Autumn mahonia flower

Autumn mahonia flower

Flower on one of the mahonia bushes near the bridge over the West Park lake.

The flowers add a touch of colour when they come out from the late autumn.

Off the wall

Off the wall

Mushrooms growing from the wall of the front garden of a house on Tettenhall Road, and in the garden behind the wall.

Party of pigeons

Party of pigeons

A group of West Park’s pigeons share the highest twig in a tree while they keep their beady eyes on everything.

Bright autumn leaves

Bright autumn leaves

Bright autumn colours from the leaves of a bush by the West Park lake – presumably an exotic species chosen for its display at this time of year.

Sepia boletes

Sepia bolete

Sepia bolete mushrooms growing on a grassy bank overlooking Wolverhampton ring road.

To confirm the identification as sepia boletes, I would have had to examine the spores under a microscope. All the features visible to the naked eye pointed to that species, which field guides rate as rare or infrequent in Britain.

Shropshire hills, distant views

Wrekin from the Staffordshire border

Two views looking at the hills of Shropshire. Here the Wrekin is in the distance, seen at a gap in the hedge along the lane which runs along a section of the Shropshire/Staffordshire border: County Lane between Codsall and Pattingham.

Clees from Nurton Hill

Here the Clees are on the skyline from the top of Nurton Hill. Pattingham church is peeping up from a setting which looks deceptively sylvan on the left of the picture.

Nose down

Nose down

The boar from Northycote Farm giving an inch by inch inspection of the ground of his enclosure, in search of any morsel of food he might have missed before.

Nose down

Golfball

Golfball, grown

Fly agaric mushroon which looked remeniscent of the shape of the print head of an IMB golfball typewriter when it first emerged.

This resemblence disappeared as the cap spread.

Lurking

Lurking

Spider lurking in the centre of its web, waiting for prey.

The web is on an umbellifer which was hanging over the canal at Castlecroft.

Before the leaves fell

Before the leaves fell

West Park Japanese acers in the middle of this month, with their leaves in autumn colours before the wind and rain brought them down.