Jake Dalzell
@bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
botanist and micromycologist from Belfast
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
network ecology, evolutionary ecology, conservation etc
my website: https://irishplants.org/
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: https://plantpathogens.net/
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
network ecology, evolutionary ecology, conservation etc
my website: https://irishplants.org/
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: https://plantpathogens.net/
Interactions between plant pathogens (left) and plants across five quadrats in a restored species-rich grassland. The basic premise of my PhD is to see if these interaction networks differ between restored and ancient grasslands.
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
November 19, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Interactions between plant pathogens (left) and plants across five quadrats in a restored species-rich grassland. The basic premise of my PhD is to see if these interaction networks differ between restored and ancient grasslands.
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
The rather rare Entyloma ranunculacearum on Ranunculus acris was a highlight, only the second time I've seen it
November 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The rather rare Entyloma ranunculacearum on Ranunculus acris was a highlight, only the second time I've seen it
Meadow, Snowy, Pink Waxcap at an ancient grassland site I am sampling today. The wonders of rural South Down!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
November 8, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Meadow, Snowy, Pink Waxcap at an ancient grassland site I am sampling today. The wonders of rural South Down!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
My soil sampling partner for the day. Very interested in sniffing all my equipment! All I could think of was "an Mhuc Dhubh" which killed one of the Fianna in a story I heard last week...
November 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
My soil sampling partner for the day. Very interested in sniffing all my equipment! All I could think of was "an Mhuc Dhubh" which killed one of the Fianna in a story I heard last week...
I had a great time this morning learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope. Here are urediniospores of Puccinia rusts from the grassland restoration projects of @donnarainey4.bsky.social and @ceanncait.bsky.social . I'm hoping it will help with ID!
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
October 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I had a great time this morning learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope. Here are urediniospores of Puccinia rusts from the grassland restoration projects of @donnarainey4.bsky.social and @ceanncait.bsky.social . I'm hoping it will help with ID!
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
October 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's that time of the year again – look out for blackened veins on yellowed leaves of Ribwort Plantain, caused by the fungus Spilopodia nervisequia!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
October 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
It's that time of the year again – look out for blackened veins on yellowed leaves of Ribwort Plantain, caused by the fungus Spilopodia nervisequia!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I've arrived in Aberystwyth where I'll spend the winter learning fungal (meta-)barcoding and working on some theoretical background for my research on plant-pathogen networks in grasslands. It was nice to find a species new to me as I explored the town: the rust fungus Puccinia umbilici on Navelwort
September 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I've arrived in Aberystwyth where I'll spend the winter learning fungal (meta-)barcoding and working on some theoretical background for my research on plant-pathogen networks in grasslands. It was nice to find a species new to me as I explored the town: the rust fungus Puccinia umbilici on Navelwort
Thanks to everyone who gave me camera advice – as it turns out my grampa had a small camera he never used lying around that is absolutely perfect. I took it for a test run: here is Coleosporium euphrasiae on Eyebright and Podosphaera plantaginis on Ribwort Plantain.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Thanks to everyone who gave me camera advice – as it turns out my grampa had a small camera he never used lying around that is absolutely perfect. I took it for a test run: here is Coleosporium euphrasiae on Eyebright and Podosphaera plantaginis on Ribwort Plantain.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
On Saturday I led a workshop on plant pathogens. We saw a wide variety of species and found just how ubiquitous this group is, in spite of rain and hail! It's been great to see more people recording pathogens, and I hope events like this will make it more accessible.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 15, 2025 at 8:14 AM
On Saturday I led a workshop on plant pathogens. We saw a wide variety of species and found just how ubiquitous this group is, in spite of rain and hail! It's been great to see more people recording pathogens, and I hope events like this will make it more accessible.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I had the pleasure of visiting a meadow managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social today. Only when I got home did I notice the swelling on the midrib of this Dandelion leaf, which turned out to be the leaf smut Protomyces pachydermus.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 8, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I had the pleasure of visiting a meadow managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social today. Only when I got home did I notice the swelling on the midrib of this Dandelion leaf, which turned out to be the leaf smut Protomyces pachydermus.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
September 3, 2025 at 6:08 PM
this island in the bog had really nice woodland on it, very thin tall trees of all sorts but mostly Betula pubescens and Salix caprea caprea
September 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
this island in the bog had really nice woodland on it, very thin tall trees of all sorts but mostly Betula pubescens and Salix caprea caprea
new tetrad for Cranberry 😼
September 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
new tetrad for Cranberry 😼
another dreech day on the bog
September 1, 2025 at 2:29 PM
another dreech day on the bog
The adjacent lowland raised bog which was only somewhat degraded had Royal Fern – a new tetrad!!! This is my best find this week
August 26, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The adjacent lowland raised bog which was only somewhat degraded had Royal Fern – a new tetrad!!! This is my best find this week
I visited one of Fermanagh's mythical species-rich grasslands today. They really exist, apparently. This one had a lot of Devil's-bit Scabious
August 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I visited one of Fermanagh's mythical species-rich grasslands today. They really exist, apparently. This one had a lot of Devil's-bit Scabious
Some nice Gymnosporangium rusts on Rowan today – they look a bit like sea slugs I think
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 22, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Some nice Gymnosporangium rusts on Rowan today – they look a bit like sea slugs I think
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
Some uncommon rusts in Fermanagh yesterday Uromyces trifolii-repentis on Trifolium repens, and Chrysomyxa empetri on Empetrum nigrum. This is the first Irish record of the former.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Some uncommon rusts in Fermanagh yesterday Uromyces trifolii-repentis on Trifolium repens, and Chrysomyxa empetri on Empetrum nigrum. This is the first Irish record of the former.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I recently visited Abbeyleix Bog in Laois, which is a shockingly intact lowland raised bog (the only one I've ever seen that is actually still raised in the middle). I saw Exobasidium karstenii, a parasite of the lowland bog specialist Bog Rosemary. The shoots are red and hypertrophied
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 18, 2025 at 9:17 AM
I recently visited Abbeyleix Bog in Laois, which is a shockingly intact lowland raised bog (the only one I've ever seen that is actually still raised in the middle). I saw Exobasidium karstenii, a parasite of the lowland bog specialist Bog Rosemary. The shoots are red and hypertrophied
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
A fly-killing fungus Entomophthora syrphi on its hoverfly host. It produces conidiophores which shoot spores like cannons by building up turgor pressure behind them.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 16, 2025 at 11:04 AM
A fly-killing fungus Entomophthora syrphi on its hoverfly host. It produces conidiophores which shoot spores like cannons by building up turgor pressure behind them.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I was quite excited by this today – it seems to be the second global record of a Peronospora on Potentilla erecta. Peronospora potentillae-reptantis is known from some related species.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I was quite excited by this today – it seems to be the second global record of a Peronospora on Potentilla erecta. Peronospora potentillae-reptantis is known from some related species.
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
oh were you with Chris Preston when you saw them? I already have those records (this isn't the most up to date version)
August 15, 2025 at 6:04 AM
oh were you with Chris Preston when you saw them? I already have those records (this isn't the most up to date version)
The uredinium of a rust fungus and two pycnidia of Ascochyta agrostidis on a leaf of Creeping Bent. These grasses are riddled!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
August 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The uredinium of a rust fungus and two pycnidia of Ascochyta agrostidis on a leaf of Creeping Bent. These grasses are riddled!
#FungiFriends
#FungiFriends
I saw two Perseid meteors last night (it was unfortunately quite overcast), a sparrowhawk attempting to catch a rabbit, and lots of bats!
August 10, 2025 at 6:30 AM
I saw two Perseid meteors last night (it was unfortunately quite overcast), a sparrowhawk attempting to catch a rabbit, and lots of bats!