Wolves Wild

Rat which came out from the shelter of vegetation in West Park. It scuttled across open ground, and stretched out to the lake for a quick drink.

Goose hoping to be fed, so it came close enough for me to get its portrait.

Looking downstream along the River Avon at Stratford, with the riverside church looming out of the mist.

The pictures I post here have normally only had the most limited of digital editing: colour adjustment (including the occasional black and white); spot removal, and cropping.

This picture is the exception. A nearby gull intruded one out of focus wing into the left of the picture as it flew overhead. I had to use cloning to restore the continuity of the willow foliage to the left of the church.

The bird feeders at Northycote Farm are always well patronised, especially as the harder weather begins to set in.

On a recent visit, it only took a few minutes to grab these pictures of a nuthatch, coal tit and blue tit eating.

Bridgnorth castle ruins towering above one of the magpie inkcaps, which was surrounded by fallen oak leaves and acorns.

Inkcap species, including the magpie inkcap, shed their spores and then their caps disintegrate into a black gooey mass from the rim inwards, a process called deliquescence. About half done for this mushroom.

The goo was sometimes used to make an ink.

Magpie inkcaps, striking black and white mushrooms, are mainly found in southern England, and are not particularly common even there.

Some appear in the autumn in the grounds of Bridgnorth castle. I got quite enthusiastic about taking pictures on visits in mid-November. I don’t know if they are still there – they were showing up to the first week in December last year.

Another, very recently and still only partially emerged, fly agaric mushroom. It was a few yards from the one in the previous post. The red of the cap was more vivid yet.

The fungi in all three posts were growing under silver birches.

A fly agaric mushroom, seen two days earlier than the one in the previous post and before the heavy rain. Most of the white spots are still in place, and the red of the cap is much stronger.

It was growing in Bantock Park.

Fly agaric mushroom after heavy rain. Almost all the white spots on the cap (remnants of the veil) have been washed away, and the bright red colour has been diluted to orange. A snail or slug has been eating the cap.

Some of a large group of adult and immature swans, including the family party in the previous post. These pictures were taken one day later, on a morning when a heavy mist had limited visibility.

Swan adults and three of their four adult-sized but still immature cygnets on the lake at West Park recently. The other young bird was keeping its distance from the rest of the family during the time I was watching.