Scarlet Elfcups

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.

Irene Palmer offered to show me a flood of these charming fungi at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, for which I offer my thanks.  They are a pretty sight when there are few flowers about, and Irene is expert at putting together good material for a photo.

They grow on fallen deadwood which stays wet enough to become mossy.  You can't normally see this, but they have a small stalk which gives them a goblet shape.

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.

This was taken by lifting the branch and photographing the parts that normally never see the light. 

The same day I saw these, I received an email saying they were also out in Jubilee Country Park, and indeed I found half a dozen patches there on the 28th.  As they were a little past their best, I am not showing any photos of those specimens here.  But it's good to see them popping up in different places.