A tiny world

Today I had agreed to join a workshop on lichens and bryophytes at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Ballachuan nature reserve on the Isle of Seil. The forecast was for rain, so I wore waterproofs and wellies and to be honest, was not really looking forward to it as my knees were very sore.

The workshop was run by Dr Oliver Moore, who works for Plantlife and is an advisor to the Rainforest Alliance group. Having an interest in Britain's Temperate Rainforests I'd agreed to go, but hadn't reckoned on walking so far in the rain and on paths many of which were simply thick mud! There's no doubt that the damp and mild weather did give us a real feeling for temperate rainforest and Ballachuan is a good example of this, with its huge number of hazels all of which were festooned with lichens, bryophytes and ferns.

Oliver really knows his stuff, but I felt, and as somebody else said, that this was all rather above my pay grade! I hadn't realised just how much there was to see, often through a hand lens, and although the rain soon stopped I did find it rather hard to keep up my interest when the minutiae of the subject was delved into. 

I also regretted the lack of a macro lens, but my extra is one of the few close-ups which were reasonably presentable. If today taught me anything it was to begin to understand just how complicated life can be!