Wolves Wild

Witch hazel flowers covered in snow, with snow-covered ground behind. Yet another post on today’s theme: winter-flowering bushes and shrubs in West Park.

Buds of flowers (large, at ends of twigs) and leaves (smaller, on sides of twigs) on a West Park magnolia. Some patches of the lying snow are visible out of focus in the background.

Buds developing in the wintry weather on another West Park bush – this time a laurel.

Flower bud on one of West Park’s rhododendron bushes, the leaves covered in the recent snow.

Full-grown velvet shanks growing at the same time and on the same tree as the smaller ones featured in the previous post.

They are popular with gatherers of wild food, as one of the few edible mushrooms which grow at this time of year. Something else has already been nibbling these.

Warning: do not pick and eat any fungi unless you are sure they are an edible species. Velvet shanks can be confused with poisonous sulfur tufts.

Velvet shanks are one of the few mushrooms which grow even in the depths of winter. They are found in clusters on tree trunks – usually dead or dying trees

These are only half-grown, They were on a tree near the Ranger Station in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve earlier this month.

Woody nightshade berries: almost every berry in the bunch had a droplet of water which wasn’t quite big enough to pull off and fall to the ground.

This section of the Wren’s Nest Nature Reserve in Dudley looks like a deep valley.

Pictures taken looking along the “valley” in opposite directions show that the apparent valley floor rises at both ends. The feature must be a product of the extensive quarrying of the area.

The view upstream from Compton Lock, on the same wintry morning as this
prospect of Barley Field.

A hazard of flowering in mid-winter, as this groundsel was doing, is getting a coating of frost during a cold spell.

A couple in the distance, walking their dog in the Barley Field in the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve on a wintery morning.

The silk tassel bush (Garrya elliptica) is named for its tassels, the long male catkins which flower at this time of year.

The bush originates in western North America, and can be found growing as a garden plant.