Wolves Wild

The squirrels of West Park are so used to being fed that it is moot whether they are wild.

These are such spectacular mushrooms, so here are another couple of them.

This fungus looks like a congealed foam on rotting wood, including, as here, on tree stumps.

This closer view also shows tiny puffballs nearby.

This flock were systematically going over the patch of ground which was very soft after recent rainfall.

This delicately coloured mushroom grows in leaf litter – here at the roadside by the Million, a Forestry Commission wood near Kinver.

This tiny mushroom was growing from a tree trunk.

Holly has bright red berries as winter comes, and deep green leaves all year long. It’s easy to see why it should be taken as a mid-winter decoration symbolising continuing life.

The stem is hard to see, hidden even in this short grass.

The cap is covered in a what looks like a made to measure yellow hairnet.

CORRECTION: identified by Lukas Large as probably a honey fungus

On the left is a lesser black backed gull. Next come two black headed gulls. Then on the right another lesser black backed gull, this time an adult bird.

All are surveying a playing field – a likely spot to find a roost of gulls in the city.

These fungi release their spores when hit by drops of rain, the escaping pores looking like puffs of smoke.

Two different puffball species for the price of one today.

Already by early December the first signs of spring, even though it’s unlikely we have seen the worst of the winter.

Until recent years, the expectation would be that these hazel catkins would not come out before January.

Another common bolete species, this one found in association with (surprise!) birch trees