The sloe crop has been very sparse this year. These were ripening growing on a blackthorn in a field boundary hedge.
Robin’s pincushion gall
Robin’s pincushion galls also go by several other names, including rose galls.
The insect whose young cause the growth choose dog roses for preference: the “Robin” refers not to the bird, but the folkloric Robin Goodfellow.
September poppies
Some summer flowers carry on blooming well into September. These poppies were still in flower in the middle of the month, a couple of years back.
Green larch cones, West Park
Cones on one of the West Park larches, just beginning to ripen. The cones are large, so the tree may be a non-native species.
Pious pelican misericord
Another bird portrayal from a misericord at Ludlow.
Pelicans are often portrayed in old churches. They were considered to be a symbols of Christ: it was thought that they killed their own chicks, then, three days later, speared their beaks into their own chests and drew blood which brought the chicks back to life.
Lime nail gall
These lime nail galls, on the leaves of lime trees, can grow to as much as half a centimeter tall, and range in colour from yellow to red. They are the protective covers of a mite, Eriophyes tiliae.
Speckled wood butterfly on a nettle leaf
A speckled wood butterfly sits ready to defend its territory, resting on a sunlit leaf in a nettle patch in the meadow near the Smestow Valley Reserve Ranger Station.
Flag iris seeds ripening
The, as yet unripe, seeds of a yellow flag iris, growing by the canalside.
Unripe holly berries
As they first begin to develop,these holly berries are practically the same colour as the branch they are growing from. They will have turned bright red well in time for Christmas.
Wildmoor sandstone, base of Tettenhall ridge
Wildmoor sandstone direcly underlies the Bromsgrove conglomerate featured in a post yesterday. Here are two exposures of the rock heading from the Smestow valley towards Tettenhall ridge.
The first is in one of the many former quarries which are cut into this rock along the Smestow valley. The quarry now forms the site of Sandy Hollow, a small cul de sac off Compton Holloway.
The second is again a quarry face: this time the former quarry now forms the grounds of a house on Old Hill, Tettenhall, just downhill from the Mount public house.