On the absurdity of my participation in this challenge......

A good day today for lots of reasons. Up to 149 with 9 new species for the challenge, mostly plants that are now big enough for me to ID! Dog Violet, Common Field and Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Red Dead Nettle and Dogs Mercury. Finally got round to IDing some more lichens and added Xanthoria parietina and Parmotrema perlatum. I also pushed the "must have been living withing the square" rule to the limit with a dead Pygmy Shrew that the neighbors cat left outside the kitchen (the cat would appear to be incapable of/unwilling to walk outside the boundaries of the square).

I have been noticing this yellow growth on the Alexanders recently:

The internet would suggest that this is Puccinia smyrnii - Alexanders Rust. While on the subject of fungi, can I ask which books people are using as I seem to be doing considerably worse than most on Fungi ID - I am using the old New Naturalist but am assuming that there is something better available. Also, I see lots of people with Polydesmus angustus on their lists - I have never found criteria for IDing angustus, am I missing something obvious?

So why the title of the post? This morning, I managed an hour looking through some mosses I collected on a trip to visit a placement student at Ayelsbeare this week. The first, Polytrichum commune, was a tick for me and took me to 900 on my PSL........... for the whole country........... Got a long way to go for 1000 in a 1 k square!