new world revealed 21 june

On the longest day I went out with Nick Hodgetts, a bryologist specialising in Sphagna, in order to get an insight into the range and variety of mosses and sphagna which are abundant on Skye. We were looking for Sphagnum skyense a particular sphagna which was found and indentified on Skye in 1987 and has only been found here. It is not so easy to identify for myself, but I got a real insight into the rich, colourful world of these lower plants.

Sphagnum skyense left on the day and right how it can look!

Sphagnum at the Quiraing June 21st

the fairy kingdom

was revealed to me today

a new world opening 

beneath my feet

I was engulfed, enchanted

you can return if you

don't eat or drink -

just look and wonder

magnified times twenty

moss and sphagna became

rich displays of intricate, extravagant form

leaf cells, hooked shapes

flowing forms of water

delicate curving lines

abundant complexity

in pink, yellow, green

I emerged for breath, wondrous 

and looked around

at the unchanged rocks and scree