Wildlife from Wolverhampton and nearby
Another mushroom to look out for this autumn: boletes have pores rather than gills under the caps where the spores are dispersed. Red cracking boletes like this one growing in Himley Plantation have an upper surface to the cap which appears to be splitting open to reveal a thin reddish layer just below the surface.
Two female goosanders on the Severn at Bridgnorth, one just downstream of the Bylet, the other a similar distance from the opposite bank. Perhaps the same two birds which had been on a log in the same area a few days previously.
Fallen apples from one fo the trees in the orchard at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery, left on the ground rotting, their skins dotted with a fungus which is eating them from the inside.
Swan flying overhead, long neck stretched out in front, feet trailing behind it.
Medlars growing on a tree in the garden at Shakespeare’s birthplace, ripening. The fruit are ready to eat when they have bletted. In plain English, turned rotten – perhaps why they do not turn up on supermarket shelves.
A common fungus, mainly found in woodland, seen from late summer to late autumn. warted or common puffballs may be either lone or clustered as they grow on dead wood. These were in a wood in the grounds of Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Shottery.