Antivirus

Due to that pesky virus keeping us close to home, I now have few excuses for not doing some outstanding jobs around the house.  Last Friday I looked at the lawn and whilst deciding it didn’t need cutting just yet, I spotted some Calliergonella cuspidata fruiting.  I occasionally see this species fruiting, but I think always in fairly wet habitats like flushes and I don’t think I have seen it fruiting in such a dry lawn before – perhaps it is a symptom of the very wet 6 months we have just endured.  

While taking the photo I remembered that I had spotted a nice patch of male Lunularia in one of our flower beds last autumn, so thought I would get a pic of that – unfortunately the patch had almost completely degraded, but there was one male bit still showing. 

Later that day, I made use of my daily exercise allowance by walking along some of the lanes near home, returning along the canal towpath.    The only bryo that caught my eye was a lovely patch of fruiting Bartramia pomiformis, on a small rock embedded in a lane bank.  

Walking past a pile of mixed clay and rubble by the canal, something shiny caught my eye and it turned out to be a small ammonite – a bit of a surprise as it not the sort of fossil you expect to see in Devonian country. Further fossicking resulted in a few more ammonite specimens and bits of broken Gryphaea and belemnite.     

I’ll see what else I can find in the garden over the next few weeks – might have to eke bryos out a bit, but there are plenty of other groups to get my teeth into.  After a week of working from home I am now up to 22 bird species on my new list “Staring out of spare bedroom window whilst taking part in telephone/ Skype sessions”.   Perhaps I’ll start a separate list for each window of the house!