30 Days Wild

Well, some people will know what I am referring to; others might wonder!!

Since I have had the time to look around and take note of what I find, I have tended to focus on the man-made, the evidence of how people have lived in the past and what they have left behind. I have searched and researched and shared what I have found. Meanwhile, I have been in awe of blippers who find natural things, take wonderful pictures and know such a lot about them – flowers, butterflies, insects etc. etc.
 
So I decided, for a month and using the Wildlife Trust challenge of doing Random Acts of Wildness all through June, I would change tack. I would see if I could widen my knowledge of natural things – not that difficult as I know very little! Every day I will further my knowledge – by just looking and by visiting places very different from what I am used to. Sometimes I will blip what I have found and just put up with the scorn from expert blippers, when I admit to finding out the name of a common wildflower for example. Sometimes I will just add it as an extra. I will be keeping a log of my pictures on Flickr anyway.
 
So today
I revisited a Nature Reserve very close to us, but which I have not been in for such a long time – Cliburn Moss. And I discovered Bog Cotton. Actually I did know what this was called, but I did not know that it isn’t a flower and it isn’t a grass – it’s a Sedge. And I didn’t know that it has at least three common names – Bog Cotton, Cotton Grass, Hare’s Tail. (I am not even going to try the ‘proper’ name – I am not at that stage yet!)
 
Cliburn Moss is basin mire which develops in enclosed waterlogged depressions which have become colonised by peat-forming vegetation. We have always come across Bog Cotton in the Western Isles and now I know why – it grows in boggy, peaty conditions. And Cliburn Moss is exactly that. Except that it has been drained in the past and is now laid out with paths and bridges. A great place for walking, I can’t think why I don’t go more often.
 
Oh, and you can see the embankment of the disused Eden Valley Railway running alongside it. Oops! I slipped into default mode there!
   
My main picture is Cliburn Moss, with Bog Cotton. Extra – Bog Cotton

And if anyone wants to add to, or correct, what I say, please do.