Nectria cinnabarina – a tiny fungus on wood

Nectria cinnabarina in garden

Storm Doris is blowing a gale today, but in between the showers and racing ragged clouds was a fine half-hour of warm sunshine, the daffodils glowing yellow. A cut twig caught my eye in the brilliant light, speckled with tiny spheres, the pinkish fruiting bodies of the Ascomycete Nectria cinnabarina, a small saprophytic fungus, also called Coral Spot.