Wolves Wild

Tansy, flowering earlier this month on a plant growing by the footpath along the River Avon, just outside Stratford on Avon.

I never previously noticed blue roundhead (Stropharia caerulea) mushrooms before. But this autumn, they seem to be popping up all over the place. The blue colour on these was very faded, or rather literally washed out after lots of heavy rain.

Pictures taken on a return visit to a site where these mushrooms had previously been much more vivid in hue

Rain to the west, shortly after sunrise. The result, an early morning rainbow which was both brighter and bigger than normal.

West Park with its lake provides a winter haven for a few wildfowl living in the area. Each year a small flock, perhaps ten or a dozen, tufted ducks forms as the weather begins to get harder. They are now starting to gather.

Mazegills, bracket fungi which grow on the trunks of trees. Their undersides look like a complex maze. That’s the gills where the spores are released. This may be an oak mazegill (Daedalea quercina), on a fallen trunk in Himley Plantation.

Growing on the front lawn in front of a block of flats, the blusher. A mushroom which turns pale pink when cut or bruised.