28th January 2026
It’s fair to say January, has been a pretty miserable month weather-wise. I can’t think of any days with no rain, and certainly not many with any sunshine. All-in-all a good month for staying in doors, getting various spreadsheets and data in order, and planning for lots of exciting events in the year to come. Today however there was a brief break in the cloud. And I mean brief. At around 11am I noticed the pea-soup of fog outside the office window begin to lighten and judged that we might be about to get some sunshine.
The sun broke through the cloud
As I headed up the hill with my camera the sun did indeed break through and I was treated to some stunning views, clear-blue skies and atmospheric fog swirls. I even got to see a rare fog-bow!
Fog bow on the hill
After enjoying this moment and the leg-stretch I wandered a different way back to base and came across the biggest collection of star-jelly I have ever seen. It’s a white-ish opaque gelatinous substance that you tend to find in odd clumps. Here I found at least 8 different clumps in around 150m. Recorded as early as the 1200’s this substance was believed by some to be fallen debris from a falling star, or some strange goo emitted by the earth itself. Modern thinking has however come to the more realistic (and boring) conclusion that it is actually the remains of amphibians, usually oviducts, that have been regurgitated or partially left by a predator, usually a corvid or heron, and then left to swell in moist conditions. Indeed there is a spike in star-jelly records between New Year and April, when more amphibians are coming to ponds to breed.
One of at least 8 star-jelly clumps
Adding in that I was near a small pool when I found them, and ravens were circling overhead, increases the evidence for these being amphibian remains. I returned to the office only around 30 minutes after leaving, but feeling much better for it.
