Wolves Wild

Big birch polypore on a fallen trunk in Himley Plantation. Although it looked fresh, it had already been lightly nibbled.

False saffron milk cap mushroom growing in short grass near conifers, West Park. The green colour of the cap develops as the mushroom matures. When it’s fresher, the cap is the yellow shade which can still just be made out around the rim. At that point, it is often confused with the saffron milkcap, also known as the delicious milkcap.

That species is, as the name implies, a foodie favourite. This, more common one has a bitter, unpleasant taste.

Flower buds from a passion flower growing on a bay tree, developing too late and unlikely to flower as winter frosts arrive. One picture shows the tightly coiled tendrils which enable it to cling as it climbs over other plants.

Group of shaggy parasol mushrooms growing under low-hanging yews by the bridge in West Park. One of them down on the ground, possibly knocked by a questing dog.

River Severn at Bridgnorth late last month, on the day when the flood was at its highest, with the riverside footpaths under perhaps three feet of water. Views from the old road bridge and from Castle Walk.

Wrinkled peach fungus, with its delicate colour, used to be very rare. It grew on dead elms, so when the Dutch elm disease struck, this fungus became much commoner.Now the elms killed in that outbreak have decayed away, the fungus is once again rare, perhaps even rarer that before. So it was a pleasure to come across these in Himley Plantation: one fruiting body on a fallen trunk, the other nearby on a detatched section of branch.