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Hundreds of individual strands of frozen water are held together in what looks like candy floss (EPA)
An unusual growth resembling candy floss has been forming on tree branches in Northern Irish woodland.
The strange sight, spotted in the counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, is a rare phenomenon called hair ice, in which hundreds of individual strands of frozen water are held together in what looks like a soft white wig.
The formation occurs in the presence of a particular fungus in rotting wood,
Exidiopsis effusa, but the conditions required are extremely specific.
Moist wood from a broadleaf tree is needed, as well as humid air and temperatures just below freezing.