Bank Hair-cap Moss (Polytrichum formosum)

If there is not much to see when you look upwards on a woodland walk try looking downwards at the woodland floor. There you will find a wide variety of plants, even in autumn and winter.

Be prepared for an identification challenge though unless you have the best reference books around and a microscope!

Unfortunately I only have a small field guide but I can tell that this is a member of the Polytrichum family; 'formosum'; It can be common in acid woodland and on heath.  'formosum' has a preference for slightly drier conditions and I found this specimen on a stream bank, damp but drained.

To appreciate moss you need to get down and take a close look. This plant forms large carpets of individual little spiky trees, a bit like a minute conifer forest! In amongst the 'trees' shoots appear with little nodules on the top which contain the spores for distribution by the wind.

OK, moss may not be 'your thing' but I think it worth a second glance, specially this time of year when there does seem much else to admire!