ab301- new to wild about britain

[fbcpmike]

Hi, and welcome to WAB.
Here is a link I found some while ago with a usefull pdf file on Mosses and Liverworts, and another site on Bryology . Hope this helps.

[ab301]

Thanks for those links they were quite helpful.....

in response to trying to be more specific....

my main problem is that im basically starting from scratch on identifying different species of moss, and ive got loads of books but they are all quite complicated for someone starting out and don't even help with a starting point really.
say with birds, for example, you know from characteristics whether its say a raptor or a wader of whatever and know whereabouts to start narrowing it down,
but with moss i get utterly stuck as I dont know where to start.
Generally ive been starting backwards in a way by looking at photos and seeing if I have a moss which is similar, which sometimes works, but I still have doubts using this method as I end up with a species name but am not confident about it. Id much rather work down and be confident with say the family name rather that the full on species name that im not greatly confident with.
Basically if anyone can help with suggesting how to begin to start separting them into different classes and why etc. that would be really cool. Ive tried but im just not sure if im going along the right lines or not.

I hope I've made some sort of sense in all that I just wrote! sorry for the long post! any advice will be greatly appreciated!
thanks again for the links and friendly replies
ab301

[henrya]

ab301, try www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk and go to the resources tab where they have links to some sites with good pictures (especially Des Callahan's).

Quote
Id much rather work down and be confident with say the family name rather that the full on species name that im not greatly confident with.
Basically if anyone can help with suggesting how to begin to start separting them into different classes and why etc. that would be really cool.
Endquote

The trouble is that bryophyte taxonomy is still not very fixed (and, as you say, the keys are very difficult) and things keep changing - not even the families can be agreed on! I still think your best bet would be the local wildlife trust or natural history society to find someone who can show you your local species and give you the tips that the keys leave out. What county are you in?

henrya