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Autumn leaves and peeling bark

Autumn leaves

The leaves of a bush in a front garden had turned a mixture of vivid reds and yellows.

Peeling bark

The bark of the trunk was peeling in a complex pattern.

Autumn leaves

There was even a deep blue sky – rare enough this year.

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Blackbird in a bush

Blackbird in a bush

This male blackbird was in bushes not far from the Smestow Valley Reserve Ranger Station. It was a freezing-cold morning, and the bird seemed to want to carry on standing where it was, catching the sun.

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Little grebe fishing, sequence

Little grebe

This little grebe may have been one of this year’s chicks.

Little grebe

It was on the canal near Compton.

Little grebe

Here it is coming back up from a dive, shaking its head: perhaps to kill the small fish in its beak before it eats.

Little grebe

It was a calm day, so most of the pictures had the bird’s reflection in water which was rippled by its own movement.

Little grebe

It slipped back into the overhanging vegetation.

Little grebe

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Horse mushrooms growing on a bank

Horse mushroom

A pair of horse mushrooms which were growing on the grassy bank by the towpath near Compton a few weeks ago.

Horse mushroom

Because they were growing quite high up the bank, it was easy to get pictures showing the caps from below as well as above.

Horse mushroom

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White domecap mushrooms

White domecap

As the name implies, these mushrooms normally have a cap which is smoothly rounded. This clump were growing in the leaf litter at the edge of the Smestow Valley Railway Walk.

White domecap

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Milk-white little cup

Milk-white little cup

Tiny fungus,less than half a centimetre across, growing in the moss on the top of a wall.

Milk-white little cup

Doesn’t actually have an English name, presumably because it is so small that it usually escapes notice. Leptoglossum retirugum is its official Linnean name: milk-white little cup is a translation of its name in German, Milchweisser Becherling.

Milk-white little cup