Cinclidotus aquaticus, not known from Britain/Ireland, growing submerged on limestone in the outflow stream from the Gjlun stream in the Soca valley, Slovenia.

One of the pleasures of bryology abroad is finding species that are very rare in Britain and Ireland, but much commoner overseas. This is Lescuraea plicata.

First day of the BBS meeting in Slovenia, thanks to the kindness of Simona Strgulc Krajšek who has organised a fantastic programme for us. Today we explored the limestone thermophilous temperate woodland around Bovec in the Trenta valley and some aquatic habitats.

Day 3 of BBS meeting in Slovenia. Heading up the Zadnjica valley. This is Microhypnum sauteri. A relatively recent addition to our own flora (from Inchnadamph in Scotland) but turning up here most days on sheltered limestone.

For the final day of the BBS Slovenia meeting we visited some lowland calcareous sites including the intermittent lake of Cerknica where we were distracted by a mass of Gladiolus illyricus before finding some splendid Drepanocladus lycopodioides. Later highlights included Drepanocladus trifarius.

Not many bryophytes in the Skocjan caves on day 5 of the BBS Slovenia meeting, but a fantastic experience. Outside were a good range of epiphytes including Orthotrichum patens and plants of damp limestone such as this fruiting Gymnostomum calcareum.

Over the Vrsic pass from Trenta on day 4 of the BBS Slovenia meeting. Some great montane species including Syntrichia norvegica with its reddish hair points.

Some highlights from the Spring @bbsbryology.bsky.social meeting in the Trossachs that i attended with @cianoceallaigh.bsky.social & @timoceallaigh.bsky.social. Part 1 Mosses: 1: Ptilium crista castrensis 2: Bartramia halleriana 3: Hylocomiastrum umbratum 4: Sphagnum warnstorfii

Poplar trunks looking a good deal thicker courtesy of an impressive infestation of mistletoe in Loches #ThickTrunkTuesday

And now for some quality pics courtesy of Neil Bell from Stob a’Choin; Bartramia halleriana, Plagiopus oederianus, Herbertus hutchinsiae & Racomitrium ellipticum

The second time recently I've seen this Bryum pallescens - Brachytheciastrum velutinum pairing. Photos are of the drip zone of a corrugated metal barn in Somerset (classic B. pallescens habitat); the other site was a cattle grid nr. Loch Lomond. Immature Bryum capsules, old Brachytheciastrum ones.

Fantastic to see lovely Mediterranean plants like this Southbya nigrella which just have a toe hold in Britain. I was just as excited when I saw it in Corfu.

Great little hike on Mt Brennan with some friends in fairly windy conditions. Was lucky enough to see Mastigophora woodsii along a couple of spots just off path. Such a beautiful thing Cnoc Bréanainn le na buachaillí

Beautiful! My guess is either Streblotrichum (Barbula) convolutum or Barbula unguiculata. As so often, growing in a matrix of other acrocarps of differing form and colour 😄

A 2nd edition of my Plants and Habitats book is now out and available from the Natural History Book Store: www.nhbs.com/plants-and-h.... Main differences from 1st edition: many species added and nomenclature & further information (e.g. habitat classifications) updated. I hope people find it useful!

It’s #WorldBookDay so botany friends, what is your favourite book? For me it’s Sell & Murrell’s epic Flora of GB&I. I came to it late, with the publication of the final vol (vol 1) in 2018. I was already into Rubus but elucidated critical botany for me & enabled recording fine scale diversity.

An old oak at Chittoe for #ThickTrunkTuesday

What utter profiteering tosh. Encourage moss - it keeps your lawn green in summer when grasses go brown and is happy to grow in those poorly drained and shady places where lawn grasses struggle.

Well I wasn’t expecting this when I strolled around Melksham! Mediterranean Nettle Urtica membranacea. Grin will take several hours to leave my face. 😊 @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Lord Peter Ricketts, former head of the Foreign Office: “If you’re going to attack a country you have to show it is in self-defence and that there is some kind of imminent threat. You can’t make that case here…An indifference to international law is dangerous.” www.ft.com/content/b988...

Another street tree epiphyte that's becoming more common in London - Orthotrichum tenellum forms small neat cushions with notably long capsules and calyptra. The leaf tips also have a distinctive beak at the end. Another bryophyte taking advantage of the cleaner air!

A gratuitous selection of photogenic bryophytes from fabulous rainy Borrowdale last week. Hylocomiastrum umbratum, Lewinskya rupestris and Syzygiella autumnalis.

Lovely day out in North Hants today in the company of @pilkyplant.bsky.social , Billy from @hantsbic.bsky.social and others at Ladle Hill. Very few records for bryophytes before but there was plenty of interest including Tortula protobryoides, Seligeria calycina and Bryum torquescens.

Our Billy is exploring Winchester and noting #PavementPlants and mosses! Rue-leaved Saxifrage starting to appear, Scleropodium cespitans, Aloina aloides in the city and Abietinella abietina on St Catherine's Hill @bbsbryology.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

I found a big patch of the introduced liverwort Lophocolea semiteres on a fallen decaying tree today - it's dioicous and those male shoots are very conspicuous. It was first found in 2017 on a colliery tip in Midsomer Norton and so far appears to be spreading very slowly in N. Somerset.

Just mind-boggling that climate breakdown isn't even mentioned in this piece Despite the fact that it is driving more powerful storms, higher sea level, bigger waves and more intense rainfall People - apparently even the reporting journalist - still don't get it www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Struggling to find the words to describe the utter reckless vandalism of this sickening move - deliberately making millions of people sicker & less secure in order to enrich billionaire polluters

Could you become BSBI's new Wales Officer, helping support the network of botanists across Wales & leading our Priority Plants in Wales Project? You'd be helping to conserve rare & beautiful wild plants, like this lovely Radnor Lily. For more details & how to apply, visit: bsbi.org/about/people...

Great Glos bryology group meeting last Sunday at the Hudnalls NR on challenging slippery slopes above the Wye. Over 100spp - thanks to Sharon for the report www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/event/glouce... and an awful lot of the ids! @pilkyplant.bsky.social @bbsbryology.bsky.social

More incredible temperate rainforest, from Seatoller Wood in Borrowdale. Nice to see native tree cover reaching the 300m mark. Of two Lepidozia cupressina colonies with good OSGRs available on NBN, though, I could sadly only refind one. I think the other is genuinely gone. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Tetraphis pellucida with its distinctive gemmae cups (although I think there would sometimes be more of them than my sample had) growing on a wooded ledge in Leic aimhréidh. A first for me, thanks @joannedenyer.bsky.social for confirming :)

There's been so much rain in the SW recently that the frogs have started to spawn in trees!

Three pleurocarps that could be confused seen in the chalk grassland at Martin Down, S Wiltshire, on the BBS Wessex Group meeting today. L to R: Calliergonella cuspidata, Entodon concinnus and Pseudoscleropdium purum.

A few pictures from yesterday's bryology field meeting to Sullington, on the South Downs in Sussex. A Saxon church, with Orthotrichum anomalum and Neckera smithii on the gravestones, and Seligeria calycina on chalk @bbsbryology.bsky.social #bryology #bryophytes

Sphagnum rubellum or capillifolium and papillosum #moss #bryophyte

BBS members getting stuck in to the marl pits at the joint Wessex/Southern Group meeting to Marlborough Deeps in the New Forest. Highlights include the uncommon calcicole of wet places Kandaea elodes.

I’ve driven past this interesting looking mossy patch on a planted ash tree on a roundabout in central Trowbridge many times but finally took a closer look today. Sure enough, Leucodon sciuroides, not usually found in very polluted places like this, not in my area anyway.

Lovely Blysmus compressus at Market Weston Fen. Definitely a hands and knees jobbie there.

Lovely to meet @notfrangible.bsky.social @pilkyplant.bsky.social @botanykaren.bsky.social plus Kat & other members of the Wilts. Bot. Soc. 'on location' at Market Weston Fen yesterday along with lots of lovely plants! I found Carex muricata pairae after heading back into the swamp to locate David :)

When pottering about on the Somerset coast yesterday I came across a brackish rhyne with lots of wild celery (Apium graveolens) and parsley water-dropwort (Oenanthe lachenalii) growing together. It's still too early for flowers, but very nice.

And breathe….one way to put the scary/nasty stuff happening in the world to the back of my mind for a little while…

I was very privileged to see hundreds of early spiders out in their natural habitat yesterday. I'm no orchidophile, but I was unable to resist the charms of these little beauties.

The slime trail on this Herzogiella seligeri suggests a hungry slug or snail has been making a meal of those plump young capsules.

Today, we bryologised atop Feldberg, Germany's highest (after the Alps..) mountain at 1400m. Many wonderful species, with Ptychostomum (Bryum) schleicheri and Bryum weigelii looking particularly sensational. - BBS spring meeting in the Black Forest @bbsbryology.bsky.social

My son sent this picture of a sign at the Temple of Saiho-ji in Kyoto. Makes a nice change from "Keep off the Grass".

First day of the BBS meeting in the Schwarzwald region of southern Germany - moss highlight for me was luxorious Rhytidium rugosum in the chalk grassland @bbsbryology.bsky.social

An excellent meeting of the Wessex Bryology Group on Exmoor last weekend turned up some nice liverworts, including some putative Jungermannia eucordifolia in a stream. If confirmed, it would be a new species for SW England @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Sphagnum fallax var isoviitae #moss #bryophyte

Sphagnum divinum and cuspidatum #moss #bryophyte