Bits and bobs

I've been making more of an effort to photograph the different fungi that I come across (inspired by the great series of talks in the Merlin theatre). It was great to hear of the discovery of the red cage fungus on the Stackpole area - gutted I didn't see it! If anybody knows what the tree with the pinkish flowers are then I'd love to know. As has already been reported, the cold weather has been bad for the wildlife but great for getting better than usual views of normally timid birds. Yesterday at Stackpole a kingfisher seemed totally unconcerned with the fact that I was only 4 metres away from it. My partner and I watched it for ten minutes as it fished in a patch of unfrozen water. Iwas especially pleased as one of my "things to do" I decided on at the Wildlife sightings talk was to get a decent photo of a kingfisher. A small otter was just visible on the far bank but unfortunately she didn't try out her ice skating skills shown in another photo! Remember that as well as feeding your garden birds, a handful of seed doesn't go amiss when you're out for a walk as well.