Some type of inkcap fungus growing on a pile of wood chippings by the towpath at Newbridge.
Sometimes, chippings are brought in from elsewhere, already carrying fungal spores. But the ones by canals are generated in situ from trees and bushes pruned or felled in the maintainance work of the Canals and Rivers Trust. So this inkcap must already have been established somewhere not to far away.
Catkins on a willow a couple of weeks ago. These were on a tree growing by the canal towpath on the edge of Fowler’s Park.
Garlic by the canal towpath, a short distance from Aldersley Junction. Garlic grows in patches in damp, shady places, and flourishes before the leaves grow on the trees overhead.
When these pictures were taken, the first flower buds were beginning to appear on the garlic. Once the flowers open, wild garlic patches make themselves known by a scent of garlic, which can be overpowering on a warm spring day.
This treetop rookery is on the edge of Wolverhampton Racecourse – though it’s seen here from the other side, looking up from the canal towpath.
Red dead nettle, flowering, by the Royal tram stop. The flowers, to me, look more purple than red. And while the plant looks a bit like a nettle, it isn’t actually one. That’s why it’s “dead”, that is, it doesn’t sting.
Grey wagtail feeding on a mudbank in the Smestow Brook, between the culvert carrying the water under Wolverhampton Racecourse and Tunstall Water Bridge taking it across the canal.
A second bird was briefly visible while I was getting out my camera, but disappeared round a corner before I was ready to take any pictures.