Burnet Rose

This is Burnet Rose, Rosa pimpinellifolia, growing in dunes at Llangennith at the end of Gower. There were no cream flowers at the end of August when this photo was taken, but the distinctive black globose fruit and red stems with red-tinged leaves are distinctive. 
The Roses are one of the trickiest groups to identify accurately. There is a whole BSBI Handbook devoted to the matter by the inestimable Rev Dr Anthony Primavesi. They also hybridise, further complicating the issue.

Red Clover

Another common plant - probably our commonest clover - this may be the cultivated form which is larger with paler flowers and a hollow stem. It's Red Clover, Trifolium pratense (possibly var sativum). This was growing in sandy soil behind a beach.

Sea Sandwort

Quick one tonight as in a bit of a rush. This is one from the coast at Burry Port on the north shore of the Loughor Estuary. Sea Sandwort or Honckenya peploides. I think the binomial is better than the common name for this one. It is actually a member of the Campion family, although it would be hard to place when you come across it no in flower.

Sea Spurge

This is another plant from the Welsh littoral: Sea Spurge, Euphorbia paralias. As you can no doubt tell, these are two different plants. It is found above the high tide mark but below the dunes in these cases. Euphorbias have weird flowers with round or crescent-shaped 'glands'. (Unfortunately these aren't clear in the photo.) The inflorescence is an umbel although this isn't as obvious as in the carrot family. They also have acrid latex which is obvious when the stems are cut.

Common Heather or Ling

This is Common Heather or Ling, Calluna vulgaris, and is in flower at the moment on heaths and moors all over the UK and Ireland. It smells amazing - just like the honey the bees make from it. People sometimes get confused about our heath plants: bell heather, ling, cross-leaved heath and the rare ones such as Dorset, Cornish, Irish, Mackay's and St Dabeoc's. Ling is easy - the leaves are unlike any of the others.

Fox Moth

This little fella was crossing the road, one can only assume to get to the other side. It took a bit of sleuthing to identify, but it is an early instar of the Fox Moth, Macrothylacia rubi. It lives with remarkable views and plenty of food. After overwintering as a final instar it pupates around the end of March/April to emerge as the moth which flies until June.

Marram Grass

This is perhaps the most familiar plant of British dunes: Marram grass, Ammophila arenaria. It's extensive rhizomes stabilise the sand preventing drifting of the dunes. The plant was harvested in the past for various uses, including thatching and basket-making, but this led to dune movement and loss of arable land and villages, especially in Denmark. Laws were introduced in Scotland in the seventeenth century and Denmark in the eighteenth century to prevent its removal.
The genus name derives from the Greek ammos: sand, and philia: lover. It is an example of a xerophyte, able to tolerate drought through various adaptations that help reduce water loss: waxy covering; inrolled leaves with stomata on the internal surface only; stomata situated in small pits; hairs to slow air movement across the leaf surface.

Sea Holly

Sea Holly must be the most striking plant of the dunes? This magnificent specimen of Eryngium maritimum was growing at the back of the beach at the Llangenith end of Rhossili beach. It caught my eye when the sun came out, silvery blue ruffs around the spiky inflorescence.

Sand-hill Screw Moss

It is the Big Garden Birdwatch weekend and I had a very enjoyable hour watching the avian shenanigans. In particular the territorial challenge by a robin. It perched in front of the current incumbent and raised its head up to show just how big and red (orange) its breast was, and then swayed slowly from side to side as if to say "Yeh, do you want a bit of it?". Our man did, and after watching for a while, chased him round the bushes. It all took place beneath the bird feeders which I suspect is the centre of the territory.
A total of 13 species noted, with chaffinch and blue tit topping the table with maximum counts of five a piece.

I thought I'd pop a bryophyte in today, just to add an example from another major taxon. This gorgeous beauty is Sand-hill Screw-moss (Syntrichia ruraliformis) and it was growing just next to the Cladonia ciliata var tenuis lichen (15th January) on Oxwich dunes. Click on the photo to enlarge it and really appreciate the details.

Cladonia ciliata var. tenuis

Cladonia ciliata var. tenuis as I'm sure you are all already well aware. This beautiful lichen was noticed on a walk over Christmas on the dunes behind Oxwich bay on Gower in south Wales. I was born on Gower and grew up in Swansea where my parents still reside. It was where the tiny spores of natural history interest first settled, shed by people like Dr Michael Isaac, a Scout leader who happened to be an academic marine biologist. I well recall a 'night hike' under a full moon along the south coast of Gower peninsular 

(incidentally, Gower was the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to be so designated) and seeing Noctiluca scintillans for the first time (also at Oxwich). It was astonishing. I have only seen it once since then, but never as florid. Michael knew immediately all about it and I've remembered the name of this funny little marine organism ever since.

I've made the photo large so you can appreciate better its amazing appearance. How many lichens can you name? Funny really as they're much more visible than even blue tits. The problem is that to appreciate many of them you really need to get up close and personal, preferably with a x10 optical device such as a hand lens. 

Lichens are on my 'to do' list. I have started by borrowing a book by William Purvis called, simply enough, 'Lichens'. (It's published by the Natural History Museum.) Mr Purvis is not to be trifled with when it comes to matters lichenous and this book is a nicely pitched distillation of a lifetime of accrued expertise, pitched at a level commensurate with O-level biology. 

They are a fascinating group because they are made up to more than one organism: usually a fungus, or mycobiont, and an algae, or photobiont. The latter can be green algae, yellow-green algae or cyanobacteria which are invariably 'trapped' by the fungal partner. The lichen is known by the name of the fungal partner. 

The exact nature of the relationship between the fungus and the other partner is still discussed. Mostly the fungus is only found existing as a lichen, although some have been grown in laboratories without their photobiont partners. When this is achieved it bears no resemblance to the lichen, commonly appearing as a mouldy amorphous mass.

I have Simon Davey to thank for the identification (see his blog - Inspired by Ecology). The Cladonia genus is sometimes referred to as the reindeer lichens as they are widespread in the arctic tundra where they form a significant percentage of the diet of reindeer.