High heath, plus some photomicrographs of recent spores.
Overcast but dry.
Two late bees - both still alive, but moving very slowly. On the left a Common Carder and a tiny Solitary Bee on the Cat's Ear (right).
This specimen of Bird's-foot Trefoil was still budding and flowering.
This is the top of a very old fence-post. The picture tells a rather complex story. There are at least two lichen species, some mosses (including a Polytrichum) and Bilberry. The sequence of events would be something like the following:
When new, this post would have been bare wood - possibly creosoted. Over the years lichens have grown on the stump and broken down the surface. The algae in the lichens will have decomposed and began to form crude soils that are sufficient for mosses to live on. As the mosses decomposed, more substantial amounts of organic matter would form and create a soil suitable for the Bilberry. This sequence of lichen-moss-higher order plants is well-known, and has given rise to the name 'Pioneer Species' to some of the lichens.
Two shots of recent spores. On the left, spores of the Deceiver - Laccaria laccata, and on the right, the very pointed spores of yesterday's mystery fungus.
