Wolves Wild

Turkey tail fungi are common, growing on dead wood: stumps and fallen trunks. Like many bracket fungi, they seem indiffefrent to extremes of temperature, and can be spotted at any time of year.

Growing on the same front garden wall, two mosses, both heavily frosted. One is grey-cushioned grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata). The other, forming a thick mat, may be cypress-leaved plait-moss (Hypnum cupressiforme).

The brittle remains of last years stem and seed heads of an umbellifer growing in the Paddock in sthe Smestow Valley Nature Reserve, outlined in frost on a cold January morning.

One of the West Park magpies hunting for food in an area of short grass. As the frosting of the grass hints, the soil was frozen solid. nevertheless, the ground wasn’t completely barren. The bird was managing to find something to eat.

Distant views of alders, bare of leaves for the winter but the branches given a reddish tinge from the colour of the catkins. The trees were on the islnad in the West Park lake, and by the pond in Compton Park.

During January’s cold spell, the West Park lake was half frozen over. At the times when I visited, there was enough open water left to accommodate all the birds, if swimming rather more closely together than usual. But a few of the more adventurous, or perhaps anti-social, gulls were standing or walking on the ice instead.