A mixed flock of black headed and lesser black backed gulls which regularly rest up on the local playing fields.
A flock of jackdaws are increasingly prospecting the same area.
The boldest of the jackdaws were walking in the midst of the gulls.
Lock-keepers cottage rose
A rose growing on the outside wall of the one-time lock keeper’s cottage at Wightwick Lock last weekend.
Autumn leaves on a tree
Leaves changing colour on a maple in a front garden in Castlecroft.
I couldn’t decide which picture I liked best.
Large web lit by the early morning sun
Spiderswebs seem to become more noticeable in the autumn. This one was catching the sun just after dawn.
Oak roll-rims young and mature
Oak roll rims are mushrooms which often (but not invariably) grow near to oak trees.
They have a dull brown cap, and yellower gills, stems and flesh. As they come up they have a domed cap, but as they grow older the rim rises above the centre.
Birch catkins
Trees begin to develop their flowers early, some of them even before winter has set in.
A birch tree in the field behind Compton Lock was already showing catkins before the middle of October.
Mushrooms growing on a garden path series
Pictures taken over the course of four days showing the developments of a group of mushrooms growing on a garden path.
At first the mushrooms had a tan cap, with a paler stem.
Later the cap faded to a duller pale brown, exaggerated here by the changing lighting conditions.
Notice the holes in the caps where slugs have been nibbling. Tiny slugs are on the caps in some of the pictures.
Small new mushrooms, complete with the stronger cap colour, continued to pop up in the middle of the patch.
The path was covered in wood mulch to suppress weeds. It is possible that the mushrooms had been brought in with this mulch.
The mushrooms were probably bonnet mycenae, a common fungus,
Autumn leaves: East Park cherry
Close-ups of another set of autumn leaves. This time from one of the cherry trees in East Park, lit from behind by a bright sun recently.
Tiny inkcap mushrooms on a lawn
These inkcap mushrooms were less than a centimetre high, growing in the short grass in front of the Chestnut Tree pub in Finchfield.
I’ve lost a leg
A tiny arachnid, only a few millimeters in size, seemed to have lost one of its right legs.