Species of the week, this week are Mosses;

Mosses or Bryophta are a type of non-vascular plant. Unlike vascular plants which are defined by their stems, leaves and roots, non-vascular plants have no roots and produce spores. Other examples of non-vascular plant are Liverworts and Hornworts.

Mosses grow in damp conditions, which is due to the fact that they do not only have roots for nutrients, but also for reproduction as Dioicous males move using the water to get closer to the females; whereas Monoicous reproduce within their plant.

Mosses are important in the ecosystem because they can absorb liquid 20 times their weight which helps to reduce flooding. They also prevent soil erosion. One of the great things about mosses is the fact that they grow everywhere and as there are 600-800 species in the UK they are great for recording.

Below are some pictures I took of some mosses I spotted on a wall on the way to work.

Comment below any pictures you have of mosses or any interesting moss species you have seen;

This weeks species of the week are deer’s;

There are 6 species of deer in the UK, Cumbria is home to all but one of these different species of deer the exception being the Chinese water deer. In Cumbria there are the Red and Roe deer these are the true native species, then there are Sika, Fallow and Chinese Muntjac which are near native species in the UK as they have been here so long.

Deer numbers in general are on the rise in the UK as they are no longer prey to other members of the food chain. But there are other factors that could be responsible for an increase in population: year-round crop growing, increased woodland coverage, milder winters etc. To try and understand how deer populations are changing Recorders data is more important than ever to be able to track these changes.

There are also lots of great way to survey deer the tried and tested method of field observations but also camera traps, which are a great way of surveying shy animals like Deer but also mammals in general. If you do have any Deer records, then please send us to them using the link below:

https://www.cbdc.org.uk/recording-wildlife/share-your-records/

Deer Quiz, can you identify the species of deer in the images attached? Comments your answers below.
Thanks Paul Bacon for the photo.

Hope that you are all enjoying the run up to Christmas, the species of the week is a Beetle fit for a Christmas tree Carabus nitens, a member of the Ground beetle family (Carabidea). They tend to live in open habitats and are mainly active between April and July, often they can be seen running through heather throughout the day looking for prey.

The individual below was recently recorded by Racheal Thompson, which is a fantastic find as this species recently has been in decline due to habitat loss, and it remains scarce throughout Cumbria. You also may have seen a photo of this species from the natural history collection in Tullie House museum.

We only have a small number of records on this species, which is a common trend in invert recording. If you do see a beetle of interest, then you can record it on our website or email it to our recording officer.