Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Friday, 8 January 2021

No Wood, No Holly

Whilst my square has plenty of trees, they stand isolated, or along verges and hedgerows, with the odd small copse. There is no woodland as such. Still I should still see and find a number of common trees and shrubs, but I realised a couple of days ago that one I'd not seen was Holly. I checked back to 2013 and saw that there was a prickly-leaf shaped hole in that list too. So whilst out and about today, I took a couple of small diversions to take in small bits of the square that I'd not covered. This yielded a few bits of interest: hazel, teasel, primrose, some as yet unidentified water-dwelling plants and a realisation that there are a couple of good access points to Whetstone Brook where it looks like kids have beaten a path to it over the last few years. But no sign of any Holly.

The route took me past a place in the square that I am looking forward to patronising when we can ....

The only pub in the square

The Dog and Gun sits on the A426. I carried on down the A426 and stopped at the main crossroads, by far the busiest bit of roadway in the square and particularly busy on a Friday afternoon. Right on the corner of this junction, but set in a dip from the road level, is an interesting looking oak.


It has nice low branches, and the trunk and branches are liberally covered in lichens and mosses. But the location is not exactly conducive to tree-hugging, and around the base there are large snags of bramble. It will be virtually impossible to get close to it at any time other than the depth of winter, though I will no doubt have a go. I cautiously got myself down the bank and had a quick nose around it in fading light and with a constant procession of vehicles going through the junction. I found a couple of year-ticks for the square in the process ....

Hammered Shield Lichen

Diatrypella quercina

I carried on along the A426 and turned onto the bottom part of the lane. I'd not got very far when I noticed a glossy green mass growing in amongst the hedgerow. Well, bugger me ....



I am certain that this would not have been planted in the hedgerow, which along this stretch consists entirely of Ulmus sp. I certainly don't recall seeing this before, but then again when do notice Holly unless you're looking for it. I then had a moment of clarity, and realised that even if I had seen this before I would not have made it onto the 2013 list. You might recall me mentioning in a previous post that the bottom part of this lane (which is one side of a triangular field) is outside the square. Sure enough when checking, I reckon this is c40 meters to far south ....


In all likelihood, there is no Holly in the square.

Otherwise today I had no particular plans. I mentioned thinking about looking at mosses, but today I couldn't motivate myself for this other than obvious common mosses.

Grey-cushioned Grimmia

Wall Screw-moss

Wood Bristle-moss

Seeing as I don't have it in the square, here is some Hollywood.

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