Sunday 7 March 2021

Moss and frogs.

 Thanks to Leif Bersweden for his #CouchTo10Mosses I've had a go at identifying a few. Possibly a bit easier than lichens, probably ignorance speaking there. 


Barbula unguiculata, the pale green one - rubbish photos I need to go and take them again.

The other moss there is Didymodon fallax apparently. I need to check the info on the BBS site. Many thanks to BH for help with this and some other moss IDs.

This is an easy hit for a few new species anyway and, having never looked carefully at these plants before, they are rather lovely.

Grimmia pulvinata.

Habitat shot.

Close up, Homalothecium sericeum.

Habitat.

Homalothecium sericeum, close up.

Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, the moss found in lawns and grassland.

When we went for a walk at Northside I photographed a few maritime mosses. BH identified these for me, and JB chipped in, thanks chaps.

Grimmia pulvinata again, but by the sea this time, hopefully I do know this one.

Seaside Grimmia, Schistidium maritimum, in habo.

Schistidium maritimum, close up.

Tortula muralis, habo.

Tortula muralis, close up.

I'll have a bit of a poke about and see if I can find a few more. There are some very common and distinctive ones I've not figured out.

Before 2019, from 2009, no frogs. 2019 I found three frogs in the 1km sq, around the house, one of which crawled up my trouser leg when I was searching for inverts on the ground. Last year I found a further four or five and some frog spawn, just a clump in a shallow pool in the middle of a damp meadow. This year, quite a lot of frogs and 14 clumps of frog spawn. 

Frog spawn.


Rana temporaria.

So it looks like there is some population growth, despite the best efforts of the local Grey Herons, I watched a heron swallow a large frog on Saturday. The one above was by the side of our road on Sunday and apparently there was another this evening.

There is now considerable doubt around my identification of Sitona linealis from last week. MG very helpfully is suggesting that these are Sitona obsoletus. This is a species I can't find much information about, colloquially named Clover-root Weevil their occurrence in the trough would make sense, they appeared shortly after the ploughing of a clover rich grazing field. Looking in the same trough on Saturday, another specimen (as well as the abdomen of a Bembidion sp that requires further investigation) was found. I will try to take some better photos, higher resolution is required I think.

Sitona obsoletus maybe.

New beetles for the year this weekend.

Leistus fulvibarbis.

Nebria brevicollis, moving....

And under the same stones the Opilione, Nemastoma bimaculatum.

Like a very small alien.

Saturday found seven Shelduck on The Shunan, that might be a record. They were duelling and threatening and fairly soon the number went back to four, two pairs, it would be nice if they attempted to breed. Today there were five pairs of Pintail, pretty sure that's a record number as well. It's wonderfully noisy with Oystercatchers and Curlew all over the place, hundreds of Oysterdcatcher. Both Redshank and Lapwing are establishing territories. 

Birds feeding on the kitchen windowsill, fixed camera firing automatically.


Rooks collecting sticks on Monday, 08/03/2021.

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