Has there been a murder? A gruesome find.

Whilst out among the dunes this morning I found a brain sitting atop of a dead branch.

Thankfully this wasn't a real brain but rather a yellow brain fungus Tremella mesenterica. The yellow brain, also commonly known as the golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches' butter, is a common jelly fungus found on dead or dying wood, particularly, as here, on gorse. Although the fungus looks as if it is feeding on the dead wood it is in fact a parasite on another fungus, usually a species of Peniophora, which itself breaks down the dead wood for a living.

The generic name Tremella means trembling, a reference to the wobbly-jelly-like structure of the fungus The specific epithet mesenterica is derived from the Ancient Greek words meso, meaning middle, and enteron meaning intestine, presumably because the fungus looks as much like a middle intestine as a brain.