{"id":730,"date":"2010-03-30T13:54:30","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T18:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=730"},"modified":"2010-03-31T12:49:35","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T17:49:35","slug":"mosses-at-wallingford-13th-march-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/mosses-at-wallingford-13th-march-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Mosses at Wallingford – 13th March 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday 13th February, Sean O\u2019Leary led a field trip at Wallingford to look at mosses. The walk started in pleasant sunshine at the graveyard of St Leonard\u2019s Church. An interesting collection of mosses was growing on the wall around the churchyard, and there were more specimens on various gravestones and in the grass. Pseudocrossidium revolutum<\/strong><\/em> formed bright green mats on the old mortar, with tiny, strongly recurved leaves. Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus<\/strong><\/em> and Kindbergia praelonga<\/strong><\/em> were common in the turf, while glossy, feather-like fronds of Homalothecium sericeum<\/strong><\/em> clung to the gravestones and wall-tops.\u00a0 <\/span>The new field guide to Mosses and Liverworts, recently published by the British Bryological Society, proved to be useful for identification.\u00a0 <\/span>The group then went downriver along the Thames Path. Mosses found on the slipway of the Oxford University Boat Club such as dark green swards of \u00a0<\/span>Didymodon nicholsonii<\/strong><\/em> <\/span>were typical of species which grow in locations which are regularly flooded. Tree roots by the river yielded Leskea polycarpa<\/strong><\/em> and Syntrichia latifolia<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span>A double whistling call announced the presence of Kingfishers, and a pair was watched as they flew across the river and perched in willows on the far bank. After crossing a busy road bridge, the walk continued back along another footpath on the east side of the Thames. More moss species, such as Orthotrichum diaphanum<\/strong><\/em>, its leaves tipped with whitish points, were found growing on various trees, with elder being a particularly good place to look. The graveyard of the disused Nuneham Murren church had a wonderful display of snowdrops. A small grey pigeon in the top of a big oak tree was identified as a Stock Dove and a Great Crested Grebe was calling from the river.<\/span><\/p>\n

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