YNU Meeting at Colt Park - incl - Klebsormidium crenulatum

The YNU Vice County 64 Field Meeting held at Ingleborough  on 20 August 2016 had weather designed to cancel out the three hot sunny days earlier in the week.


Actually the venue- Colt Park Barn - Natural England - was an excellent base. It meant that those who wanted to, could stay indoors in the afternoon, using microscopes if necessary, to look up details about the plants and animals we had found.
On the left is Derek Whitely who had come up from Sorby Natural History Society

I even made a start at listing the mosses I had brought back in a bag... and was informed that the tiny woodlouse (c 4mm long) I had  found in my Philinotis fontana (moss) was in fact Trichoniscus pusillus the Common Soil Woodlouse, which is the commonest woodlouse in Britain. 
We (well Roger Neale) also found the Rosy Woodlouse Androniscus dentiger which is pink, up to 6mm long and is much less common and lives in lime rich conditions - from caves to brickwork.

Our group had restricted our botanical recording to a small area that had recently been fenced off to protect newly planted native trees beside a steep streamlet.    The thicker soil had Heather (Calluna vulgaris)  and Green-ribbed Sedge (Carex binervis); other areas had calcareous flushes with Bird's-eye Primrose (Primula farinosa), Lesser Clubmoss (Selaginella) and Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris).


We found Bristle Clubrush (Isolepis setacea)  about 100 m to the north of the fenced off area, where the path crosses a parallel gill.
This may be the first record for that field

Klebsormidium crenulatum

On the return to the barn we passed through a gate at the top of the field. the wall there was made of sandstone.. and many of the stones had Klebsormidium crenulatum  -  the filamentous green alga that is increasing in Britain due to increased nitrogen oxides in the air. (See my other records of Klebsormidium)