Wood horsetail

Very cold misty start today, and the sun had difficulty breaking through the mist. C arrived for the weekend and, after a leisurely lunch, we drove over to Gilsland for a woodland Botany trip.

It was just delightful in the woods below Gilsland Spa. The hotel car park was full, but very few people venture as far as the river and the woods (quite a long way downhill if you are not very active).

I had a choice of blips between a tiny spider with a large web in amongst young hawthorn leaves, a mono version of a woodland with a beech tree in the foreground and this blip. C and I had great fun identifying the different horsetails. I now know that the structure at the top of the stem is called a cone or strobilus. As soon as it disperses its spores the stem of the plant grows ++ and becomes very tall. Here you see one with an intact cone. Fascinating.

Been a great day but Mum has gone down with shingles tonight - just when the surgery is shut for 4 days. Just when she was doing so well (anyone have any spare acyclovir??!!)