Ash keys in profusion hanging down from twigs on a tree by the canal at Catlecroft.
Apparently some people mistake this perfectly healthy stage which happens every autumn for the shrivelled and darkened leaves which are a symptom of the attack of the fungus which causes ash dieback.
Huge bolete fungus – one of the caps was over a foot in diameter.
Boletes are fleshy mushrooms that have pores on the underside of their caps rather than gills.
They may have been ceps (also known as penny buns, Steinpiltz), a wild mushroom favoured by gourmets. If so, these should still have been avoided. They were growing on an island in the middle of a busy road. Fungi concentrate any pollutants in the environment where they are growing.
Fly agaric mushrooms – several posts have already covered the changes as these matured, most recently here.
The rims of the caps have now risen so much they form small bowls which caught the rainwater.
The widows of an office building are reflected on the surface of the water in the top picture.
One of the advantages of the shorter day length at this time of year is that dawn and sunset happen at more civilized hours.
This picture was taken a few minutes before dawn, looking across the new pool in Compton Park.
Few people would guess that Wolverhampton city centre is only about a mile further on in the direction the camera was pointing. But at that time of the morning the only company was a few people walking their dogs.
Black-headed gull on the landing stage of the Stratford on Avon ferry, hunching up to try to see off a group of mallards.
Some of the West Park squirrels are loosing their caution in demanding to be fed. This one came and stood inches from my feet.
Magpie, without a care in the world, strolling along the back of a seat by the Avon at Stratford.
Liquidambar: another tree planted for its vivid autumn colours. This was one of a group on Bancroft Gardens, the grassy area in front of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s main theatre.
The early morning moon, not yet set, can be seen to the right of the tree.
Goblet waxcaps are orange to yellow mushrooms which grow among moss in damp places.
They are tiny, barely poking their caps above the moss.
This one was equally tiny, but the cap is more pointed. It may be a different waxcap species – there were two others nearby
Shaggy inkcap mushrooms just beginning to deliquesce. One of the caps had been broken, showing how the process appears on the underside.
Orange peel fungus looks remarkably like discarded orange peel.
It appears in the same spot autumn after autumn.
Some years it is more abundant than others. This year the individual fruiting bodies are larger than they were last year.
It seems to be ignored by most passers-by, because it looks like litter.
Pictures of the fungus in the same place at this time of year in 2012, 2010 and 2009 here.
Mistletoe growing on one of the apple trees in the same Shottery orchard as the windfalls seen here.