Nature's viny vampire: Discovering what drives #parasitic #Cuscuta campestris

#dodder #CcMCA1 #sensing #ion_channels

https://phys.org/news/2025-03-nature-viny-vampire-parasitic-cuscuta.html

Dodder bursting out of a host stem to flower. They don't usually reside inside other plants so this was worth a pic. Normally they just wrap around another plant and send in root-like haustoria to suck the juices out, like the situation you can see on the left. #cuscuta #dodder #convolvulaceae #parasitic #parasite #plants #botany #biology

Meeting re the #Dodder #greenway far right man Gavin Pepper turned up asking irrelevant questions. He got shouted down by the audience.

Golf, the most evil pastime after vampiricism and clerical abuse, has forced the rerouting of a sensibly-routed greenway along the Dodder. I may be wrong @ccferrie but it looks as if the "greenway" is now going to run for a section along a busy, hilly, dangerous road from the Dropping Well inwards https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2024/02/26/council-unveils-revised-route-for-greenway-in-south-dublin/ #Greenway #Speedway #Dodder

A frickin' #goldcrest visited over the weekend! Delighted. Been about a year since I've seen one in the garden. #birdwatchireland #BirdsOfMastodon #dodder

This was the best photo of managed to get, very active bird.

#Dublin #Dodder #MastoDaoine #Rain

#Dodder #Greenway starting to take shape

@irishcycle @dublincyclingcampaign

#DodderGreenway #BikeTooter #Dublin

#Dodder anyone? It's almost unknown in #Scotland but it appeared on a live basil plant we bought in the supermarket. It's a weird tendrilled parasitic plant that feeds off the host. Apparently the dodder will flower but I won't let it for fear of getting dodder seed into our soil. #botany

Look at this sexy beast! A Cormorant on the Dodder. #dodder #BirdsOfMastodon #cormorant #birdwatchireland #sigma150600

Stained cross-section showing dodder (Cuscuta) haustoria penetrating the stem of Chenopodium album. My favorite parasitic plant. #dodder #Cuscuta #botany #parasite #plants #biology #nature #Convolvulaceae

Serious volume of water coming down the #Dodder this evening

Looking at me? #bluetit #dodder #irishbirdwatch #BirdsOfMastodon

First time I've seen a Long-tailed Tit in the garden! Peanut feeder seems to be the draw. Blue Tits gave it some attitude though. #coaltit #birdwatchireland #dodder

First time spotting a Goldcrest in the garden. No interest in the seed or peanut feeders, stuck to the bushes looking for insects. #goldcrest #BirdsOfMastodon #dodder #birdwatchireland

This blew my mind when I figured out what it was. It's a parasitic plant called #dodder. Kind of a bummer since it's liable to screw up my gardening plans. No proper roots and almost no chlorophyll. It attaches those yellow tendrils to green plants to get nutrients. Only other parasitic flowering plant that comes to mind is #mistletoe. They were growing on goathead vines (awful plants). I've since seen them growing together elsewhere. It doesn't seem to kill them like it does other #plants.

Bluetit and Tree Rat by the Dodder. #dodder #bluetit #treerat #sigma150600

A female mallard in Dublin's river Dodder

https://ebird.org/species/mallar3

#mallard #germanoreale #bird #photography #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #city #river #dodder #riverdodder #dublin #ireland #sony #sonyalpha

*scratch scratch*

A little egret observing the world from a tree.

https://ebird.org/species/litegr

#egret #egretta #bird #photography #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #city #river #dodder #riverdodder #dublin #ireland #sony #sonyalpha

A white-throated dipper (cinclus cinclus) that I met in September. The River Dodder in Dublin is an amazing place for city birding!

https://ebird.org/species/whtdip1

#dipper #merloacquaiolo #bird #photography #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #city #river #dodder #riverdodder #dublin #ireland #sony #sonyalpha

Spotted on my walk through the #Dodder valley park up into the foothills of the #Dublin mountains (did a loop going up to the Bohernabreena reservoir, then to Bohernabreena church and back down again).
There are a few playgrounds popping up in the park.