Probably scarlet elf cups are my favourite fungi. Cup fungi fruiting bodies have a distinctive shape. These in particular have a bright colour not often seen in nature in the depths of winter, when they appear.
They grow on dead wood, usually fallen twigs and branches, and they are a centimetre or two wide when full grown. So despite their vivid colour, they can be easily missed among the leaf litter and other detritus.
There’s a patch of the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve not far from the Newbridge access points where they have been for the past few years. I’ve managed to get down to see them every year, but this year I left it so late that I thought I might have missed them.
Caught them just in time, although these, in the Paddock, look like they would be unlikely to be around for much longer.