
In early spring sunlight pours down to the woodland floor and the herb layer flourishes whilst the canopy is open.
Hazel and willow often host scarlet elf cup and both species occur here. Scarlet elf cup has a network of hyphae, filaments which spread out into organic matter in the leaf litter and mosses which supply them with nutrients. Scarlet elf cup reproduce from spores but also by fragmentation when hyphae in the mycelium break off to form new organisms. Look closely and you'll see them following twigs and branches on the woodland floor. You quickly sense the micro-habitat which suits them. Images seek to reveal clustering fruit-bodies. First, there's a glimpse of scarlet and as you stop to search you begin to find more and more, that's the thrill.