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.

Drumboe

Drumboe Wood is that strangest of creatures: an ancient urban woodland. It lies no further than 100m from the main shopping centre, separated from the main road only by the river Finn. Its great age leads to a huge biodiversity, with some very rare species. Indeed, it is the only known location in Ireland for Cerodontha sylvatica, which I added to the Irish list in 2006.

The Bluebells seem to be quite early this year:


These are the first flowers of Cuckoo Flower - Cardamine pratensis. My local specimens haven't flowered yet, so I suspect Orange Tip butterflies are still about 2-3 weeks away.


This moss is Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus. It's supposed to prefer calcareous soil, but I find it in acidic woodlands and in heath. One common name is 'electrified cat's tail moss'. I can see why.


My first hoverfly of the year: Eristalis pertinax. this one was smaller than most, and I had to eliminate E. nemorum and E. arbustorum based on the pale legs.

Mosses

Last year I decided to bite the bullet and 'get into' mosses. Being in North-west Ireland, we have more rainfall than most areas and mosses are very numerous in every type of environment. The initial phases of moss study are very slow indeed, with a great deal of time being spent hunched over keys and microscopes. Slide preparation takes ages, too, with a low-powered (x 40) microscope being used to make the initial leaf prep, followed by much higher power (x 100 - x 400) for the leaf cell analysis. Having said that, once the initial identifications have been carried out, the mosses themselves are quite easy to identify in the field

Racomitrium lanuginosum grows on rocks and develops a rather grey look as the season progresses:


Pleurozium schreberi is a very attractive, low-growing moss in damp areas. The central stem is distinctly red:It took me quite a while to confirm the id for this one: Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus is said to prefer lime or neutral areas. In fact, I find it everywhere I look. I'm told that it can grow in 'sheltered areas on acid', but this shot is from one of the most exposed places I know. Having repeatedly keyed it out and then rejected the id based on the ecology described in the books, I had to get the id confirmed by a proper bryologist.


The very closely-related Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus is the one very often found in lawns.This is a top-down shot:

If mosses in general seem like a daunting subject, then don't go near Sphagnums. The references are in conflict, and they admit that classification is 'fluid and contradictory'.

Sphagnum squarrosum (I think):
And Sphagnum subnitens - one of the hummock formers:
The green bits growing through the above Sphagnum are new growth of Polytrichum formosum, a very photogenic species that will feature strongly as the season progresses. Eagle-eyes will spot the heather shoots to the top left.


Most of my identification work was carried out in February and March last year. It's a good time of the year for mosses, but some work has to continue later in the year when the fruiting capsules are required to separate some species.

The Philonotis fontana specimens are just pushing their heads above water. It will be a few weeks before they show properly.