WFV, Giggleswick Churchyard, 19 March 2024.

Today's trip was affected by breakdowns, but luckily none due to applying our brains to learning about mosses. 

The visit to St Alkelda's Churchyard, Giggleswick has been on the back burner for several years, always relegated to 'if we've got time' after another focus. So we weren't going to let a broken-down minibus prevent us getting there, especially with such an easy alternative of using the train to Settle. 

Unfortunately not everyone made it to the train, hindered by car breakdowns and ill health, so a select five took our seats for a pleasant journey into the Dales.

We were in danger of getting distracted from our mission as we walked through to Giggleswick. Rue-leaved Saxifrage, Sedum, Shepherd's Purse, Wall Rue and Maidenhair Spleenwort, all attracted our attention before we reached the riverside path. Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blue, Great and Coal Tits were all active in the trees, along with a pair of Siskin on a garden bird feeder. 

Once at our destination, the church community was very welcoming as we paused for a coffee in the porch, offering us space inside and use of the facilities, but we were quickly on with our identification challenge for the day. 

Alice had done a lot of preparation for the day, creating id sheets for us. She showed us the key features to look for - leaf shape, presence or absence of teeth on the leaves, hairs on the points, nerves, and the form of growing. We already felt we had learnt something before we had even distributed the hand lenses. 

We were guided by a booklet written by Judith Allinson, a local botanical titan, locating and naming species around the churchyard. However it was written over ten years ago and things change, and after all we are talking about mosses, so the task of identifying is not as simple as it may sound. 

In our first specimen we were confident we could see the long hairs at the end of the leaf, but less confident to agree on the leaf shape, or on a name. We decided to look at another and could immediately see the differences and were happy to call this one Great Hairy Screw-moss, Syntrichia ruralis. 

We continued to work our way round the outer wall of the churchyard, momentarily distracted by being able to easily identify the ferns (including Black Spleenwort). There were a couple of species of moss just inside the gate that introduced us to the carpet varieties (we had been looking at cushion varieties on the wall), and we finished our morning session with a confident look at Springy Turf-moss, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus. This showed how it was important to look at the way the moss was growing with the naked eye, as well as the detail with the hand lens.

So, back to the porch and time for lunch, and a chance to admire the door that was in place when Henry VIII was about. Impressive. 

We could have all spent the rest of the day in the churchyard, but Amanda, Steve and I decided to stick with the original idea of a walk onto the adjacent hillside. However, just a few more mosses first. The dried capsules helped us identify the Wood Bristle-moss on the warty Holly by the entrance, we saw a Plait-moss, Hypnum, on the wall end as we entered the footpath, and lastly (for the walkers) the Common Tamarisk-moss, Thuidium tamariscinum, described as one of our prettiest mosses. 

We then crossed the road and followed the track past Lord's Wood, where the mosses were abundant. One struck us quite different from the others we had seen so we took a sample back. Despite having the id books and lenses out on the train on the way home, we couldn't suggest an identification, so we have some homework to do.  Whether you were with us today or not, you might find a look at the British Bryological Society website informative. 

We enjoyed some patches of Wood Anemone and more Primroses, views of a Kestrel, and 100s of Jackdaws poised with intent on the edge of the quarry. The tree buds and flowers attracted our attention as we made our way back to Settle, where we met Alice and Marje on the station platform. They had spotted a Bluebell in flower near the industrial units. 

So, despite having to make hasty alternative travel arrangements, the day went very smoothly and I think we had a successful day focussing on mosses. I'm not expecting to remember the names without more practice, but I want to thank Alice for enabling us to look closely at the differences, and really give us a sound grounding in some of the species we will regularly see. 

Some photos in the gallery here. We've done our best with accurate naming, but if anyone sees any errors please get in touch. 

Julia