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After lunch I went back to the other side of the burn, closer to the steep bluff where the micro climate is the wettest, to see what else I could find there. Email notification Business email notification Terms and conditions or Cancel Need help. Click here to send us an email. There's a dense carpet of mosses on the forest floor and quite a few old logs from fallen trees mainly birches and rowans (Sorbus aucuparia). Activity Australia Community Directory Australia Business Directory Australia News Australia Forums Australia Events Regions OurPatch Copyright OurPatch 2007 2017 Rails 3. On the other, west facing side of the steep bluff, the glen opens up and provides a great vista of the loch, with the pinewoods flanking it on both sides. Where the road rises up, there's an excellent view across the water, with the hills receding into the distance, particularly on an overcast day like this one. Remarkably, there was a single downy birch tree still with some yellow leaves on it. Closer view of the Scots pines and birches, with the hills receding into the distance behind. Although it had been a very satisfying day so far, the glen still had another surprise for me. copia delle rockstud,Another similarity with tree lungwort is that it includes a cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp. ) as part of the lichen symbiotic organism. This is called the photobiont that part of the lichen that photosynthesises, enabling the compound organism to utilise the energy of the sun. The fungal partner in the lichen is the one that provides the solid structure, or thallus, for the symbiotic organism. Nostoc is also able to absorb, or fix, nitrogen from the air, incorporating this essential nutrient into the physical structure of the lichen.
On another part of the goat willow trunk this patch of lichen (Thelotrema lepadinum) was being overgrown by some moss. The lichen's barnacle like apothecia are very obvious here. There was another lichen on the goat willow which I recognised but didn't know the name of. This was subsequently identified for me by the lichenologist John Douglass as being Thelotrema lepadinum. This is creamy white in colour and is another indicator species of ancient woodlands. copia delle rockstud While I was looking at the forest on the north shore of the loch, I noticed that one of the birch trees still had bright yellow leaves on its upper branches. Closer view of the downy birch with the yellow leaves on its upper branches. The lone birch with leaves stands out amongst the other birches and a Scots pine beside Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. This was quite astonishing as it was almost the middle of December, and the leaves had fallen off all the other birches at least a month before. I don't have any explanation for why this one tree had kept them for so long, but it was certainly a delightful sight this day. copia delle rockstud,Brown lichen (Nephroma laevigatum) beside tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) and a white lichen (Thelotrema lepadinum) on the trunk of the goat willow tree (Salix caprea). I have a growing interest in willows and will soon be writing the next in our series of Species Profiles on the goat willow. Willows are the second most important tree in the UK for supporting invertebrates, after oak (Quercus petraea, in the Highlands). Also, because the pH of its bark is neutral, in contrast to birches and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), which have acid bark, goat willow supports a different, and diverse, group of lichens. In wet areas such as this these include tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria), and when I looked at this young tree I saw a patch of that straight away. Another dead branch with some willow jelly fungi (Exidia recisa) fruiting on it. I usually come across these fungi on eared willows (Salix aurita), and have featured them in a previous blog. A closely related species (Exidia repanda) occurs on birch trees, and I included a photograph of that in one of my blog posts last year. Liz Holden, the mycologist who helps me with fungal identifications, has written a description of both species that can be seen here. Olive oysterling fungi (Sarcomyxa serotina) on a moss covered rotting birch log.
copia delle rockstud,Moon amongst the bare branches of another silver birch (Betula pendula) beside Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. Moon beside a silver birch (Betula pendula) at dusk, on the north shore of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. An unexpected sight in an aspen tree 2 Responses to Damp winter days in Glen Affric Peggy Edwards says: January 6, 2017 at 5:16 pm Thanks for sharing this information and your terrific lichen photos. They are indeed the leaves of winter suddenly appearing here, too, on the elderberries and maples after the leaf fall. Reply Alan Watson Featherstone says: January 8, 2017 at 12:31 am Hi Peggy, Thanks for your comment and feedback. copia delle rockstud,By looking closely at my photograph, he was able to identify it as Dicyrtomina saundersi. In addition, he said this was the most northerly record for this species in mainland Scotland, making my find quite significant. (There are apparently only a handful of records for the species in Scotland altogether). Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) and birches beside Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. Of course I wasn't aware of this while I was in the glen, so after photographing the dog lichens I continued westwards, driving further along the road on the north shore of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. copia delle rockstud,Lichen (Cladonia pyxidata) with podetia, growing on the wall of the bridge over the Allt Coire Beithe watercourse. I've described them before as being like the ‘. leaves' of winter, because of their abundance on the broadleaved trees in particular. As epiphytes, they use the trees for support, but derive no nourishment from them, relying instead on atmospheric moisture and airborne organic particles for their nutrients. There was a large patch of this lichen (Cladonia pyxidata) growing on the bridge over the Allt Coire Beithe watercourse.
copia delle rockstud * Email You'll need this to login. On the ground near the large goat willow, there were some old logs from a downy birch tree, partially covered by moss. We'll never sell your email address. I noticed some fungi growing on one of them, and I recognised them as a species I've photographed before. * Password Password should be longer than 4 characters.
Unlike the latter, they are wingless, although they share the characteristic of having six legs. Enlarged view of the springtail from the photo above. I was able to get it identified as being a species called Dicyrtomina saundersi. This was a globular springtail, and it looked similar to one that I'd photographed at Dundreggan before. I suspected therefore that it was a member of the genus Dicyrtomina, and this was confirmed by Peter Shaw, an expert on Collembola who did a survey of springtails for us at Dundreggan a few years ago. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. copia delle rockstud,My experience, however, is that there is in fact still plenty of interest in the forest, if I shift my focus to some of the permanent, year round life forms, and take time to look closely for them. Some more downy birches festooned in lichens on the north shore of Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. All three days were overcast, damp and windstill for the most part, making them ideal for much of the photography I like to do in the forest. Closer view of one of the downy birches covered in old man's beard lichens (Usnea sp. Detailed view of one of the downy birches, showing the quantity of lichens living on its trunk and branches. copia delle rockstud,On one of those, which was almost completely enveloped in moss and lichens, I spotted a patch of one of the dog lichens (Peltigera membranacea). This is a large lichen with a foliose (or leaf like) growth pattern, and is notable for its white needle like rhizines that protrude downwards from the underside of its thallus. It also has reddish brown apothecia which develop on the edges of the thallus and a good example can be seen in the photograph on the right. Detail of the dog lichen (Peltigera membranacea), showing more of the rhizines. Like the other lichens I'd seen this day, this one was fully hydrated, and was exuberant with its spiky, punk hair like shapes, so I spent a little while taking some photographs of the patch. copia delle rockstud copia delle rockstud,Another view of the lichens Nephroma laevigatum and Thelotrema lepadinum on the goat willow trunk. It was growing beside another lichen that I also recognised a brown lichen in the genus Nephroma (which are sometimes known as kidney lichens), and in this case the species Nephroma laevigatum. Closer view of the kidney lichen (Nephroma laevigatum) and the white lichen (Thelotrema lepadinum) on the trunk of the goat willow. Another patch of the lichen (Nephroma laevigatum) amongst moss on the trunk of the goat willow. Like tree lungwort, this kidney lichen is typically found in wet areas in the north and west Highlands, and is therefore associated with our remnant temperate rainforests.
I didn't know what their name was, but Liz was able to identify them as being the olive oysterling (Sarcomyxa serotina). * Display Name This is how you'll be known on OurPatch. This is a species that typically fruits late in the autumn, after the first frosts, and gets its common name from the colour of its caps, which are often slightly slimy when wet. Dog lichen (Peltigera membranacea) amongst moss on the forest floor, with rhizines and apothecia visible. * First Name * Last Name * Location Entering a few letters will show you a list of options. For a casual visitor, it may often appear like there's not much to see in the Caledonian Forest in winter. By then, all the leaves have fallen from the deciduous trees, many birds have migrated south for the winter and insects have gone into pupal stasis, out of sight. copia delle rockstud,Another view of the dog lichen (Peltigera membranacea), showing the contrasting top and undersides of the lobes of its thallus. This is the same photo as above when I got home that evening and looked at it on my computer, I noticed that there was a tiny invertebrate on the lichen (circled in this image). When I was at home that evening, looking at the photographs on my computer, I noticed something on the lichen in one of them that I hadn't seen when I'd been out in the forest itself. It was a tiny invertebrate on part of the thallus, and when I enlarged the image I recognised it as being a springtail. Collembola, as springtails are formally known in biological terms, are a class of invertebrates that are different from insects.
copia delle rockstud Tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria), kidney lichen (Nephroma laevigatum) and moss on the trunk of a large goat willow on the other side of the burn. Looking at this young goat willow reminded me that there was a much larger tree of the same species about 50 metres away, on the other side of the burn, so I went over to have my lunch beside it. Closer view of the tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) amongst the kidney lichen (Nephroma laevigatum) on the trunk of the large goat willow. Willow jelly fungi (Exidia recisa) on a dead branch of the large goat willow tree. While I ate my lunch, I had a close look at various parts of the tree, including some of the low hanging branches. The tips of those sometimes die back, and I was hoping that I might find the willow jelly fungus (Exidia recisa) on any that were there. It only took a few moments before I spotted first one of these fungi, and then quite a number of fruiting bodies on several different branches. Another willow jelly fungus (Exidia recisa) on a dead branch of the goat willow. The willow jelly fungus fruits throughout the year, but is most obvious in winter, when there are no leaves on the trees, and on wet days, when the fruiting bodies are fully hydrated like this. On sunny days, they dry out and shrivel up to become almost invisible on the wood. * First Name * Last Name * Location Entering a few letters will show you a list of options. Email notification Business email notification Terms and conditions or Cancel Need help. Click here to send us an email. Activity Australia Community Directory Australia Business Directory Australia News Australia Forums Australia Events Regions OurPatch Copyright OurPatch 2007 2017 Rails 3. Click the icons below to add us on social media. copia delle rockstudLinkedIn Twitter Facebook SHARE Keep me updated Sign up for email updates to stay informed of the latest news and events. Please provide your email address below and tick to consent. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time. Patient Carer Health Care Professional I am a. Stoma Care Nurse Continence Advisor Urology Nurse Specialist Tissue Viability Nurse Other I am interested in.