We were back in the Blackstairs, again, towards the end of February, this time with friends Miriam and Heinz and sister-in-law, Siobhan.

I'll not go into detail as I would be repeating myself but it was back to 'the beeches' on a perfect, early spring day.

The shadows were lengthening by the time we finished.....

.......but along the way I spotted this.

In our ignorance, we couldn't decide if it was a fungus or a lichen but, certainly, none of us had seen its likes before and we agreed that its astonishingly bright colour was incongruous, not only with the time of year, but also Ireland's prevailing damp and cool climate.

My guess is that there is a man in Skerries who can identify and explain........