Rusty Swan-neck Moss

A while ago I thought I had identified a moss as Broom Fork Moss. Today I found another sample of that moss in another place and I think I was mistaken then and it is in fact Rusty Swan-neck Moss (Campylopus flexuosus)

<< This is one of the photos I posted up at the end of August.



Below is today's photo. Shoots of the Rusty Swan-neck Moss are at the extreme left and extreme right of the picture.

Both samples have the required matted reddish rhizoids.

30Aug2014

20Oct2014

Today I went and got another sample from the original spruce log and compared it with the new sample, which is also on a rotting log but I don't know what kind of wood it is. Delighted to find a curved over seta, which is what I presume the swan-neck of the name refers to. I think the seta straightens up a bit as the capsule ripens but still preserves some swan-neckiness!

The black blob on the capsule is a bit of muck and not significant (except as muck). I was glad to get some rhizoid and the capsule's 'hat' in the same pic. The hat is called a calyptra.







I decided to blog this info because today's discovery means I have to delete my record for #boggybraemoss 14 and put another in its place. I've already recorded Rusty as moss number 28. So this is my reminder to post my next species as #boggybraewild as 162, not 208, as it would be if I hadn't made the mistake. That makes sense to me even if doesn't make sense to anyone else!

UPDATE at 1935 on 20 Oct 2014
As it happens, I had used number 161 twice so could use bbw162 for one of those. So the next moss up–photos anon– is Cypress-leaved Plait-moss/Hypnum cupressiforme which will be bbw208, bbmoss14.

An early welly wander between showers

 The clouds were scudding by fast this morning when I wandered up the garden and over the fence into the field to watch what was visible of the sunrise.

There would clearly be some more rain soon but before it came I climbed over the forest fence, stepped over the burn...

...and found a new moss: Greater Fork Moss (Dicranum majus), a relative, I suppose, of Dicranum scoparium that grows in the garden.

Dicranum scoparium
Broom Fork Moss

Where I stepped over the burn is quite narrow. just a little further down, where it turns to run steeply downhill and into the sea, it is wider and, at the moment, gushier and noisier.

Walking back across the field I noticed this goo slime mould, or whatever it is. There were
several patches of it.

Just before doing my scissor step over the garden fence, I found a typical Boggy Brae sycamore leaf with its decoration of Sycamore Tarspot fungus, which is a sign of clean air. I like the brown and black together, and the different brown tones of the paler gilled fungus on the brown leaf above.



My trundle down the garden included checking up on the ever larger crop of Hare's Foot Inkcaps (Coprinopsis lagopus) on an old compost heap. On the young yew tree next to the heap I spotted a single berry. Couldn't see any others.

Yew berry

<< Hare's Foot Inkcaps

A little brightness under clouds

Woke up to a low cloud, breezy day.

                                         It stayed breezy 

but the cloud lifted and the sun shone–a lovely day to be working outside.

I've been meaning to clear ways through the overgrown vegetation up by the old henhouse (which I'm now using as an overflow woodshed). I think doing archery has helped restore some of my strength, at least in short bursts, so I thought I'd make the most of the day and get on with it.

There's a clear way through now both above and below the spiraea that tends to get invasive if not kept in check.

Bluebells grow here in spring

 

I found more of the Root Rot fungus (Heterobasidion annosum) at the base of the old rowan tree. The fungus one sees grows close to the ground and tends to be hidden under vegetation, mainly ferns and small brambles in this case. When I picked up some of the rowan's fallen branches, I could feel how soft the wood was. My fungus book calls the growth of Root Fomes, as it used to be called, a 'disease' but in the case of this old rowan I really do think it is just that old age has caught up with it, not slowed down, it has to be said, by all the chopping away of branches and the hammering in of large nails that occurred in its youth when a tree house was built in it. I'm left wondering if root rot fungus establishes itself in trees that are already decaying with age, rather than taking up residence in young healthy trees and 'causing' decay?

You can see in the last photo above the falling half of the large cypress behind the rowan. That's also an old tree and it also has root rot fungus growing at its base. I haven't seen any of the fungus at the base of the younger trees that are dotted about nearby–mainly grey sallow and birch.

Yes, it turned into a lovely day.

I think we're in for some rain for the rest of the week.

Old gates, new gates, red gates, blue gates

Old gate

New gate (peace gate)

Red gate

Blue gate

<< Knobless, once lockable gate

Sprung gate

Fancy gate

                Peeling gate with ivy-leaved toadflax

Wonky gate

Leucistic crow with road sense

I watched this slightly leucistic crow near the middle of a road. It was pecking away at some tiny stuff on the road. I could hear the beak hitting the tarmac.

The fascinating thing was that when a car came along, it just walked to the correct side of the central white line to avoid being hit. No point expending energy wastefully! If cars came in both directions, it went and stood under my car, which was parked at the side and from which I took these snapshots, before going back to its pecking.



Cool crow!

In a square inch or so of moss just outside my back door...

...I always find more than one species.

This sample is from one step outside my door on our back terrace.

As I get to know the names (sometimes I remember the Latin name, sometimes the English one), I'm trying to name them in situ rather than having to magnify and peer at their characteristics in order to know which they are. In this clump I know there is Pointed Spear Moss (Calliergonella cuspidata), but there is a paler moss too that I can't name without closer inspection.

You can see the spear points in this pic
(click on it to enlarge it if you like)

Near the centre of this pic is the pale moss. You can see it is not the same colour as the Pointed Spear to the left of it and its overall appearance is different. After close inspection and much muddlement because trampled on examples are not the same as untrampled, I think it is Fountain Apple-moss (Philonotis fontana). Fortunately there is an untrampled example of that moss elsewhere at the Boggy Brae.

The photo to the right was taken in late May and shows the male inflorescence of Philonotis fontana. If you look closely you'll see Pointed Spear-moss in there too and one of the Haircap (Polytrichum) mosses—the one with the very sharp-looking leaves.

Moving the aim of my camera lens just a little, I spot a third moss: Springy Turf Moss (Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus), of which there is masses at BB. It and Heath Bedstraw make up much of our upper lawn. The red stem and star-like shoot tip make it easily recognisable. I remember both Latin and English names of this and the spear moss above.

Calliergonella cuspidata and Philonotis fontana

Pointed Spear Moss and Fountain Apple moss in situ, growing on gravel that is full of soil washed down the hill over many years.