Blue skies smiling at me

We rarely have high pressure weather systems over Donegal, but the past week has been like this:

Con-trail over Mongorrey

High pressure at this time of year produces sun during the day and frost at night, so we have had a couple of nights with -4 and -5c, but the days are warm enough to bring out the first insects.

I can almost predict that the first hoverfly of the year will be a female Eristalis tenax, and sure enough, I spotted this one today on a Dandelion:

Female Eristalis tenax on Dandelion

Females of Eristalis tenax overwinter as mated adults, so they are ready to produce eggs as soon as it's warm enough. Related Eristalis species overwinter as pupae, so although the tenax females have a head start, they are at risk if the winter is very cold.

I went up to see if there was any frog spawn at the usual places, but none was visible, although I have seen a few frogs at night. I did, however, see a few midges in loose clouds:

Midge cloud

This is still a good time of year to see lichens before the green growth obscures them. I found a large specimen of Peltigera membranacea (Rabbit's-Paw Lichen):

Peltigera membranacea - 'Rabbits-paw lichen'

The underside of the thallus is covered with spiky rhizines, which are used as anchors:

Rhizines on the underside of the thallus of Peltigera membranacea

There are quite a few different species of Peltigera on the patch, but P. membranacea is easily distinguished by the pale blue thallus.

Evernia prunastri can be distinguished from other similar species by the twin-forked branching structure:

Evernia prunastri on Willow

Cladonia portentosa is most often seen apparently growing on the ground amongst mosses and heaths, but it's actually growing on buried wood. This specimen is growing on a badly-decomposed log:

Cladonia portentosa on decayed log

Night brings out the spring moths, and my first for the year is the Dotted Border:

Dotted Border moth

The Dotted Border feeds on a wide range of broad-leaf trees as a larva. I'll leave you to work out where its name comes from.

Here's the result of living in a wet climate:

Peziza domiciliana

Peziza domiciliana is a fungus which is most commonly found indoors, growing through concrete. This specimen is happily growing in the boot of my car.

New to my species list (and not previously recorded in Ireland, although I find that difficult to believe).

Low level activity

Most of the current activity seems to be taking place at ground level: mosses and terrestrial lichens are looking well at the moment. I suppose they have to make use of whatever light they can get before the taller plants shade them for the rest of the season.

The area I went to yesterday is a high boggy area which is very good for mosses, since they need water for the early stages of their lifecycle.

Two of the most prominent mosses in this area are Rhytidiadelphus triquetris:

and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus:

Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus might be more familiar to you as one of the mosses which grows on poorly-drained lawns.

The Reindeer Lichen Cladonia portentosa is making the pale, cloudy, growths that peek out from the clumps of Sphagnum:

Higher up, one specimen of Pine was sporting pale green needles, which indicate new growth:

And this Willow bud was closest to opening:

Notice that the tip of the branch has been burnt by the heavy frosts we had in December.

The Stump

There's an old deciduous stump in Drumboe that demands that I photograph it on each visit. It's covered in lichens and mosses, with visits from occasional fungi, including the wonderful 'Jelly Tooth' that I might see there again soon. Here is a small (15cm.) fragment:

It's the kind of environment that draws you right into it. "You have to get down to its level", as a good friend told me (you know who you are).

I made another image, so that I can point out the various species:

1) and 4) Polytrichum commune - one of the 'Hair Cap' mosses.

2) Cladonia fimbriata - a lichen.

3) Pleurozium schreberi - a moss.

5) Cladonia portentosa - a 'Reindeer Lichen'.

6) A Birch seedling.

There will be more that I can't make out from the pictures.


Here's a close-up of the Cladonia portentosa:


Incidentally, this is a perfect example of lichens getting on with their work. The stump started off as clean dead wood and lichens (not Cladonias: they come later) colonised it, converting the wood into poor, thin, soil. The mosses need hardly any soil, so they come in after the lichens and then they, too die off and leave more organic material behind them. Eventually the soil is sufficient for a tree to take root above the old stump. I don't know how old the stump is (perhaps 20 years?), but the sequence of events is classic: Lichens are the pioneers, lower plants follow in and higher-order plants arrive last. Without lichens there is nothing. The same process takes place on rocks (and gravestones) but the process takes slightly longer.