Dr Astrid Biddle

Thanks for reminding me- I just found volume 1, which I was missing, on eBay 😀

Little Paxton Pits yesterday. Drepanocladus aduncus at pool edge- a rain fed ephemeral pond.

Little Paxton Pits and a patch of skeletal soil over gravel. Winter Stalkball (Tulostoma brumale) and Eyed Flat-backed Millipede (Nanogona polydesmoides) sitting on Didymodon Brachythecium albicans, and Syntrichia ruraliformis curled against the sunshine.

Another tree with longer anthers, but still the pointed petals. This tree I think had been planted.

Sepals were blushed pink. #wildflowerhour

Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) in full white bloom at Little Paxton today. Noticed marked variation, this specimen had flowers with very short anthers, and petals distinctly more pointed than others. Given how widely the species is planted, perhaps there’s been some crossing with cultivated forms.

Yikes, hybridisation!
There's a fair amount of variation, too. Prunus is an interesting genus, with Blackthorn showing 15% between-population variation (Hazel only 3%). That's down to the issue that it's a long-lived clonal species (suckers). Allows persistence of hybrids and distinct forms.

Ervum tetraspermum/ hirsutum? But not quite.

Tiny Fabaceae. It has an elongated hilum in a depression. Seed is nice and smooth. I'm thinking it's a small Trifolium sp.

Nostoc

P. eurystomum Hertfordshire, UK

P. eurystomum has spherical to turbinate capsules, not pear-shaped. Difficult to see in the photo. Leaf characteristics help too. Seta 5 mm, is at the upper end of the range for this species.

Conductivity: 800 µS cm⁻¹, pH: 7.6, Total nitrogen: 5 mg L⁻¹, Total phosphate: <0.02 mg L⁻¹
It seems as though the exceptional winter rain had deposited silt via the ditch network. Elevated N value is likely to be down to the catchment enrichment in this arable area. Values unchanged from summer.

Out looking at Charophytes for a study and popped by Purwell Ninesprings. In August there was 60% cover (pictured) and now only 10% Common Stonewort (Chara vulgaris). It looked in a terrible state even for winter- now with 80 cm of silt. It's a Groundwater-fed springhead on calcareous geology.

Windowsill-grown Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) var. decumbens has come into flower and is so beautiful! Looking carefully for differences with var. erecta, the non-native variety.
These two Mint varieties seem almost impossible to separate- bar codes seem v. difficult. Looking at morphology.

Expecting to get V. bursata, canalicularis, and taylorii from this substrate.
Bar coding help anyone?

Growing Vaucheria from chalky Gault samples from yesterday’s charophyte collection day. Reproductive structures, antheridia & oogonia, are essential for identification. I’ve found that even tiny traces of filament are enough to culture material through to maturity. Getting a picture of its ecology😀

Selling a belief system.

While sharks, wolves and vipers monopolise the ‘dangerous wildlife’ category, the true hazard to British field botanists remains under-recognised: Juncus acutus.

I remember the first day of a look at a coastal survey- Angus Garbutt telling us to watch out when peering down at vegetation among J. acutus, because it will take your eye out if you're not wary.

So when species move upslope, it may be because the process window has shifted, not just the isotherm.

Yes, though I sometimes think we over-simplify that narrative.
In alpine systems, rising temperatures alter snow-lie duration, frost dynamics and soil stability. Those are disturbance processes that structure competition and nutrient availability.
...

The habitat name changes. The underlying ecological mechanism may not.

whether those habitats are still operating within the disturbance and nutrient envelope it requires.
Once those process-driven conditions are lost, whether through grazing change, drainage, nutrient enrichment, or milder winters, the vegetation closes and the window disappears.

The alpine point is interesting, because prolonged snow cover and frost heave are themselves disturbance processes that suppress competition and maintain mineral exposure.
So perhaps the question isn’t whether the species tolerates a wide range of habitats, but...

💔

What a coincidence - I was just writing about Yew in the New Forest.

Thanks, that's really interesting. It's all worth bearing in mind. Something to think about over the wekend.

Interesting. Thanks🙂

I used to take my children to the Duddleswell Tea Room. Little did I know... Thanks 🙂