Wolves Wild

The rats in West Park are getting ever bolder (their numbers are probably growing, too). Here, one had gone down to the edge of the lake for a drink of water.

Flowers opening on a West Park rose glorybower bush. The plant is sometimes called a Mexican hydrangea. It is not a hydrangea, and originates from China, not Mexico.

Candy-striped spider, still stoically guarding her nest. The nest is on the underside of two hazel leaves, which are stitched together by some of the outer threads of the nest.

The bindweed flowers of the Paddock at Newbridge were proving attractive to many kinds of hoverflies. Here a common flower fly is exploring one of the flowers.

Another tree likely to be in trouble. This oak on Tettenhall Upper Green has two large bracket fungi sticking to the base of the trunk.

Also known as traveller’s joy, old man’s beard is one of the few plants to flower in late summer, when most are already ripening their fruits. The only native British clematis, it climbs along hedges, sometimes also along fences.