Fenn’s and Whixall Moss

 

A bit of a catch up from a few weeks ago, 19th August to be precise. With it being a reasonably warm but breezy summer’s day we headed off down the M56 and A49 to Shropshire. Ideally I was hoping we’d catch up with the local population of Adders. Apparently there’s so many of them on Fenn’s Moss it’s one of the few places you can reliably see them dancing in early Spring. On a warm summers day they’ll be everywhere, or so we thought.

When we arrived it soon became clear the site was buzzing, insects everywhere even a superb Hobby catching dragonflies in mid air but unfortunately no snakes. The closest we got was another Common Lizard.

Plant-wise although surprisingly little out of the normal the moss looked magnificent with  Cross leaved Heath and Ling in full bloom.

Good to see plenty of  Bog Rosemary, one of the real mossland specialities. 

On the way out we came across a yet to be identified mushroom. At the moment I haven’t got a clue what it is but hopefully the scaly surface will prove to be a distinctive feature. 

Seems incredible that it’s only 20 years since peat was being cut from Whixall Moss.