Today was another gorgeous day; no fog, mild temperature and lots  of sunshine.

We did the Squally Point Trail today a companion to yesterday's Three Sisters Trail. The highlights were finding Lycopods  the oldest plant species known and still growing today. Where's a botanist when you need one?

Another highlight was us meeting White-winged Crossbills. The  crossed bills are an adaption to feeding off cone heads. It's interesting because while I was photographing the scenery I could hear plop...plop...plop as something was falling from above. I thought it was a wind effect but after the third plop I looked up and there they were, working the pine cones and dropping bits as they worked.

Anderson's Cove

Anderson's Cove 101 Anderson's Cove 102 Anderson's Cove 103 Anderson's Cove 104 Anderson's Cove 105 Anderson's Cove 106 Andersonès Cove 100

Eastern Bluebird

There is no sign of youngsters emerging yet.

Eastern Bluebird 800 Eastern Bluebird 801 Eastern Bluebird 802 Eastern Bluebird 803 Eastern Bluebird 804

Lycopods

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Lycopodiopsida

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This article is about a group of plants that excludes the extinct zosterophylls. For the more broadly defined group that includes the zosterophylls, see Lycophyte.

"Lycopod" redirects here. For other uses, see Lycopod (disambiguation).

Lycopodiopsida
Palhinhaea cernua with close-up of branch
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Lycophytes
Class:	Lycopodiopsida Bartl.
Orders
Isoetales Lycopodiales Selaginellales
Synonyms
See Table 1.

Lycopodiopsida is a class of herbaceous vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are called clubmosses, firmosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching stems bearing simple leaves called microphylls and reproduce by means of spores borne in sporangia on the sides of the stems at the bases of the leaves. Although living species are small, during the Carboniferous, extinct tree-like forms formed huge forests that dominated the landscape and contributed to coal deposits.

The nomenclature and classification of plants with microphylls varies substantially among authors. A consensus classification for extant (living) species was produced in 2016 by the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG I), which places them all in the class Lycopodiopsida, which includes the classes Isoetopsida and Selaginellopsida used in other systems. (See Table 2.) Alternative classification systems have used ranks from division (phylum) to subclass. In the PPG I system, the class is divided into three orders, Lycopodiales, Isoetales and Selaginellales.

Characteristics

Club-mosses (Lycopodiales) are homosporous, but the genera Selaginella and Isoetes are heterosporous, with female spores larger than the male, and gametophytes forming entirely within the spore walls. A few species of Selaginella such as S. apoda and S. rupestris are also viviparous; the gametophyte develops on the mother plant, and only when the sporophyte's primary shoot and root is developed enough for independence is the new plant dropped to the ground.^[1] Club-moss gametophytes are mycoheterotrophic and long-lived, residing underground for several years before emerging from the ground and progressing to the sporophyte stage.^[2]

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^Lycopods

Lycopod 100 Lycopod 101 Lycopod 102

Mushrooms

I don't even try to ID these guys.

Mushroom Species 1 100

Ancient Beach

Raised up by pressure probably caused by an ice age.

Raised Natural Beach 100 Raised Natural Beach 101 Raised Natural Beach 102

Pillars-caused by erosion of softer rock around a usually volcanic and harder centre.

Son Pillar 100

Squally Point Trail

Squally Point Trail 100 Squally Point Trail 101 Squally Point Trail 102 Squally Point Trail 103

Pillars

Stone Pillar 101 Stone Pillar 102 Stone Pillar 103 Stone Pillar 104 Stone Pillar 105 Stone Pillar 106

Swamp Candles

Swamp Candles 100 Swamp Candles 101

White-winged Crossbill

White-winged Crossbill 100 White-winged Crossbill 101 White-winged Crossbill 102

End of Another Fine Day

Sunset 300