Saturday, 5 January 2008

A new beginning

I have been the author of Donegal Hedgerow for 5 years, now and I think it's time for a change.

Donegal Hedgerow was a bit of a pioneering site: a daily archive of images of the wildlife around me in Raphoe, Co. Donegal, Ireland. It certainly caused a bit of a stir in wildlife circles, inspiring a number of people to start similar sites, or to work on similar projects. It won a number of awards and led to numerous radio and TV appearances: it is used by universities and schools as the basis for course material.

But I rarely like to stay static for long, and I want to stimulate more dialogue around the images that I show and the stories that I tell.

Hopefully, this blog format will encourage people to comment, argue, offer amendments to identifications, learn, start their own blog and just make the whole thing more interactive.

Anyway, let's get this thing started. Here are a couple of fungal images from the hedgerow ditch:

The first shows three Mycena sp. The largest is about 1cm. across the cap. Most Mycenas can be tricky to identify without microscopic assistance, but as time passes I hope to learn more of them by sight.





The second specimen is Tubaria furfuracea, which is probably associated with Hawthorn. I certainly notice Hawthorn nearby wherever I find it.







8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look forward to these pages.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Stuart, this is exciting. I have followed your site since its beginning, I think. This new blog looks good. Bit like Peregrine's Bird Blog.
Clare

Stuart said...

Gill, Clare, brilliant to see you here. Let's see how many other regulars drop in.

Ray Hamblett said...

Hi Stuart
Congratulations on your fifth year and the new beginning.
I have always been impressed by your consistency, hope the January rain doesn't dampen your enthusiasm too much.

Ray
Lancing Nature

Stuart said...

Welcome, Ray.

The rain isn't too bad, I suppose. It gets me lichens, liverworts and mosses that aren't found in the drier and warmer climate of Southern England. I do envy your butterflies, though....

Cheers

Stuart

Anonymous said...

I like the look of the new site - it is easier to look for archive material and quite attractive too. Will link you to our site as soon as I can get around to it.

Joe (Brittany, Fr.)

Anonymous said...

Hi Stuart it looks great! I've enjoyed your Donegal Hedgerow and really looking forward to seeing how the new blog develops.
Link going up to here from the wildflower site in the morning.
Jenny

Stuart said...

Joe and Jenny, great to see you both here..:)