The Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte group is a self-study group for everyone interested in learning, recording, conserving or simply enjoying Cumbria’s lichens and bryophytes (regardless of experience) .
Please join us on a field trip and share your experiences with us on the Cumbria Lichens and Cumbria Bryophytes Facebook groups.
Here are our most recent blog posts:
- Blawith Common bryophyte trip report 14 November 2023
On the day before the trip date, the weather was appalling, with strong winds and relentless heavy rain, and the weather forecast was not amazing, so we set off for the day with some trepidation to see how the weather would evolve. There was a lot of standing water on the roads, with quite long… Read more: Blawith Common bryophyte trip report 14 November 2023 - Duddon Valley bryophyte trip report 15 October 2023
For a change the sun was shining and the winds light for our October meeting at High Wallowbarrow Farm near Seathwaite in the Duddon Valley. The farm is unusual in having large areas of ancient semi-natural woodland, most of which lies within the Duddon Valley Woodlands Site of Special Scientific Interest. Whilst bryophytes have been… Read more: Duddon Valley bryophyte trip report 15 October 2023 - Duddon Valley lichen trip report 15 October 2023
A large group met at High Wallowbarrow Farm in the Duddon Valley on a sunny autumn day. There are few lichen records here, monad SD2296 having 34 mainly from 1970 (Brian Coppins and Francis Rose). We started by looking in the next square to the west which was unrecorded. This is a formerly coppiced wooded… Read more: Duddon Valley lichen trip report 15 October 2023 - The Lichen Hunters book review
I recently had the opportunity of reading and enjoying Oliver Gilbert’s book ‘The Lichen Hunters’. Published in 2004 it is no longer in print, so unfortunately now only available second-hand. There have of course been many reviews of the book over the past twenty years by organisations such as the BLS, the New Scientist and… Read more: The Lichen Hunters book review - Mallerstang Bryophyte report 14 September 2023
As with any bryology outing, it’s easy to get distracted by the surroundings of the car park. Some awkward road closures and traffic spread out arrivals, so a brief look around Pendragon castle yielded a light green Zygodon growing on an old ash – Zygodon rupestris perhaps? Alas, the longitudinal cell walls on its gemmae… Read more: Mallerstang Bryophyte report 14 September 2023