Non-inverted Stuff

My last round up of varied bits from Charnwood Lodge last Saturday (see how long I managed to string out one field trip!). However this is a break from my normal inverted outlook.

Whilst knocking about the site, I noted some strange stuff that didn't ring any bells - something I've not seen before - this weird looking stuff that I found under the bark of a well rotted log. I had no idea if it was fungal or some sort of egg mass, but a quick enquiry on the PSL Facebook group threw up the ID, and it is a slime mould ...

Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa - which is pretty cool looking I reckon

Literally on the other side of the bark to this slime mould was a familiar looking liverwort.

Bifid Crestwort

Earlier, I'd seen what appeared to be a trio of small cauliflowers bulging out of the inside face of a hollowed dead tree. There was another more solid looking lump and what appeared to be an exploded puff ball on the same patch of wood. Didn't take long to work out that this is another slime mould, and that I'd seen the various stages of its development.

Reticularia lycoperdon

aka False Puffball Slime Mould aka Cauliflower Slime Mould

After walking around the small reservoir, I found a board-walk that I'd never seen before running alongside a damp-looking dry stone wall.

This wall must be a Bryologist's dream. I pointed the camera at something that looked a bit quirky ...

A quick browse through NatureSpot suggested that this is Aulacomnium androgynum - Bud-headed Groove-moss. Perhaps one of the best vernacular names! Even better, a quick squint at the mapping showed a yellow square pretty much exactly in the same spot.

In the same area was a fair bit of this lichen - which I won't bother trying to name.

Cladonia sp.

And rounding up the non-invert ramble, this orange staining on the wall and trees in one spot - all on the same side. Quite probably the algae Trentepohlia abietina.