We are far from the sea here, in the mountains of inland Portugal, but here too walls are unbelievable havens for biodiversity - old stone walls here will one o

We are far from the sea here, in the mountains of inland Portugal, but here too walls are unbelievable havens for biodiversity - old stone walls here will one one side harbour a plethora of mosses, liverworts, sedums and similar, and on the other, ferns and epiphytes. With them come inspect life, and animal and bird life. Every nook and cranny, a world of its own. Plenty of species I see growing from walls that I rarely if ever see elsewhere here. While there’s plenty of bedrock exposed around here, even the most fractured shale can’t compare in nookiness to a nice stone wall.