Bad Hair Day

I found this amongst some old photos. My kids bought it for me for my birthday years ago... claimed it looked like me on a bad hair day ...I don't know whether you can still get them, but I hope you can.  All you needed to do was water his scalp and lush green hair grew. 

It's a catkin..... but not as we know it ...

I found this strange hazel catkin when I was out walking along the River Wear at Wolsingham at lunchtime. Unlike the normal one on the left, this one has branched into seven separate 'tails' at the tip. Might have been caused by damage during the very early stages of its development last summer.

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.....................