Dripping

A much better day after yesterday's rain, clear, bright and sunny, though with a breeze which made it cooler than expected. We drove down to the village to make our marks on the voting slips, then walked a route around the village, returning along the main street. I had thought that maybe there'd still be some poppies along Mill Lane - there were, but not in the concentration there'd been last year. There were impressive clumps of mallows, though, which I did record, plus this fairly newly emerged oak bracket near the base of a tree in the hedge. An interesting texture - pores rather than gills, and drops of fluid seeping out of the ones on the lower half. I can't find any explanation for the fluid - it doesn't appear to be anything to do with spore release - but apparently the fungus is parasitic, eventually rotting the oak rather than living in balance with it, so we really shouldn't welcome its appearance.