While on a walk at Gartan, by a much-flooded lake, I spotted some lichen on a branch brought down by Storm Desmond. The striking silver of its underside first caught my attention, and on turning it over I was surprised by the vivid green on the upper side.
Guy Stephenson
Letterkenny, Co Donegal
The lichen is lungwort, ‘Lobaria pulmonaria’, which, because its shape resembled a lung, was thought to be a beneficent medicine. The lichen is a symbiotic partnership of a fungus, a green alga and a cyanobacterium. Lungwort is very sensitive to air pollution and grows only in the purest air.
Several letters record an unseasonable arrival of spring:
I noticed some trees along the Dodder that are budding already.
Tommy Treanor
Templeogue, Dublin
There was frogspawn in our pond on December 7th. It is too early for the tadpoles, but how do we tell the frogs?
Jack Rowe
New Ross, Co Wexford
There was a daffodil at the roadside here on December 7th.
Dermot Finch
Currans, Co Kerry
Seven long-tailed tits arrived in our garden on December 1st. They were not due until March or April.
Eugene O'Connor
Paupish, Carlow
Ethna Viney welcomes observations at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Please include a postal address