Smestow at Wightwick

Smestow at Wightwick

Smestow Brook looking downstream at Wightwick, with an ivy-covered fallen tree trunk lying across the water.

Fat squirrel on rotting tree stump

Fat squirrel on rotting tree stump

This squirrel is fat. Some of the ones in West Park are now being given a lot more peanuts than are good for them. This one was watching me from a rotting tree stump, hoping to be fed some more.

Great white egret flying off, Doxey

Great white egret flying off, Doxey

Great white egret at Doxey Marsh, already featured in yesterdays post, now flying off out of sight, its silhouette showing the huge long beak and trailing legs before it disappeared.

Autumn fungi: redlead roundheads

Autumn fungi: redlead roundheads

Redlead roundheads, like many fungi can be seen from summer onwards but peak in the autumn “fungi flush”. Most often found on wood chip mulch: they are an imported species, first recorded in Britain in 1957, but now quite common. These distincitibve little toadstools, with pale stems and bright red or orange caps, probably originated in Australia.