A slight frost this morning and lovely dew on cobwebs: it always looked as though it would be a good day and it was.  My morning walk was dominated once again by fungi: mostly Fly agarics (the red with white spots one); Boletes   (with their pores underneath) and Russulas (tend to have strong colours on top with white underneath.)

The trees and the ground are full of food for the birds at the moment and I have seen a number of mixed feeding flocks of birds taking advantage of the sunshine. The first thing you often notice are the contact calls but they don't hang around so I didn't manage any photos of them. Fungi are so much easier if you want to capture the moment!

Following all the recent rain, the stream was flowing quite fast.  We have got used to the slow flow of the summer and it is incredible to think how adaptable the life in the streams must be as their habitat changes so drastically.

On a completely different note, this Alder fell in January.  I am impressed by the regrowth: it has naturally coppiced and is growing well. Although many trees fall in the wind, alders are particularly noticeable because of the bright orange colour of the bark when they are cut or broken. Quite a sight (although the colour doesn't look so fluorescent in this photo now!)