Staring at fence posts

Flanders Moss NNR

I have recently spent a day staring at fence posts on the Moss. The reason why is detailed in a separate blog post here. But if put to someone that this is what they are going to do for a day they might have the same thoughts as if they were asked to watch paint dry. Especially when by the end of the day about 1400 fence posts had to be be stared at.

But actually it was an absolute joy. And apart from sending my old eyes slightly wonky by the end of the day I would have be happy to look at more.

Because most of the fence posts were very old. By the look of them 50 + years old. And so they had been colonised by miniature forests of lichen making them just beautiful to look at. I am afraid that I don’t know how many or what species of lichen except that some were Cladonia sp. But that didn’t really matter. So with no more to say, here are some close-ups of fence posts.

And it wasn’t just the lichen jungles. There were other very small inhabitants – all on the south side of the posts soaking up the Spring sun’s rays. Again I don’t know the names of them all but for once it doesn’t matter. Enjoy.

So if you have some spare time and there is a fence line nearby why not have a bit of a stare? It could be quite nice.