Fungus

This morning, a pair of collared doves flew in to sit beside the water dish on the little table in my garden. I took lots of photos of them as they are very handsome birds, and had decided on one in particular for my day's blip.

This afternoon, I went for a fairly long walk with a good friend and her two dogs - Cara and Bruce. It was rather a hazy day which created a softness to the landscape. The dogs loved being off the leads and having freedom to run and follow the scent, especially Bruce a cocker spaniel whose nose is always to the ground.

The bracken is still the gorgeous burnt umber colour, left over from last Autumn, but there are signs of new growth if you look underneath the tangled fronds. I noticed the stump of a silver birch tree which had some fungus growing on it. On closer inspection I saw that the fungus was very similar to the "horse hoof" fungus which I've seen before in a larger size. I thought it looked like shells found on the beach with their coloured ridges and irregular edges. I'm rather hoping that someone can tell me what kind of fungus it is! There was also some similar fungus growing beside it, in the same shapes but with brown and golden colours.