We got one day, one glorious day this week when you thought 'spring... I remember that'. On that day I managed to have a walk through The Lodge reserve on a lunch break.
Sitting on the edge of the old quarry among spongy plants, and looking over a distant view of train lines and pylons I felt compelled to look elsewhere for nature.
I found it close at hand (under my hand) in the form of mosses and liverworts, grouped within the lower or primitive plants. Their marginal existence often goes unnoticed but along with their strange lichen neighbours, they make up a whole micro world of plant life.
The heads of the moss’s spore capsules stick up like miniature trees providing a canopy for insect life to run through. With a bit of imagination, it’s a mini safari!
When these spore capsules are ripe, a special ring of cells rupture to expose the microscopic spores which are released in little bursts through tiny 'teeth' as the wind blows past. In some species (Sphagnum mosses) the capsules explode open, firing their spores onto new pastures.
Lichens are actually part plant part fungi, with different cells living in harmony to make life forms that can scratch out a living even on exposed rocks.
Mosses are pretty cool looking when you get really close up and they only grow in wet, low nutrient conditions which means that they generally indicate an unpolluted environment. They are the things that make places like this woodland look especially verdant and rich in life.
They all provide a splash of colour and interest to even the most remote places. If you’ve seen any interesting examples of these miniature plants or fungi, I’d love to hear from you.