We managed to get on one of the Fungi Forays with Liz Holden, loads of fun and really interesting. In the afternoon we went on another local ranger walk; strange but fun doing a walk in our local area with another ranger. Hope the young lad on the walk is feeling better after getting kicked by a passing horse - ouch! Reminded us of The New Forest where feeding the ponies eventually results in aggression and kicking, on this occassion his dog was a bit too interested and worried the horse.
Spagnhum moss can be used to drink from, hanging baskets, as a swab, a sponge, or wiping your butt, or as a nappy! It's absorbant, antisceptic and a great water filter. Fir club moss used to be 40 metres high back in the day of the dinasours, but can be used to plat as a rope in survival situations etc.
Loads of lichen again, 'old mans beard' - birds use it for nesting, a great tinder, stu thickener, or clothes dye. A sign of clean air too - sniff, aaah! Rowan berries are everywhere still, on the trees and in animal droppings, going straight through them! The pentagram 5 pointed star on the berry is a symbol for protection against evil spirits, (amongst other things) so I'll be taking one on our Hallowe'en Dusk Watch walk on 31st!
1 comment:
Hi Nikki and Will, Liz Holden is very knowledgeable isn't she? I went to a training day with her (run by SCRA) last year, at Mar Lodge and really enjoyed learning about and looking for fungi.
I tell my visitors about Sphagnum moss being used as a dressing. I mention that during WW1 the local school children used to go out and collect the moss. It was dried, packed into sacks and sent to the hospitals to be used as dressings.
I just read about the pentagram on Rowan berries yesterday when writing a wee blurb for my blog.
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