Wolves Wild

Bright autumn colours from the leaves of a bush by the West Park lake – presumably an exotic species chosen for its display at this time of year.

Sepia bolete mushrooms growing on a grassy bank overlooking Wolverhampton ring road.

To confirm the identification as sepia boletes, I would have had to examine the spores under a microscope. All the features visible to the naked eye pointed to that species, which field guides rate as rare or infrequent in Britain.

Two views looking at the hills of Shropshire. Here the Wrekin is in the distance, seen at a gap in the hedge along the lane which runs along a section of the Shropshire/Staffordshire border: County Lane between Codsall and Pattingham.

Here the Clees are on the skyline from the top of Nurton Hill. Pattingham church is peeping up from a setting which looks deceptively sylvan on the left of the picture.

The boar from Northycote Farm giving an inch by inch inspection of the ground of his enclosure, in search of any morsel of food he might have missed before.

Fly agaric mushroon which looked remeniscent of the shape of the print head of an IMB golfball typewriter when it first emerged.

This resemblence disappeared as the cap spread.

Spider lurking in the centre of its web, waiting for prey.

The web is on an umbellifer which was hanging over the canal at Castlecroft.

West Park Japanese acers in the middle of this month, with their leaves in autumn colours before the wind and rain brought them down.

Berry brook earlier this month. The trees still seem to have a green foliage, but fallen leaves are beginning to carpet the ground.

The brook forms part of the boundary of Northycote Farm, and of Wolverhampton.

One of the tufted ducks on West Park lake, swimming past some of the leaves which have fallen on the water.

The sunlight catching the bird’s plumage was showing off an iridescent green towards the back of its head and neck.

One of the mature beech trees in West Park, with its leaves in autumn colours. The bandstand is peeping through in the background.

Parrot waxcaps are small mushrooms. At first, they have a green colour similar to the feathers of some parrot species, but this soon fades to yellow.

The larger mushroom here has almost completely turned yellow, the tiny one at its feet is still green.

Last time I spotted parrot waxcaps it was a morning after a hard overnight frost.

When they grow to full size, parasols are the largest mushrooms which are likely to be seen around here. This one had only recently emerged.

It was growing right by a path on Northycote Farm, so likely to be vulnerable as its cap opened fully.

A post from back in 2011 shows parasols in various stages of growth, including with caps fully spread.