Giant polypores are one of the largest of the bracket fungi. This one was infesting a mature oak tree, with the fruiting bodies appearing some ten feet or so off ground level.
The fruiting bodies often grow at ground level, coming from buried wood such as tree roots.
Young black-headed gull scratching its head as it sits on Bracebridge Pool in Sutton Park.
Plantain seeds ripening on their stalks. One has captured some sugar stealers (rosebay willowherb seeds).
Piglets from two different litters of Gloucester Old Spots at Northycote Farm.
They have already featured in a series of posts as they grew, most recently here.
They’re now getting so big they won’t be piglets much longer.
Greenfinch eating at the feeding station at Northycote Farm.
Nuthatch which also came along a couple of minutes later.
Pods holding the ripening seeds on a broom bush growing by one of the stiles giving access to the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve.
Toadflax in flower by the Wom Brook Walk near the centre of Wombourne earlier this week.
Giant polypores are common bracket-like fungi which grow on wood. They often grow at the base of trees or, as here, on roots some distance from the trunk.
The fruiting bodies can appear in the same spot year after year, like this one in West Park.
Bumblebees on an early morning search for nectar, finding a prime source in some hollyhocks.
A large French funnel spider drags its prey, probably a millipede, into its web.
Males of the beautiful demoiselle damselfly are mostly a striking electric blue colour.
The females are more subdued colours, which also vary more depending on the lighting conditions.
The ones shown here had territories along the Staffs & Worcs Canal, which they watched while perching on vegetation in the hedge by the towpath.
Yellow staining agarics look like field mushrooms, though they can smell of phenol.
When they are cut, the exposed flesh turns yellow. When eaten, they cause a series of unpleasant symptoms. Because they are so easily confused with field mushrooms, they are the commonest cause of mushroom poisoning.