The bryophytes are a whole division of the plant kingdom that I’ve tended to avoid, apart from taking the odd photo of ‘moss looking gorgeous with raindrops’.

It’s time to change that, and I’m starting simple. These are two of the mosses commonly found on our local stone walls. First up, Wall screw-moss (Tortula muralis), which the excellent Nature Spot website tells me is ‘the commonest moss on many mortared or base-rich walls – both of brick and stone … It also grows on concrete, roof tiles and other man-made structures, as well as outcrops of natural, base-rich rock’. The webpage also has some key identification features and some excellent photos.

Growing next to the Wall screw-moss on a local wall, I also found the lovely hemispherical tufts of Grey-cushioned grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata), the most common of the Grimmias. Once again, Nature Spot has a detailed list of ID features to check. Mosses can be tricky to identify so my self-education in this field will progress very slowly, I’m sure, but I have had these two verified so it’s a positive start.