Microcosm

In winter, it's the smaller things that tend to capture your attention on country walks - like, for example, this miniature garden of mosses, lichens and fungi growing on top of a drystone wall at Stanhope in Weardale. In the space of a few square inches there are toadstools (haven't identified the species yet - can anyone help me out with some suggestions?); at least four species of moss; at least three species of lichen. If you really got to work with a hand lens I suspect you could probably double the biodiversity count for this tiny patch .......... and if you resorted to using a microscope, who knows how many! Below are two of the larger ones that I think I can identify.....

This (I think) is an Orthotrichum species although I'm not certain yet which one..... most probably O.anomalum.

..... and his, with the distinctive hair-point extensions to the leaves and capsules that curl downwards into the moss cushion, is Grimmia pulvinata (with another moss on either side of it and Orthotrichum anomalum at the top and bottom).


It's a long time since I last tried to identify moss species.....................

It's Grimmia up North....

This cushion of moss, clinging to a wall top in the centre of Newcastle, is Grimmia pulvinata, also known as the grey-cushioned grimmia.

Many mosses are perplexingly similar in appearance but this one is instantly recognisable, thanks to the long hair-like extensions to the leaf tips and the spore capsules that have a coy tendency to rise upwards on their stalks and them plunge back downwards again into the cushion of leaves.

Grimmia is an amazingly tough little moss. Its hummocks, often perfectly hemispherical, freeze solid in winter and can survive prolonged periods of drought in those all-too-infrequent ‘cor-what-a-scorcher’ summers when rain fails to fall for weeks on end. They manage to survive drought thanks to droplets of dew that condense on those long hair points at night and are absorbed into the sponge-like cushion below.

If you're even only remotely interested in the miniature world of mosses, take a look at the British Bryological Society web site at http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/bbs.htm

where you'll be able to identify most of the common species in your back garden by downloading their handy guide at http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Learning/malotag.htm

For the more ambitious bryologist, there's now a beautifully illustrated moss field guide on line at http://hosting.sleath.co.uk/bbs/ which will shortly be published in book form.