Hoof Fungus...

The sun came out around noon so we thought we'd go to the park to walk, but in just the time it took us to get there the sun was gone again, the wind kicked up & it felt like the temperature dropped considerably. 
In fact, I slipped on the black-topped path we were walking on, as it just looked wet but was, in fact, coated in ice. If Tom didn't have such fast reflexes I'd have been down on the ground, in spite of trying to be so careful! In the past I've broken my left foot, shattered my left ankle, and broken my right ankle twice--all on separate occasions--so I live in fear of walking/falling on ice!  We decided to turn back and on our way to the car I noticed this fungus ....so named for its' shape, which resembles a horses' hoof. It's mainly found on beech trees and silver birch trees; this one being a birch tree. The fungus affects the wood of the trees very quickly & leads to weakness in the branches, causing them to become brittle--the birch tree next to this one was already in pieces, so I wonder how much longer this one will stand!