Lonesome pine and friends ...

I woke to freezing fog but still harboured a tiny hope that with luck I might be able to walk above it and see some sunshine. Sadly, it was not to be - there was just more fog the higher I went however, amazingly, the snow was still clinging to the trees, including their branches and even on tiny twigs. Some debris has started to fall from the trees as they are so heavily laden and yesterday I came across this delightful branch covered with what I can only assume was tiny and delicate fungi along with some lichen. I had overlooked this shot yesterday and on hindsight probably should have blipped it so I hope to find some more again and hope that someone might be able to identify it. This has now been identified by Boatsmanrobin as Crepidotus variabilis; Cortinariaceae

Halfway through the walk I met up with my chums and their Golden, Brodie, much to the delight of my pair so we joined forces and set off to explore the moor as none of us had been there since the snow first fell. There seemed to be only one set of footprints to follow so it was very exciting exploring almost virgin snow, which is what these three are doing in my blip today. I have never before seen them in an exact line like this and Cara is obviously ploughing a course through the deep snow, closely followed by Bruce grateful that she is making a path for him, with Brodie bringing up the rear and with the freezing fog all around them it totally summed up the morning. I also liked the inclusion of my favourite solitary larch tree in the shot, looking quite graceful and ethereal in its encrusted snow outlined against the foggy landscape. Not long afterwards I put Bruce on the lead so that he could stay on the path that we were making as the snow was so deep elsewhere that he was really struggling to make any headway. He had already accumulated more than the usual number of snowballs which I managed to gently reduce for him so that he could continue the walk feeling a bit more comfortable. Even Cara gathered snowballs today but comically hers were around her nether regions and looked just like a rather droopy nappy (those of you who are old enough to pre-date disposables will know what I mean!)

Looking back at the wooded hill behind us I noticed this sight of the snow clad conifers rising majestically above the main canopy. All this wonderful winter scenery certainly makes choosing what to blip quite a dilemma and makes a welcome change from the dreary wet days of recent months!

Just heard that the blip of my two rascals crept in to the spotlight yesterday - many thanks.