Underworld

A raw sort of January day, the sun briefly appearing before setting behind the hedge. I finally delivered my books to the accountant, and spent most of the rest of the day report writing. I had a quick circuit of the garden in search of a blip, but was almost giving up, when I found a piece of loose bark on one of our fallen willow logs and gently peeled it back to reveal this amazing yellowish fungus.

Whenever I delve deeply into the world of fallen logs and rotting plants, I'm reminded of how little I know. I really don't know what the dark blobs are, but after a bit of browsing fungi books and the interene, I thik thea most of what is present is a fragile corticoid, possibly a Botryobasidium.  Whatever it is, the colours and shapes are beautiful.

In the evening Pete and I walked to the Brewery Tap to meet up with some old friends that he worked with over thirty years ago. Four of them were part of the Nature  Conservancy Council's Invertebrate Site Register, which did excellent work raising the profile of invertebrate conversation in the late 1980's. The years soon rolled away, and we enjoyed an evening of interesting conversation and delicious Thai food. We all agreed that we should meet up again soon.

By the time we walked home, the pavements were glittering with frost, and the stars were shining more brightly than usual.