Moss.

I am not an expert on mosses, this is a common (or garden) species living in abundance on our garden wall. I chose this small clump since it was possible to isolate it from distracting detail.

I used my own macro technique for the shot; it involves sticking a +3 dioptre close-up lens onto the front of my compact and holding the camera slightly less than 13 inches (1/3rd of a metre) from the subject and letting the auto focus do the fine tuning (with a +5 lens the distance would be 1/5th of a metre). I started doing this with my first digital camera (an Instamatic look-a-like) about ten years ago. When better cameras came into my price range I carried on since I understand how this works where-as the workings of the macro facility on compacts is hidden from the photographer. The way I work leaves me the full use of the zoom and, although I wasn't aware at the time of taking the blip, this was on almost maximum setting. Incidentally, lens manufacturers do not seem to understand how close-up lens work since they are always fitted into the mount the wrong way round.

I did Google mosses hoping to be able to identify the species, but time was short and there was no obvious on-line field guide, though I did unearth some interesting information. During the early part of its life-cycle mosses are haploid - that is, they have single chromosomes; during the sexually active stages they are diploid - they have pairs of chromosomes as do most higher organisms. This is interesting since hymenoptera (ants, wasps and bees) have a haploid/diploid sex determining mechanism. Drones, the males have the single while the queens and workers have the pairs of chromosomes; this has interesting effects on the life of the honey bee and was essential to the evolution of social behaviour in all three subdivisions of hymenoptera; no other insects are social.

Who'd have thought sex could be so interesting.