Some Mosses

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 Two things that are not in short supply in Cumbria are ancient stone walls and lots of rain. Together these factors provide perfect conditions for mosses.


There seem to be lots of different species and so I am just going to look at a couple here.


This miniature forest is "Wall Screw-Moss".  This seems to be the second most common moss on our walls. By far the most common moss here seems to be the next one...


I am pretty sure that this one is called "Silky Wall Feather-moss".
Mosses are in the taxonomic division of Bryophytes and are a primitive plant that reproduce using spores. Moss tends to build up in damp areas and in time if enough depth is produced becomes compressed to form peat. Hillwalkers will be familiar with sphagnum moss which 
has such a capacity to hold liquid that dried sphagnum was used as wound dressings in the first World War and Boy Scouts were sent out to collect it for the war effort.

Diary Notes
It's raining hard today - perfect weather for mosses. I placed last nights trail cams experimentally in different areas  in the hope of finding something different. Red Squirrel, Woodmice, Jackdaw and Rook were all I got for my efforts.






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