Seen this in large amounts at Longwood Woodland Trust area,several years ago,took several pictures and tried to identify it, with no luck!! deleted the pics!!

Thanks for your Wells garden list, Alison.  No winter Blackcaps over here in Chipstable (hill country west of Wiveliscombe).

On the subject of “hair ice”, or “hair ice fungus”: yes, I first came across some on my WEBS patch at Otterhead Lakes a few years ago.  Almost incredible, isn’t it.  Have very rarely seen it.  Wish I had had a camera with me!

Cheers,  Chris Weedon

We’ve had 24 spp visit our rather modest garden over the last few days - in no particular order, 4 tit spp, blackbirds (8, spending the whole day here), a song thrush (unusual), a fieldfare (annual occurrence), wren, dunnock, robin, goldcrests, an extraordinarily proprietorial male blackcap which polices the feeders (anyone else experienced this?), chaffinches, goldfinches, greenfinches (2), bh gulls, magpies, jackdaws, a single crow, woodpigeons, starlings, a gsp woodpecker and our first ever meadow pipit, plus an overflying snipe. Apples and sunflower hearts are the main draw.

Also, the BBC has a report of ‘hair ice’ in N Ireland - candyfloss-like encrustations of ice filaments on dead wood. I saw it in Stockhill woods on Saturday, but was baffled by it. Anyone else seen it in Somerset? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55531529.