Category: David

A patch of ivy growing near Compton Mill lock must have been in a favourable position. It had already started flowering earlier than the rest, over a week ago, so there were wasps all over it, feeding.

The recent strong winds brought down a lot of acorns and conkers before they had ripened. I had taken this picture a couple of days earlier.

From the same visit to Wightwick Manor gardens as the previous post. This mushroom is, as its name implies, associated with birch trees, as are several other fungi. Perhaps it is a harbinger of the fungi flush, the autumn period which marks peak visibility.

Last weekend was Heritage Open Day, and the chance to see the garden at Wightwick Manor without the usual entrance charge. Pictured here are some of the trees whose leaves were beginning to take on autumnal colours.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/6130897808

As the name implies, this is an introduced species. It’s very common along the local canals – these particular plants were growing at the edge of the lowest pool by Bratch locks in Wombourne.

An imaginative floral decoration in the Castle Grounds Park, Tamworth, placed to guard the start of the path up to the castle itself.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/6130333121

This comma was resting high up on an ivy. So it was giving a fairly clear view of its underwing, including the pale comma which gives the species its name.

The arch is on a gentle hill at the highest point in the park. It is modelled on the Arch of Hadrian (Athens, not Rome).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davea2007/6130148343

Maturing cones from a couple of conifers. The first two pictures are from an example of an ornamental species in a roadside garden near Rudge Heath. The others are of one of the trees next to the West Park Conservatory.

This is the Shugborough folly closest to the big house.

It’s modelled on a building which was in Athens. Reputedly the first floor was used as a gambling den and the ground floor as a dairy – an implausible combination