Friday 5 November 2010

What's your favourite gatepost?

Here's a photo of mine:


 Being a goosecounter on Islay means you get plenty of opportunity to closely inspect gates and fences and, to make the job even more enjoyable, you can make a shortlist of your favourite ones! There are about 23 gates to open and shut and open and shut again on the Oa route and, after a great deal of deliberation, I have chosen this one as my favourite. All I'll say is that it's somewhere on that route - to avoid a mad rush! My reason for choosing it as number one is the plethora of mosses and lichens adorning it. I wish I knew the name of all the species thereon, but one I am (pretty) certain about is the tiny red-headed one - Cladonia floerkeane. You see this often on peaty moorland, often at high altitudes. Here's a close-up of the top of the fencepost with aforementioned lichen:


admittedly not a good picture, so here's another of Cladonia floerkeane at a different location:


so just when you think there's nothing to see in this awful weather, you can go and inspect gateposts and come up with a shortlist of your own!

Becky

8 comments:

  1. Nice post Becky... (oooo...couldn't resist it I'm afraid...)
    Carl

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