I love this miniature landscape of lichens and mosses, all growing on a thick concrete wall, so rich and diverse and vibrant!
Lilliputian landscape
10 Friday Mar 2023
10 Friday Mar 2023
I love this miniature landscape of lichens and mosses, all growing on a thick concrete wall, so rich and diverse and vibrant!
03 Wednesday Mar 2021
Posted bryophytes
inI was searching for the leaf mines on Hart’s-tongue ferns that I blogged about on Monday when I spotted this little moss. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to identify it, as I’ve discovered mosses can be rather tricky, but I took several photos anyway.
When I later checked out this species, the Fissidens, on the Nature Spot website, I realised I was on a hiding to nothing. Still, I recorded seeing the moss at species level and filed away my photos.
Then I got a notification about my record: the expert checking it had been able to make a more exact identification. So I can say positively that this is Common pocket-moss (Fissidens taxifolius). If you want to go down the rabbit hole that is moss identification, you can read more about it here.
27 Saturday Feb 2021
Posted bryophytes, nature, plants
inTags
Graves may not be everyone’s idea of wildlife-friendly spaces but I’ve found cemeteries and grave-filled churchyards can hold some interesting, often unusual flora and fauna.
Mosses grow very easily on next to nothing. They have no roots, and only need moisture and shady conditions to grow.
I presume the indentations of the inscription on the gravestone, though shallow, would be deep enough to accumulate a little moisture and a modicum of dusty soil, and that’s all these little mosses required to thrive. The churchyard is also well shaded by hedges and tall trees, as well as the church building itself – again, perfect for the mosses.
Some people might think mosses and lichens should be scrubbed off gravestones or sprayed with chemicals to kill them. Not me. I can think of nothing nicer than to have my gravestone be home to little beauties like these, and my personal details spelled out in mosses.
24 Tuesday Nov 2020
Tags
… on mosses.
24 Tuesday Dec 2019
Spongy, squishy, cushiony, yielding, springy …
Today my eye was focused on the small things, my fingers drawn to the soft feel of domes of mossiness on the tops of aged fence posts.
03 Sunday Mar 2019
Posted 365DaysWildin2019, nature, weather
inWith Storm Freya blasting us today, I only managed an hour’s stomp between rain bands but even that was difficult, trying to walk back up the hill from the marina into a 25mph head wind. My head was down, which was probably how I spotted these lovely bands of moss on top of a brick wall. It was interesting how the moss was only growing in strips where the mortar butted up against the terracotta bricks, not on the mortar or the bricks themselves. It sure looked pretty covered in rain drops.
13 Tuesday Dec 2016
Tags
I have no words of wisdom to impart today as I know very little about mosses, except that they can be extraordinarily beautiful when viewed up close, which is how I seem to be viewing a lot of the natural world in recent times. I hope you enjoy these images.
(p.s. I have an extremely knowledgable friend who really knows his bryophytes and he tells me these are: Grimmia pulvinata (with old capsules), Kindbergia praelonga, Ceratodon purpureus and Campylopus introflexus. Thanks a lot, George!)
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