Excitement

I admit it - when we're out walking I crave excitement, not the finger-biting, rollercoaster-ride excitement, more the 'Wow!' sort, and this was in short supply in our walk this morning up into the forestry below Beinn Bhraggie.

The disappointment started at the junction at the top of this slope, which I call crossbill corner as we've seen crossbills there on several occasions. However, although they should be gearing up for the annual mating round, which starts ridiculously early in the new year, there was no sign of them.

The fungi situation at the moment is pretty dire, and I could not get excited by a lone 'brown job', although it was good to spot....

....a slightly chewed puffball lurking under a hedge.

I confess to being a little more interested when we found patches of this dog lichen growing amongst the pine needles, but my excitement was finally stirred when we found....

....this fungus on the dead branch of a gorse bush. Here, at last, was something new, a strange, warty creature which seemed to enfold the top of the wood, but my pleasure has been tempered by the difficulty in identifying it as it fits into none of the standard identification categories and describing it for a search engine is very difficult.