A visit to Glasgow Cathedral

On Saturday, Little She Bear and I visited Glasgow Cathedral. We don't live in Glasgow but it is our nearest city so we are trying to get to know it a bit more. Over the last few years most of my visits to Glasgow seem to have been to take Toadlet to the orthodontist or to walk between two railway stations on my way to somewhere else.

This was my favourite window. Many of the stained glass windows are modern and have been installed since 1947. This one is the Millenium Window by John Clark, installed in 1999.

I liked the roof of the nave too. Apparently this is called an open timber roof and is of early twentieth century design. Information in the cathedral says "much of the timber may be from the 14th century".

We did not have much time to explore the other parts as a very posh wedding was about to happen and we were ushered back into the nave. These people are all watching the nervous-looking bride and her entourage as she prepared to enter the Choir. We weren't sure if we saw the groom or not. There were a lot of very smart-looking young men wearing kilts of the same tartan.

some of the people watching the bridal procession
before the private part was closed to us

Something that intrigued us was the number of filled in holes in some of the pillars. It seems that "Catholic trappings" used to hang on the pillars. They were removed after the Protestant Reformation. More info here at Historic Scotland site.

Outside was this lovely curlicue window protection,

this lovely old gate,

posh wedding cars, and a view to the Glasgow Necropolis. We decided to save that for another day and went in search of lunch.

Pleuridium acuminatum or maybe not...

Update 25 Aug: I keep going to look at the plants to see if the setae have grown. So far they haven't and any capsules there are are still nestling between leaves. That is, unless what I'm seeing are all antheridia and there are no capsules! I don't think they are all antheridia though because the leaves are not 'open' around them. <still confused of the Boggy Brae>

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The post from 21 Aug

I am by no means certain, but I think this moss, growing on soil near Atrichum undulatum and some other mosses, is Taper-leaved Earth-moss (Pleuridium acuminatum).

E.V.Watson says it is a small and rather inconspicuous moss. I agree with him about the size but I thought the intense green colour of the moss next to the quite different and mostly darker green Atrichum was striking. It and the 'slightly secund' (pointing in one direction) leaves is what made me notice it when I was right above it chucking stuff into my dead-hedge.

Pic to the left shows a couple of shoots of Atrichum undulatum in the top right corner.

One of the difficulties (apart from my ignorance) that presented itself while trying to identify this moss was that the books I have say different and sometimes contradictory things. With regard to leaves pointing in one direction AJE Smith in The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland says that the leaves are more or less erect or 'slightly secund'. Watson, in British Mosses and Liverworts says that the leaves "are not curved to one side (falcato-secund)". Hmm. The Field Guide of the British Bryological Society (BBS) says the leaves are "usually erect and occasionally slightly turned to one side". I concluded that the Boggy Brae shoots, all several thousand of them, are of the occasional type.

The photo to the right shows the typical size of the shoots, which fits the BBS statement that they are often less than 1cm tall. This one does look fairly erect, possibly because it has a capsule.

capsule and perichaetal leaves 

To the right I was looking down on a capsule.
Correction 22 Aug: Seems this is an antheridium. Thanks due to Richard Lansdown for that.









In among the Earth-moss shoots were just four of another very tiny moss shown below. Its identification is for another day.

A Moss Hunt

Yesterday I was kindly allowed to tag along on the regional field meeting of the Scottish section of the British Bryological Society. It was inspiring to be in the company of such bryologically knowledgeable people and it was lovely to be on the eastern side of Loch Lomond on one of the best summer days, weatherwise, that we've had this year.

We were on the new RSPB Loch Lomond site. We ate lunch beside the loch. As we were packing up to move on after lunch, I had one of those moments of brain not in the right gear moments and started a rucksack rummage in search of my glasses which, during lunch time, I knew I'd put down on top of the open rucksack. What I hadn't remembered is that I'd put them back on. Rory Whytock, the meeting's recorder, after a bemused moment, told me that I was wearing some glasses! Ah well, it shows they are comfortable enough that I forget they are there, and since my eyesight was very good until fairly recently, being able to see properly is the default my brain goes back to in my, ahem, more senior moments!

 

From the lunch spot we wandered along the western edge of the long spit between Endrick Water and the loch. I loved the mud boulders caused by erosion of the bank by wave action from the west. There'll be a lot of this as the prevailing winds are from the west. Cattle kept on the reserve who go for drinks there and other visiting animals (us, for instance!) will help the process along at times.

Mud 'boulders' on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond

Another little detail of bank erosion that pleased me. And below a larger inlet presumably made in a similar way.

Looking east at an inlet where Amphibious Bistort is growing

The bryology team at work. I forget the name of the species they were searching for at this point. My brain's bryology shelf had reached fully loaded by this time and I was content to look at various species I hadn't seen before without knowing their names. I brought home three small samples to look at more closely at my leisure.

Thanks again for welcoming me on this moss walk, folks. It was much appreciated.

A knitted patchwork blanket

This week I finished sewing together squares knitted by users of The Oasis Day Centre in Garelochhead. DerbyshireDaughter, who was here on a visit, then speedily crocheted an edging for the blanket. Teamwork!