Wolves Wild

Where the web of this garden cross spider was against the background of the sky, it didn’t register in this picture, making it look like the spider was levitating.

Autumn colours a few days ago from one of the beech trees by the paddling pool on Tettenhall Upper Green.

Pictures showing the range of colours the leaves of Japanese acers can take in the autumn.

All of the trees shown here are beside paths connecting the south and west gates of West Park, passing via the front of the tearooms – a walk of a couple of hundred yards.

All the pictures were taken yesterday or the day before. Hurry to catch views like these before the wind brings all the leaves down.

Can you spot the squirrel which was watching me from under one of the trees?

Otherwise known as an echinops.

This one grows regularly by the footpath entrance to the Smestow Valley Railway Walk from Alpine Way, Compton.

This picture of a rather ragged michaelmas daisy was taken, by coincidence, on Michaelmas (St Michael’s day, September 29th).

I made a recent visit to the Shropshire countryside to see if there were any new fungi for the autumn. But all I managed to spot was that these sandy stiltballs were still going strong.

Exotic trees often produce the strongest colours of autumn. The tree of heaven originated in China.

Its leaves turn a subtle mix of yellows, oranges and even pinks.

The large flower or seed head of this one shows it is a female tree.

One set of creatures which have benefited from the long spell of wet weather has been slugs.

This one was sliding along the canal towpath near Compton in the middle of the day a couple of weeks ago.

Late-blooming hollyhocks at the start of this month. The flowers are enhanced by the water drops on them after recent rain – a common theme this year.

Another gift from the new world, and now a common garden plant. It seemed like there was at least one raindrop still resting on every petal of this group of flowers.