Jake Dalzell
@bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
botanist and micromycologist from Belfast
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
also interested in inverts especially gall midges
my website: https://irishplants.org/
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: https://plantpathogens.net/
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste
also interested in inverts especially gall midges
my website: https://irishplants.org/
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: https://plantpathogens.net/
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!
Yes, the infection is systemic so the entire plant is equally affected. When it isn't flowering the oomycete forms very sparse hyphae in the vascular tissue and is asymptomatic.
August 9, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Yes, the infection is systemic so the entire plant is equally affected. When it isn't flowering the oomycete forms very sparse hyphae in the vascular tissue and is asymptomatic.