How can I find a fern gametophyte in the wild?

Question

For a while now I've been trying to keep my eye out for fern protothallia. Either I'm looking at the wrong time or place, or I'm seeing them and not recognising them. Where and when should I be looking for these (in South East England, specifically). Have I not found any because they're easy to miss, or are they too short lived, or tend to be well hidden? What is the key to going out and finding them in the wild?

Answer 1

You might have missed them because they're so tiny and look like moss from a distance. You're usually not going to see a single heart-shaped gametophyte like you see in textbooks, but a cluster of several tiny ones on the ground.

You can find fern gametophytes most reliably the summer in shady and moist areas. If you live near a forest that gets a lot of rain, that would be a good place to look. If there are ferns in that area and it is still moist, you can probably find some gametophytes on the ground.