Scarlet elf-cup

This is the fungus I always associate with Boxing Day walks, but it always used to be seen on frost-encrusted logs or peeping out from snow patches. Not so this year! It is sitting comfortably on cushions of bright green moss as though it's a bright spring day (which it almost is). It is sights like this that give such a strong sense of identity and continuity to the nature reserve. It's not just that this species is so striking, appearing when there's so little other colour to be seen, it's the fact that I can go to specific logs in different parts of the reserve and find the flamboyant fruiting bodies during Christmas week every winter.