Good morning.

Lichens along the promenade at Frinton-on-Sea, Essex.

A couple of #bryophytes from back in April 2025 in Epping forest. 🌱🌲 Abundant Sphagnum bogs with lush growth present as well as Mnium hornum (Swan's-neck Thyme-moss) and Lepidozia reptans (Creeping Fingerwort).

Some of my recent photos of some rock-dwelling bryophytes from the grounds of Chelmsford Cathedral: Here is the common Anomalous Bristle-moss, Orthotrichum anomalum, fruiting happily on an old grave, enjoying the calcareous rock it is composed of (assuming limestone?). 🌿🌱

There is a 2 mm long snail in my leaf box. Carychium tridentatum. #snails #invertebrates

A nice mosaic of urban fern growth in #Chelmsford the other day. Asplenium scolopendrium (Harts-tongue Fern), A. trichomanes (Maidenhair Spleenwort) and A. adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) growingly healthily. 🌿 There were even small plants of the Wall Rue, A. ruta-muraria!

Some small Moss Bells (Galerina), not sure on the species, but seen fruiting on this nice moss/ lichen covered wall in #Maldon. Mortar between bricks possibly lime, as there were a few lichens suggesting a more calcareous environment.

Looks interesting 👀

🍄‍🟫 Another parasitic fungus that frequents mossy walls (photos from back in December): I've identified this one as Arrhenia retiruga, with the common name Small Moss Oysterling according to #iNaturalist. Seems to like the common cushion moss #Grimmia as a host which it parasites upon.

Whilst looking forward to orchids coming up in warmer weather, I thought I'd post a few orchid species I have spotted in Essex... Here's the fairly common Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) growing in the dry grassland of a sea wall, a habitat it seems to like in this part of the world. 🌱🪻

With many larger plants dormant for the season and the trees leafless I tend to keep an eye out for epiphytic bryophytes in the winter. 🌱 Here is a possible Myriocoleopsis minutissima (Minute Pouncewort) colony on a thick wild rose stem.

The only fungus I saw the other day during some pretty cold temperatures! 🥶. Identified as an Octospora, probably O. musci-muralis growing with its host the common cushion-forming moss Grimmia pulvinata. 🍄‍🟫 🌿

A new #Seaweed for: Possible Bostrychia scorpioides (Scorpion-tailed Saltmarsh Weed)?, an odd red algae from the upper saltmarsh in Essex. 🌿🏖️ #BritishSeaweeds #RedAlgae #Rodophyta #Saltmarsh #SouthernEngland #Essex