Fungi is something in most years we associate with the autumnal months of October and early November. There were spasmodic showings but now well into the winter month of January we are being treated to mass outbreaks of Fungi. It has to be said that most are showing on fallen trunks of trees now disintegrating back into the ground. It has been a very unusual season for us. There have been some frost, one day of snow, high winds and some heavy outbursts of rain but overall it has been mainly unseasonably warm.
Perhaps that is the clue…the warmth and damp has encouraged the Fungal growth.
This mature Oak tree is also getting ahead of itself. I had my binoculars trained on the top of this tall Oak watching a Woodpecker, but what caught my eye was the rich red/brown of the new leave shoots……you can just make out that coloured tinge to the tips of the branches on the image below. They have swollen to the stage when they are about to burst and pushing off the last of last seasons leaves that had been protecting the buds.
Far too soon in my view to burst into new tender growth, we still have more winter yet to come and we are told that there is a deep cold spell heading our way….well that is the theory, we wait to see. 
25th January (C) David Oakes 2015
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 