Bracket Fungus

A slight overnight frost which evaporated with the morning sun. Cloud forecast for later. Morning chores finished, off we went to Penhallam, a little nature reserve around the remains of a Norman Manor House.
On arrival buzzards are mewing, one very close, we discover it in a tree close enough to get good views through our binoculars. It flies off as another one glides by and they soar off into the sky as a couple more appear and they too soar and display mewing now and then before gliding over the tree tops. We continue to hear and glimpse sight of them as we walk trough the woods to the manor house ruins. More trees and scrub have been cleared and new sapling planted. Yellow gorse flowers are brilliant in the morning sun. There are tits and small firecrests flitting amongst the trees and we spy a wary tree creeper. As we near the ruins we hear the dddddddd of a woodpecker drumming; it goes again in a different tree and suddenly there’s a commotion with a lot of noise and a pair fly off across the clearing. There’s more drumming……. we realise definitely more than one pair but how many?
Bracket fungus clings to a couple of trees; one is very red brown almost purplish while on the other tree it is much paler. We walk by the moat and are disappointed not to hear or see any frogs or spawn – it must be too early here.
The primroses are just showing their head and a few have opened their petals in the sun. The woodpeckers continue to drum, chitter and fly about. They’re Greater Spotted and we get quite good views when they perch in the tops of the trees. There are at least 5 or 6 possibly seven. Scrub has been cleared here too and amongst the fallen twigs, leaf litter and moss there are red elf cap fungus.
The clouds are getting thicker, the woodpeckers and buzzards have fallen silent. Time to head home for lunch. more here