Wolves Wild

Looking over from the Railway Walk into Hawthorn Wood on a wintry morning. The sunbeams breaking through the trees show the slight mist, which can form in the Smestow valley even when it is clear nearby.

Views of a swan reflected in the gentle ripples of the canal at Castlecroft, distorted as if seen in a fairground mirror. One straightforward view of (I think) the same swan is included for comparison.

Candle snuff fungus growing in a set of clumps on the stump of a tree.

Pair of mallards swimming off along the canal on a misty morning.

Alder catkins on a sunny morning. From a distance they made the tree look purple.

A tiny nuthatch on the trunk of a tree in Bantock Park recently.

Ear fungus growing close to the ground on a fallen tree trunk.

Frosty bramble (blackberry) branches with their vicious thorns.

Some treescatkins start appearing before the start of the year, so they are often covered in frost on cold mornings. Hazel are among the first.

This West Park magpie landed and started watching me when I was taking pictures of a squirrel in the next tree. It seemed to be hoping that I would feed the squirrel, so that it could slip in and get some of the goodies.

Abundant gold-green coloured catkins on a hazel bush lit by bright sunlight, looking to my eye like streaks of falling rain.

Scarlet elf cups are distinctive small fungi which grow on dead wood, appearing during the winter. This season’s first ones started appearing at a couple of sites in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve in the cold spell between Christmas and New Year.

This was the largest individual I managed to find, a centimetre or so across, with growths of frost crystals inside and out.