Thursday 1 May 2014

Occasionally NOT birding

....yet still picking up year ticks. There was a Cuckoo calling (Year 222) and a displaying Tree Pipit in the area.

I'm up here in the Edinburgh area doing some botanical surveys at the moment. These include extended Phase 1 and National Vegetation Classification (NVC). Specifically, I'm looking for Groundwater Dependant Terrestrial Ecosystems (GWDTE).

Today I've been looking at amongst other things bryophytes (mosses), lichens and club moss. It gave me a good opportunity to try out the macro on my new camera, and here are some of the results.


A lovely community of bryophytes.



Sphagnum mosses are notoriously difficult to identify, but I'm pretty confident that this is Sphagnum capillifolium.



Polytrichum commune, a very common and easy to identify moss.


Not sure about this at the moment.


This is one of the cladonia lichens, but I'm not sure about the exact species. I'll have a closer look tomorrow.


The lichen, Hypogymnia physodes.


Cladonia cristatella also known as British Soldier lichen. Presumably it was so named in the days before camouflage was deemed necessary!


Stag's Horn Clubmoss, not a true moss.


Not a moss, lichen or clubmoss, this little beauty is a Marsh Violet.

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