Wolves Wild

The pond by the road at Northycote Farm a few days ago. A light coating of snow had fallen on the frozen surface.

Old bracket fungus growing at the base of a tree by the brook at Northycote Farm. Green algae are growing on the fungus itself.

A daffodil by the Penk at Perton yesterday – one of the first ones I’ve seen that have fully opened this spring.

Daffodils are having a long pause with flower buds not yet open because of the cold weather this year. This one was in a front garden after overnight rain.

The pool at Fowler’s Park earlier this week, when it was almost frozen over.

The area is surprisingly litter-free for such an urban space. There was one cola bottle floating in the pool in the upper picture, now erased digitally.

Desiccated ear fungus on a dead elder tree at Northycote Farm. A fortnight earlier the same fungus had just begun to dry up.

A starling on a vantage point well-protected by thorns.

The bright sunlight brought out the speckling and iridescence in the bird’s plumage.

Fibbbersley is one of Walsall’s Local Nature Reserves. It is in Willenhall, near the border with Wolverhampton, and one of the many Black Country LNRs where nature has reclaimed a one-time site of mining, quarrying or industry.

Razor strop fungus, also known as birch polypores, can last for up to a year, almost always on birch trees.

This one had been around for some time.

A scarlet elf cup fungus growing on timber near the canal at Newbridge. The timber had been on the ground long enough to be supporting a healthy growth of moss.

These were growing on another pile of timber by the nearby Smestow Valley Ranger Station – pictures of others from this patch in a previous post here.

Today’s pictures were taken in mid-February.