Elf Cups

Over the last ten days we've been in a westerly airstream which, while giving us some fine, if breezy weather, has also brought grey skies, gale-force winds and heavy rain. 

Despite today's fairly miserable conditions we took a walk along the coast path below Dunrobin Castle where the sea has been steadily piling more and more shingle at the back of the beach until it's able to throw flotsam, and shingle, right over the retaining wall. Looking at sights like this does make one feel that our coastline is under siege from a very determined foe, and that the foe is, at present, beginning to win.

So it was a fairly dismal walk - until we came to the clearing in the wood which best seems to suit the local....

....scarlet elf cup fungi where, on Thursday, I struggled to find four individuals. Today, in one fairly confined area, there must have been forty, their red glowing against the contrasting green of the moss.

What seems surprising is that other fungi are having a bad time this winter, to the extent that we're hardly seeing any, yet the elf cups are thriving.