Mist, dripping trees and unusual fungus (Coombe Wood)

A dull morning with thick mist. I had said almost 2 years ago that I wanted to take photographs at Coombe Wood in all weathers, so I headed out again.

A chance to look at the berries by the pond - yes they are holly berries - they must turn orange before turning red.

 Tall grasses in the mist. 

 Leaves on a bench. 

Some of yesterday's thick frost still remained in places.

Golden rain tree with its halo of pods. 

 Smoke from the chimney adding to the mistiness. 

New shoots pushing up through leaves and a scattering of berries.

This small tree is well decorated with fallen pine needles and loops of spiders web threads.

How different these trees look today with no sun to light up their tops.

Acer with an abundance of winged seeds. 

As I passed the marmalade coloured witch hazel I wondered if the lime green one had begun to flower yet.

Red stems became a pink tinge against the mist shrouded background.

Camelias

The trees were dripping. and everything felt damp.

Yes the lime green witch hazel is now flowering. 

I went to look at the big mushrooms. They still aren't as big as they were a couple of years ago and there aren't as many. Last time I saw them they were saucer sized - this one has turned up at the edges. . .

. . . creating a bowl like structure . . . 

. . . which was collecting anything that came its way - leaves, pine needles and a piece of cellophane.

If I hadn't made a point of going to look at those big mushrooms I wouldn't have seen these. I didn't know what they were - I'd never seen one before. Like a mushroom flower, they have spherical structure in the middle which was about the size of a ping pong ball..I thought the middle would be hard and touched it carefully - I was surprised to discover that it was very soft and squashy.

There were more . . .

I looked them up when I got home and discovered that I had seen Earthstar mushrooms. Apparently young ones look like puffball mushrooms - but as they mature the outer layer splits open in a star-like manner revealing pale sphere which later darkens and the spores will be ejected from the top.

If I'm not mistaken these are the first signs of the hellebore buds. 

Red stems standing out against the misty background.

Getting closer - spiteful thorns. 

Looking across the lawn towards the sundial at the other end - not visible today.

Through the damaged hedge where the branch from the big beech tree fell a while ago.

Big beech tree - uneven now such a large branch is missing. 

I don't know how any of these tiny mushrooms have survived in the middle of the bark covered path, specially as the little clump of snowdrops at the edge of the path has been trampled flat.

It would be so easy to stand on these by accident - they're so tiny they're almost invisible.

Strange item in the middle of the path - probably a bulb - perhaps dropped there by a squirrel or bird?

It looks a bit nibbled at the end. 

The mist was still quite thick.

Back to the other mushroom that I photographed yesterday - the one I said looked like a cushion with piping around the edge. I wanted to see if there really was a green shoot growing out of it or if it was just the angle of yesterday's photograph making it look as if something that was growing behind it was growing out of the top. Here's my answer. . .

Looking back to the yew arch and sundial. 

Plants near the pond. 

Figs. 

Very subdued reflections today. 

As I was going back to my car I noticed a spiders web which looked as if the spider had dropped a few stitches.

  Thank you very much for joining me.