Cock-a-hoop!

Fetched the young cockerel but he's very camera-shy so his photo will have to wait.

The guy who got rid of donated him lives up in the hills, a hobbit-like woodworker with dreads down to his waist. He's a mushroom freak too and I knew he has a very unusual species growing on his land that I have for years longed to see; it doesn't seem to exist on my patch.

He led us down into a steep and bosky  Middle Earth domain of mossy stones and ancient lanes and there it was - hazel gloves! A rare and peculiar fungus that grows only on old hazel trees (there is an even rarer willow gloves).  With its puckered, caramel-coloured 'fingers' the reason for its name is obvious.
Even more excitingly, it's actually a hyper- (or secondary) parasite since it grows upon another, less visible, glue fungus.

I was lucky to get this sighting and take a picture since its season is nearly over and the other specimens had dried up. A real gift for anyone with a mycological mindset.

Slightly less enthusiastic about the prospect of applying Vaseline to the cockerel's legs to treat his 'scaly foot' infection but there's a downside to everything I suppose...