With snow overnight on the hills and the prospect of a cold, wet and windy day ahead, today's walk took me into the somewhat damp protection of Dunrobin Castle's woodland in search, once again, of the scarlet elfcup fungus of which I had found just one 'outcrop' a couple of years ago.
I was almost certain that I had found it in this section of the woods so I concentrated my search here, in increasingly wet and unpleasant conditions. I had looked before, without luck, but this time....
....I found one - which is little short of a miracle since its diameter is just over 10mm. However, the camera was able to get in very close....
....to produce this picture of an almost perfect elfcup.
Then, of course, like London buses, another, slightly larger one came along - seen at bottom left - almost completely covered by leaves - and, soon after....
Part of my problem was that the original elfcup was nestling on a bed of bright green moss, so I had been looking for moss-covered logs, while all three of these are on bare, rather ancient, hardwood.
What struck me as I walked home was how accurate my memory had been. The three I found were almost exactly where I remembered them and, if I had had a bit more confidence in my brain, and carried out a diligent search at that spot, I would probably have found them weeks ago.
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