Dew-festooned web

Dew-festooned web

The same spider’s web, viewed from opposite sides early one morning after a heavy morning dew.

Dew-festooned web

Log pile

Woodpile

A pile of logs in the wood at Wightwick Manor. The white speckling on the cut ends of the logs is fungal, and quite likely to be the infection which meant the tree had to be cut down.

Bright red leaves and berries – and lichen too

Autum leaves and berries

The bush with these fruit and berries was in a front garden. It is presumably an exotic, cultivated because the autumn leaves turn to almost the same shade of glossy red as the berries.

Autumn berries on a lichen-encrusted bush

Further along, the bush had already lost its leaves, showing the twigs were supporting a healthy growth of lichens.

Buttercap mushrooms

Buttercap mushrooms

Buttercap mushrooms are also known as Greasy Toughshanks. These were growing in Bantock Park.

Canal scenes on a misty day

Compton Lock on a misty day

The view looking towards Compton Lock on a misty autumn day.

Wightwick Mill Lock, misty day

Wightwick Mill Lock, the next lock towards the Severn, shortly afterwards.

Misty canal scene, Compton

Half way between the two, looking across to a field to trees fading into the mist which are growing along the Smestow Valley Railway Walk.

The field nowadays is mainly used by dog walkers. In the canal’s heyday, it was pasture where the bargeeshorses could re-fuel overnight.

Snowy waxcap in mossy grass

Snowy waxcap

Snowy waxcaps are tiny, almost pure white mushrooms which can usually be found in the autumn, often growing in grassy areas.