Update

A bit of sun today, so I went out to see what was happening.

A check of the usual ditch turned up a single flower of Lesser Celandine along with a few buds:

Lesser Celandine flower and bud

This area is sheltered by Ash trees, so I suppose it will be a bit more exposed next year or the year after.

Most fungi have been killed off by the recent frosts, but a few are still emerging. This little Mycena arcangeliana was growing through moss at the base of another Ash.

Mycena arcangelicastri

I spotted a new liverwort on a dead branch nearby:

The liverwort Radula complanata

It keyed out quickly to Radula complanata, which is described as 'epiphytic on wood in areas of high rainfall'. Bang on.

New to my Species list.

In my last post, I mentioned that some lichens reproduce by growing on unstable substrates, such as crumbling soil on embankments. This specimen of Lepraria incana is growing on the surface of moss:

Lepraria incana on moss

I took time to update my Species list with the recent new additions, and the grand total is now 1461 species. I suppose the magic 1500 might arrive next year.

Species recorded by year

The rise in number of species is remarkably constant since 2006, when I started to record everything I could identify.

Rocky ledge

On one part of the hedgerow there's a rocky outcrop about 2m wide. It's absolutely covered in mosses and liverworts which are atypical for this area. This is the only place I know that has the beautiful moss Fissidens cristatus (image shown is about 3 cm. wide):


Notice the puckered leaves, which are a fairly common feature on larger-leaved mosses and are probably used to increase surface area.

The spore capsules are very prolific:


Fissidens species have very interesting 'pockets' in their leaves, which retain moisture (the pocket is the darker patch in the centre of the image, where you can see some air bubbles; image is x40):


This is a shot of individual leaf cells at x400:


Lichens have developed a number of interesting methods of reproduction. Some throw pure fungal spores into the air in the hope that they will land on an unsuspecting alga, thereby establishing a new lichen specimen. Others drop little packages of fungus and alga: a 'ready to go' version of the adult. And some just break off pieces of their body, again as 'ready to go' specimens.

Lepraria incana is typical of the latter type, and it is often found on crumbly banks of soil. What better place to grow if you want to lose bits of yourself?


Just round the corner from the rock I found some Snowdrops. The severe winter has put these back by at least 3 weeks this year: