Morning walk at Coombe Wood

It was dull and slightly drizzly again.

The gunnera leaves are dying down and becoming skeletonised.

The cut off orange ferny plant and the mossy stones by the pond make interesting reflections.

A red balloon had landed and caught on the railings - I could smell the distinctive balloon smell as I leaned closer to take a photo. trying to catch the contrast between the flimsy red balloon material and the hard green metal railing.

I could hear the sound of the mower. The gardener is just visible in the middle of the top quarter of this picture, mowing the wide lawn.

Little gusts of wind rippled the reflections of trees and grey sky.

The shrub draped with strings of berries.

Some are beginning to shrivel a bit. 

 

others are still plump and round.

The overall height of the prairie beds is getting lower and lower as the dying stems droop and the dead stems are cut down.

Some tufty grasses in the corner.

Assorted stages of dying - some go lighter and lighter in colour while others go darker.

There were several white-tailed bumble bees in the mahonia flowers.

Remnants of the honesty pods. 

Moss on the roof of the little hut. 

Something (the wind?) has lifted the banana tree protection.

Tree festooned with seed pods and pine needles which have fallen from nearby trees and hang like decorations.

There are still a few trees with colourful leaves on. I could hear the Royal Russell school clock chiming the hour.

 A couple of crumpled leaves remain on the little red acer.

On closer inspection the surfaces of two of the puff ball mushrooms look like delicate lace.

The Australian Pine tree has two distinct sides - a happy side on the left with plenty of new growth, including a pine cone near the top, and an unhappy side on the right with branches turning brown and dying back. I hope the happy side wins.

Back for another look at the strange pale green growth on a little tree. After having a much closer look I can confirm that these are flowers coming out of the bobbly bits that had caught my attention the other day. (They haven't been draped with party popper paper.)

Each long narrow petal has stripes along it and is wrinkled from being rolled up while it grew, tightly contained, until it could burst out.

In this photo you can see one yellow curled up petal before it unfurls and turns pale green.

I also went back for another look at the large mushroom. Its sides have curled upwards more as it has increased in size.

The undersides are easier to look at as they have lifted away from the ground a bit.

 The edges are fluted and coral-like. 

So many spindle berries poised to open. 

Stripes from the mower. 

Such a bright orangey yellow. 

Pink and blue. 

Back to the entrance - a quick look in the pond before heading off for a routine eye appointment.

Thank you very much for joining me.