Wolves Wild

A small leaf beetle. Plagiosterna aenea is apparently not conspicuous enough to have attracted a vernacular name. Despite its size, its metallic appearance makes it stand out against the leaves it is resting on.

A poplar on Poplar Island, Shrewsbury. The trunk was home not only to the usual collection of mosses, but also to a couple of red campion plants, in flower when these pictures were taken.

A male damselfly, one of the demoiselle (or agrion) species, resting on long grass in the local nature reserve section of Poplar Island by the Severn in Shrewsbury.

Chicken of the woods fungus, a favourite of foodies, growing on one of the trees in the nature reserve section of Poplar Island, Shrewsbury.

Poplar Island isn’t (normally) an actual island. It’s almost but not complete4ly surrounded by one of the meanders of the Severn: one which forms a much tighter bend than the next one downstream which protects the centre of Shrewsbury itself. The side of the island directly across from Shrewsbury centre is a car park (regularly flooded) and sports pitch. The rest, a local nature reserve. Disturbance from joggers and dog-walkers seemed to be much less than in the Quarry. Though there were signs the chicken in the woods had been noticed by someone who had had a sharp enough knife to harvest some.

Greylag goose flying along the Severn at Shrewsbury. It landed on the water just a short while further upstram.

Attinghham Park, Atcham, just outside Shrewsbury. It’s evident that National Trust policy is to let dead wood get recycled naturally, even when the trees ate still standing.