Willow ,tit willow, tit willow

We have an old willow tree in the garden that has been neglected and ravaged by wind and storm to the point that bits of it are falling off daily. A good (nay,severe) pollarding has left it naked and shivering and led to demands from the current Mrs J to cut it down altogether.

In an attempt to find evidence of new shoots to justify keeping the poor beastie I was clambering over it this afternoon when I saw this peculiar growth on the sheltered side of the trunk.

It must be some sort of dried fungus, but the scales (for thats as near a description as I can conjure) are extremely hard and brittle. It makes the tree look like a swamp creature or a fossilised komodo dragon.

Anyhow worth preserving if only to track progress on the spread of the fungi.