Wolves Wild

Young magpie with dishevelled plumage up in a tree in West Park, sending occasional wary glances in my direction and all around as it preens and smooths its feathers.

Male banded demoiselle dragonfly on the lookout by the canal near Castlecroft at the end of last month. It kept landing on leaves of ivy growing in the hedge, occasionally varying by landing on a nettle leaf instead.

Fruit, as yet unripe, on a spindle tree. The tree with these fruit is opposite Cupcake Junction, the former Tettenhall Station on the Railway Walk.

Bryony berries ripening, turning from green, through yellow to red. These were on a plant growing in the hedge by the towpath at Castlecroft.

It’s been a good year for parasols, some of our largest mushrooms. These shaggy parasols were growing in a group on a patch of grass in Finchfield, and a single large specimen – the cap well over a foot in diameter – near the lock at Compton.

One of the cobs on West Park lake, seeming to thrust with every muscle in its body as it twisted its neck to preen its feathers, then dipped under the water for a rinse.