Today's leaf spot is Ramulaspera holci-lanati, on Yorkshire Fog. Tricky to find nice conidiophores of this one! New to Ireland and only a few British records but I think it is probably quite common.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
it's fairly common in the most intensive areas though low diversity semi-improved is still the most common, usually with a few forbs. In areas with poorer ground loss to scrub rather than intensification is pretty common too.
Here for example is an SSSI in south Armagh which has shrunk in size by at least 50% due to scrub encroachment. Lowland grassland like this is unfathomably rare here, with well under 1% left. SSSI landowners get essentially no engagement from govt so they maybe aren't even aware of the problem.
We have a similar problem in NI: not only are new SSSIs not designated, the agency responsible does not have the resources or staff to effectively monitor existing ones and enforce management conditions. Our most important sites are allowed to disappear, particularly vulnerable grasslands.
An ea nach bhfuil náire ar bith orthu
Today, we are sharing our newest report, "Licensing Best Practices for Sharing Scientific Data", which extends the open data practices originally designed for climate data in our 2023 report "Recommended Best Practices for the Better Sharing of Climate Data" to other disciplines.
buff.ly/mkmMe2S
Apparently the first Irish record...
Today's leaf spot (actually one of many) is Graminopassalora graminis. I found this on a Poa the week before last.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
65 years of natural colonisation and natural woodland expansion at Monks Wood. Entirely self-sown by Jays, thrushes & wind; zero management: no planting, thinning or fencing. Oak-Ash canopy and Hawthorn-Blackthorn understorey dominate. Roe deer, Muntjac, Grey Squirrels haven't inhibited it.
Hope this is the first of many!
I also think it's very worthwhile reaching out to universities (in Belfast for example QUB has a Marine Biology and Zoology society). The assumption is that people doing a degree in zoology etc are taught field skills but this is often not the case at all so they are a prime target for outreach
We've had a lot of success in Belfast with encouraging people to use iNaturalist. It is a good place to begin and the same people are then more likely to come to events where they can be shown printed ID guides and taught more in depth skills. It makes recording more seamless than clunky iRecord!
Ash dieback is having some odd disturbance effects in ancient woodland. The extra light under dying ash canopy is allowing these wild roses to go crazy, scrambling up the tree trunks to heights of 7 m, forming these funky columns.
Macro photograph of two red and black wasps in front/side view standing on a leaf against a naturalistic mottled sky. They seem alert, antennae raised, abdomens up.
Some alysiine braconids have been lekking in the back garden. These are parasites of flies, and given how many I'm seeing, I suspect they've been feeding on maggots in my compost.
Sé an meon ceannann céadna an tuige a gcreideann daoiní anseo go gcaithfidh siad vóta a chur ar son an DUP as siocair a n-eitneachta. Ná cuir leis an siege mentality!!!
Is contúirteach an meon seo gurb ionann eitneacht/creideamh Protastúnach ⁊ polaitíocht aontachtach. Lucht na dílseoireachta atá ina bhun nó tá siad ag iarraidh gurbh ionann cáineadh polaitíochta agus gráin eitneachta.
“One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees” - & whenever a treated dog has a dip it pollutes the river
So it’s great news for nature that the Govt is planning to ban over-the-counter flea treatments:
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
So good to see & hear so many Yellowhammers on my morning walk.
Keep an eye out this time of year for Plasmopara densa on seedlings of Yellow Rattle: yellowed, vein-delimited patches of the leaf have white down on the underside. It is extremely common!
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
GB hectad distribution map for Argiope bruennichi from the new SRS Atlas
GB hectad distribution map for Erigone welchi from the new SRS Atlas
Our new Atlas of UK spider, harvestmen and pseudoscorpion records is now online at britishspiders.org.uk/atlas. It gives access to 1.6 million records and is constantly updated with data submitted and verified via irecord.org.uk/enter-srs-records.
Spring Squill infected with Antherospora tractemae
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
It's now clear this is down to recorder bias; of the six sites I've visited in the past two weeks I've found E. ranunculacearum at five. It seems to be extremely common.
I've introduced Sherardia arvensis as a weed to our garden, it's now all over our concrete yard
A Phyllachora on Holcus lanatus. It forms black stroma (shiny lumps of tissue) on the leaves. This genus has very few described species and I suspect that there are many still to be named.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
Bremia cirsii on Spear Thistle today. Seems to be the first Irish record.
#FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease
My first Andrena haemorrhous (Orange-tailed Mining Bee) of the year in my S. Cambridgeshire garden today. What a well-behaved lady, I wish that they'd all stay still whilst I hold the leaf they're on!
Plasmoverna pygmaea ex Anemone nemorosa
Lohrsdorf, RLP, Germany, 6.4.2026
#Plasmovernapygmaea #Plasmoverna #FalscherMehltau #DownyMilew #FungiFriends #Phytopathology
negative records would be useful, hard to know what counts as an absence though
occasional here, I've found it at 2 populations out of maybe 5 I've searched