changing course

and here is some evidence that after a very wet few weeks, the Inny is changing course. And yes, that is us on the right minding our paws and qs. Pixie hat is off-course travelling travel cone (yes, there is a really interesting link).

star drops

wild snowdrops at the confluence of the river Inny (on the right) and the Tamar. There are snowdrops out everywhere now, and the wild daffodils are coming.

star jelly

every now and again we come across these odd blobs of jelly on the paths through the woods. They look like frog spawn without any sign of eggs, and, as is obvious, are out of water. This specimen is about 8 cms across; occasionally they are much larger. It could be a slime mould, but maybe it is true star jelly (see exciting link), from a meteor that has fallen to ground nearby. For an exhaustive discussion of this phenomenon see this link. Any other ideas?

a fox in the woods

we have never seen a fox in the woods before, and very rarely see foxes by day at all, probably because the pack scares them off. Unfortunately the photos are blurred even with the mighty Nikon because it was a very grey day and the light was poor. Even so, the flash of red is what you see. Spot gave chase for about 5 microseconds before returning to his usual buffoonery.

here we go again

winter ends with a long sigh, and the first breaths of the New Year are the gallant little snowdrops, and frog spawn, risking the perils of a sharp frost to be first in the struggle for new life.

yellow brain fungus

the yellow brain fungus (tremella mesenterica) which certainly looks more mesenteric than cerebral, growing on fallen birch. One book says edible, and another says inedible; who do we believe?