Cream Of The Crop

Young pigeons – squabs – thrive on their mothers’ milk to join the largest group of wild birds in Britain, observes Pip Webster

- Pip Webster

The oldest group of true plants has been around for more than 400 million years and can be found growing by a canal near you even in the depths of winter.

Liverworts evolved when green algae were making the transition onto land and even pre-date the mosses. They lack the water regulation mechanisms of their more advanced cousins and have to live in cool, deeply shaded moist areas.

The more familiar group of “thallose” liverworts look like green ribbons growing across the substratum, with each segment regularly forking into two new branches. There are also very tiny “leafy” liverworts on hair-like stems. At only two to 20mm wide, they are often overlooked, though there are about 300 species found in the UK.