Wolves Wild

Black-headed gull standing in shallow water in the Severn, at the tip of a small island near the (old) bridge over the river.

All the water birds gather on or by the island. It’s far enough from the river bank for them to feel safe, but near enough for them to get the bread which is thrown to them.

I don’t remember ever previously noticing rosebay willowherb leaves which turned to these colours in the autumn before the plant shed them.

These were vivid reds and yellows. They were on plants growing by the canal towpath, yards from Castlecroft (farm) bridge.

This patch is much more like any willowherb I’ve noticed in previous years.

Growing only a couple of paces from the other inkcap species which was featured yesterday were a pair of tiny glistening inkcaps.

Shaggy parasols are one of the larger mushrooms, and are fairly common.

This was one of several clumps growing in Hawthorn Wood recently.

They were growing just above a bank, so it was easy to picture them from the side as well as from above.

A heron standing on the rail aroud the island in the boating lake at West Park, its plumes dangling from its nect.

The bird lifts its left leg to scratch itself.

Shaggy inkcaps growing in short grass by the roadside at Finchfield.

Some were pure white,  having freshly emerged.

Others had begun to “deliquesce” – turning black as they disintegrated from the rim of the cap.

The “shagginess” of this particular set of inkcaps is an appearance of fibrousness in the cap. Contrast that with this recent picture
of other mushrooms of the same species,

A clematis still flowering earlier this month.

I noticed it in a front garden in River Side, Bridgnorth.

Candle snuff fungus forms clumps or patches of small growths which look a little like the wicks of part-used candles.

This year, the conditions seem to have been particularly good for candle snuff fungus; there’s lots of it about.

This patch was in Hawthorn Wood recently.

The trees on the top of Tettenhall ridge turning for autumn. Those lower down, by Meccano Bridge, were still green.

This patch of honey fungus was showing the signs of having been around for some time: cracked, contorted, and slightly nibbled away.

It was growing around a tree stump in Bantock Park.