Elf cups and ammo boxes

An unlikely combination to be sure.


Elf cups are bright red cup fungi common at this time of year. They grow on rotten wood that's decomposing into the soil:  brittle hemispheres that gleam like warning lights - which would once have been an appropriate function here if these boxes weren't empty and themselves rotting away. No longer holding explosives, they must have come from the decommissioned armaments depot that once occupied a large area of the valley and remains a secure, secretive no-go area, behind the fence on the right.

This was the furthest point of the afternoon's long walk on muddy paths and slippery slopes. But birds were chirping, catkins were dangling and wild garlic shoots were showing. Winter's grip is easing.