This year has been a very poor one for many fruits and berries.
A few days ago, I went to the edge of the Barley Field in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve. There’s a patch of blackthorn bushes there.
At this time of year they are usually covered in ripening sloes. This was the only one I could spot.
A pine cone and a sycamore leaf which had taken on autumn colours had fallen close together onto grass.
Unripe (yellowish) and riper berries on a St John’s wort bush glisten after yet another bout of rain.
A dandelion, moss and other plants force their way up through the mortar of a paved path. The plants look like they are the green of spring, but the picture was only taken a few days ago.
Crows often menace birds of prey larger than themselves to try to drive them out of a territory whivh both birds claim.
This carrion crow and buzzard both live in or near the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve, and were re-enacting a scene I regularly see wheh I am walking across the Barley Field section of the reserve. Most of the pictures I take show silhouettes or blurs, but this time both birds came out clearly, even showing the pattern on the underside of the buzzard’s wings.
The buzzard is one of a pair which often fly together. This was the larger one: the female.
Black-headed gulls and lesser black backed gulls settled on the same ground on a playing field.
