Golden hazel

Thank you so much to everyone who's sent good wishes to Gemma over the last couple of days. She continued to show some minor improvement this morning, but then started to show additional worrying symptoms which I felt might be associated with declining liver function. So we took her back to the vets and she's now been admitted to the local vet hospital where she's receiving intravenous fluids and antibiotics. She's also had blood tests which seem to confirm my concerns about her liver. Hopefully the supportive treatment she's receiving will give her a better chance of fighting the infection and allow her liver to heal.

I took Rosie for a short walk to our local wood this morning, as the sun was shining and it was relatively mild. She was quite excited about going out until she realised that Gemma wasn't with her, and then she just seemed to want to go home. I kept her on the lead, just in case she made a run for the car. I was hoping to photograph some fungi, but they were rather limited. My most exciting find was a heap of dead men's fingers Xylaria polymorpha on a stump, the first time I've seen this species locally, but they were rather shaded and difficult to photograph. So instead I offer a glowing hazel, an optimistic talisman in the hope that tomorrow will bring good news...