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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 14h

New to me and to Wales today was Peronospora campestris on Arenaria serpyllifolia, found with Peter Jackson at Morfa Dyffryn in Gwynedd #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Doassansiopsis hydrophila on Potamogeton on Monday - this is one of a group of fungi infecting aquatic plants, with large spore balls (~0.2mm) which presumably float to their next host. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Spiranthes spiralis at Killard has ripe seeds and winter rosettes now. Field season officially over 🥲

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A lot of the Dactylis glomerata in our field is covered in this rust Puccinia striiformoides right now, which forms bright orange uredinia in narrow stripes. I also found a few plants with a coinfection of Puccinia graminis (I think), with larger warm brown uredinia. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thrilled to find a Giant Puffball today! My first in over 10 years! #FungiFriends

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is the first year our Passiflora caerulea has successfully produced ripe fruit (they are pretty tasteless). Not something I ever expected in our garden.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Seemingly new to Ireland today - the powdery mildew Arthrocladiella mougeotii on Duke of Argyll's teaplant/Goji berry #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A Green Tiger Beetle on Ilkley Moor (baht 'at)

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Doassansia sagittariae on Arrowhead in central Leeds. This aquatic fungus forms balls of spores with a central cavity which presumably float in the water to reach new hosts. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I think this eyebright was all Euphrasia curta (according to the new taxonomy) as it had no glandular hairs and fairly even eglandular hairs on its leaves.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Lots of Marsh Fritillary (and not really a whole lot else!) at Murlough today

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

An interesting leaf spot today: Jamesdicksonia dactylidis on Yorkshire Fog. It forms masses of dark brown spores in the mesophyll. This was apparently the first Irish record. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The first Small Tortoiseshell I've seen this year, on Scorzoneroides autumnalis

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

A raven and Salix herbacea on Sliabh Binneáin

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Lots of leaf spots including Phacellium carneum on Lathyrus pratensis and Ramularia sphaeroidea on Lotus pedunculatus #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Butterflies including Green-veined White and Peacock nectaring on Centaurea nigra

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

There were some uncommon gall midge species: Rhopalomyia ptarmicae on Achillea ptarmica and Dasineura ~cerastii on Cerastium holosteoides (new to me and possibly Ireland). #Cecidomyiidae

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

This wonderful ancient damp pasture managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social had the highest plant diversity in a quadrat so far this field season (24 species)

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This morning I saw this pretty micromoth Chrysoclista linneella, seemingly a recent colonist (I can't see any Irish records before 2022).

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Succisa pratensis is coming into flower so it's time to look for the grey conidiophores of Peronospora violacea on deformed flowerheads (enlarged corolla and shriveled anthers). They can be up to several times the size of uninfected ones! #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A gall midge, Kiefferia pericarpiicola, galling the ovaries of wild carrot today at Killard #cecidomyiidae

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

There were loads of wasps of various kinds on hogweed and carrot today too, including a male that was guarding a female and fighting off other males. Unfortunately my photo isn't good enough to even know what family they belong to.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

A Torymid wasp that was investigating Centaurea nigra, presumably to lay into a fly or wasp larva in the flowerhead. I've seen torymids on Centaurea at 3 sites, so presumably they are all one common and widespread species. They are all this fab metallic green.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I just saw a Speckled Wood lay this egg on a Poa in a crack in our garden pavement. A poor choice! It is one of the only butterflies that happily completes its entire lifecycle here in small gardens like ours and is very successful doing so.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Phacellium alborosellum, a commonish leaf spot on Cerastium. The large bundles of conidiophores are easily visible under the hand lens. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I've been enjoying testing out the new, greatly simplified Euphrasia key this year. I'm yet to find anything other than E. nemorosa though. Today's version of that species had especially large flowers.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

It's punishingly hot today, but what a privilege to visit one of County Down's few remaining hay meadows!

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

To my great surprise I found a rust! Puccinia sp. on Agrostis capillaris #WildPlantDisease #FungiFriends

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

lots of tricky grass ID today 😬

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Epipactis helleborine is very common right now in urban Belfast in parks and gardens. It seems to be increasing.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

lovely lovely Darragh Island, which has some okay-ish-ly managed dry species-rich grassland and rush pasture with locally rare Fairy Flax, Common Centaury, Milkwort, Sneezewort, and Spring Sedge

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

So I've been trying to rear these out in a Starbucks cup (following Elven et al., 2024) and it actually worked 😭 I'm so excited I actually have an adult from this specimen and hopefully more on the way

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Megachile pollinating our strawberries

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The grassland I'm in today is full of grass rusts and the Mycodiplosis larvae which feed on them. As I argued in this blogpost this probably represents a considerable flow of nutrients from plants into invertebrates and their predators irishplants.org/blog/2026/02... #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Two weeds I introduced to our garden that are now thriving - Centaurium erythraea and Sherardia arvensis. Centaurium occurs on brownfield sites in Belfast but Sherardia is basically unknown here. This one I got from a population on machair in Mayo.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

it's very difficult not to spend the whole day dozing in the grass when the weather is like this

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Septoria heraclei on Heracleum sphondylium at Killard. This is one of the toothpaste-type Septoria species which extrude their conidia in a white amorphous mass. I've been looking out for this one for a while! #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Synchytrium on Plantago lanceolata, new to me today. This seems to match S. erieum but the taxonomy in this group is a bit messy. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Some rarely recorded gall midges: Geocrypta rostriformis on Galium verum Dasineura affinis on Viola riviniana (with a cocoon inside)

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Killard has hit peak bloom by the looks of it

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I spent the last week in Toraigh, a Gaelic-speaking island community off the coast of Donegal. I found Physoderma negeri on Euphrasia there, a rarely recorded chytrid fungus that forms dark warts. I also danced and sang a lot. A welcome escape from the anglosphere! #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

A Cecidomyiid hiding in a Salix repens leaf

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Sna Cruacha Gorma iargúlta uaigneacha inniu chonnaic mé Puccinia urticata ar Chúl Fáidh (nó Neantógaí) #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Tá mé sa Ghaeltacht an tseachtain seo ⁊ bhí sé d'ádh orm Golovinomyces asperifoliorum ar Symphytum a fháil ar an Bhun Bheag #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I never noticed this grass before but I found it as a pavement plant today: Vulpia myuros. Apparently common and increasing.

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Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

A species I found several times while in continental Europe recently is Coleroa robertiani, which infects Herb Robert. I have never found it in Ireland, despite there being a lot of records. Maybe it gets more common the further south you go. #FungiFriends #WildPlantDisease

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