Velvety Fungi

I read a post recently on Mark's Veg Plot blog titled My insect hotel. It was all about creating a habitat in the garden for insects. I have a very small pond in my garden, and at the side of the pond, amongst the plants, I have a couple of pieces of old wood which is slowly rotting down. Insects and creepy crawlies love this type of habitat, so this is why it's there. Reading Mark's post prompted me to have a look at the wood when I was pottering in the garden this morning. On it, I noticed some unusual fungi, I haven't come across anything like this before. It's brown, and looks velvety, though I don't know if it's velvety to the touch, I didn't go that far. It's almost bubble like, but if you look at it from the back, it's hollow. I don't know much about fungi at all, but I'm fascinated with all the different types.

The grass didn't get cut at the weekend as I'd hoped it would, nor have I done any more digging over of the allotment yet. Although we haven't had much rain this week, the ground just doesn't seem to be drying out. The atmosphere seems to be damp at the moment, so perhaps this has something to do with it. I'm hoping that the rain stays away for the rest of the week, then I'll have at least some chance of getting on with these jobs at the weekend.

I've noticed that my little robin red breast is around again. He seems to go off for periods of time, but then returns, assuming it's the same robin. Whilst walking Archie this morning, I saw a few robins, they're such inquisitive little birds and don't show much fear. They allowed me within touching distance before they flew away. I must remember to put some mealworms out, that might tempt him to hang around.