Monday 24 February 2014

ENHS Bryo Workshop continued

So the second day of the workshop turned out to be a bit of a disaster. On arriving I found the park gate with a sign saying the park was closed - not good. One brave member of the troop was manning the gate though, so I made my way in to be greeted by the gatekeeper, who told me that (1) there was no electricity; (2) there would have to be a risk assessment; (3) if it was up to him he wouldn't let us in!

Down at the house the crew was assembling and we were finally able to make a morning of it at least. There was no going outside, with high winds and bits of fallen tree all over the place - some of them quite big. Making the best of it, what equipment we had with batteries (Liz's laptop and Rob's lamp) was put to good use as Liz gave a presentation on taxonomy and we examined a few pre-collected goodies.

At lunchtime we called it a day. We had already pressed the goodwill of the rangers a bit (thanks!). A few of us intended to take the cars outside the park and come back in for a walk since the weather was better. Unfortunately at that moment I found out that I had a flat tyre, and after replacing it with the "doughnut" from the boot I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and headed home. I would have liked to catch the other presentations too, and to check out the quarry - maybe next time. It was still an enjoyable and worthwhile experience, and probably one of those that everybody present will remember, at least in part because of the circumstances. A big thanks to everybody who made this weekend work.

Here are a selection of shots from the weekend.

First up, a favourite of mine - Hypnum cupressiforme


The longitudinally-creased Eurhynchium striatum




A species I had an unexamined sample of at home from Water of Leith, Dichodontium pellucidum





The always tricky (but hopefully less so with experience), Ceratodon purpureus




Leaf sections of P.formosum, expertly cut by Julie. My own attempts not shown for fear of embarassment.



The leaf-breaking Dicranum tauricum again



The terminal tooth on the nerve of Cirriphyllum crassinervium (slide prepared and feature located by Liz)





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