Wolves Wild

Possibly the brightest splashes of natural colour which appears in the depth of winter is on the fruiting bodies of scarlet elf cups. The bright red of the insides of the cups is easy to miss: the largest cups are thimble-sized; they grow on dead wood, so they are often half hidden among the debris under trees. They spring up around the middle of January, then hang around for a few weeks.

These were in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve, in spots where they’ve been coming back each year for a decade or more, behind the former Tettenhall station and by the footpath in the Paddock.

A young cormorant which had turned up on one of the West Park islands yesterday morning. It spent most of the time we were there standing on the guard rail around the island. Occasionally it spread its wings to dry its feathers, and once it bent down to take a drink of water.

As we were about to go, it took to the water. On its first three dives, it came up without catching anything. But with the number of fish in there, it won’t have gone hungry.

Someone at Perton seems to be a member of the “crotchet covers for pillarboxes” movement, and their speciality seems to be seasonal festivals with the inclusion of 3-D animals.

Last year (I noticed it in December 2021 to be precise) a crotchet with a Christmas-card feel which included robins and a penguin. On a visit to the estate a few days ago, I pictured the latest offer. The recent Chinese new Year saw the start of the Year of the Rabbit. The centrepiece of the crotchet was indeed a rabbit, standing alongside one of the dragons which feature in Chinese New Year parades.

Shortly before January’s snow and ice all melted, scenes along the Smestow Valley. The canal from the canal bridge at Newbridge, and glimpsed between the girders of Meccano Bridge. Further along the Railway Walk, the path at level crossing leading to the Barley Field.

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).