Wolves Wild

A stuffed toy, perhaps a meerkat, standing guard on the tiller of a moored canal boat.

Graffiti artists rarely deal in wildlife themes. This was on an arch of the viaduct carrying the railway across the canal at Oxley.

This small flock of ewes and lambs grazing outside a Balsall Common pub looked convincing from a distance. The shepherds seemed to have got fed up of watching their flock, and popped inside for a quick one.

The Birmingham Bull was given a jumper and jeans in the run-up to Christmas this year. Here is a picture without the clothing.

Northycote Farm cock, which was in a rush to get to another part of the hen enclosure.

A reminder that wintry weather doesn’t always mean gales and heavy rain.

This was Wightwick Mill Lock on Christmas Eve 2010, the ground covered in snow and the water almost completely frozen over.

Birds of prey are often mobbed by smaller birds. But it is rarer to see a lone bird doing the mobbing.

Her, one of the buzzards which regularly fly over the Smestow Valley Barley Field is being seen off by a lone carrion crow.

Fallen leaves which had turned the colours of traffic lights, fallen into the Wom Brook, and had been trapped in the algae of the waterfall on the downstream side of the Giggety Lane ford.

Looking across Hinksford Lock on the Staffs & Worcs Canal, with a wooded ridge in the background.

Lactarius britannicus is a species of milk-cap mushroom sufficiently uncommon to lack an English name despite its striking appearance.

Like all milk-caps, a milky liquid seeps out when the flesh is cut or broken. In this species the liquid is initially milky in colour, but then turns yellow – best seen on a handkerchief.

Some reference sources claim that Lactarius britannicus should be identified with Lactarius fulvissimus. The fulvissimus species has a cap which gets pale at the rim .

Long section of a quiet country lane which doubles as the bed of a small stream.

I wasn’t sure that my boots were completely waterproof, so I didn’t look how far the ford carried on beyond the bend.

Subtle autumn colours in this view from the Smestow Valley LNR’s Barley Field.

To the fore, the patch of scrub and shrub in the middle of the Barley Field, known to the Smestow Valley Birders as Chat Clump.

Behind, the trees lining the Railway Walk and growing up Tettenhall Ridge. The evergreens still have their leaves, and some of the broad-leafed trees have tinges of colour as next year’s buds and catkins are already developing.