Bonfire Moss

Bonfire Moss

Bonfire Moss (Funaria hygrometrica) looking cheerful made up for the lack of wildflowers in flower that were findable on my #NewYearPlantHunt (see more under that hashtag on Twitter) for the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) on the first two days of the year.

spruce seedling where it's not wanted

In the middle of this bonfire site I discovered another baby spruce tree. Sorry, dude, but you have to go! Norway and Sitka Spruce fans, don't worry, there are gazillions just up the hill. That's why we keep getting seedlings in the Boggy Brae garden, even though The New Sylva claims that Norway Spruce "rarely produces viable seed in Britain". It seems to around here! Judging by the number of Norway Spruce cones I find, I think the seedlings are that species rather than Sitka.







Here is my 2016 New Year Plant Hunt list:
Bramble (just one)
Common Gorse
Common Cat's-ear (2 miserable-looking specimens)
Daisy (1)
Dandelion (1, not in the least bit chirpy like they are in the spring!)

Boggy Brae dandelion from last April

People in southern English counties are finding long lists of New Year flowering wild plants. Here we still have proper winters! It's not so much a temperature thing, though there is that as well of course, as a light thing up here, I reckon.