It was hanging on a thin branch 10 meters above, with fresh pine looking needles.
Wow, that's pretty amazing looking. No idea what it is. It has got fresh pine branches in it so might be a really really abnormal growth around a broken trunk on a pine tree. We'll have to see if anyone else has seen anything like this
That's a mutation within the pine - often caused by a virus or an insect (or mite) that causes the growth to mutate. A bit like 'witches brooms' on Carmichaelia, Clianthus, Streblus etc.
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