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:
- Hardknott lichen report 26 April 2025
Hardknott Forest is near the head of the Duddon Valley, reached by some of us on the winding road over Wrynose Pass. The coniferous forest is slowly being felled and the area is now being restored to broadleaf woodland, peatbogs and heath by the Restoring Hardknott Forest project team who kindly welcomed us. We visited… Read more: Hardknott lichen report 26 April 2025 - Tilberthwaite Lichen Report 6 March 2025
Cards on the table. Tilberthwaite is one of my favourite areas of the Lakes. The gnarly landscape has woods and rocks and old mines and becks and a gorge and quarries and vernacular architecture. There’s access to the Coniston Fells and it’s never as busy as Coniston itself, or nearby Langdale. On past wanderings I’ve… Read more: Tilberthwaite Lichen Report 6 March 2025 - Lichens with students in Carlisle
For the last few years we’ve done a lichen morning with students on the University of Cumbria’s Wildlife and Media course in Carlisle. This usually involves a walk from the Brampton Road Campus along Tarraby Lane to Hadrian’s Wood, where there’s a lot of common lichens growing on the trees. We also look at lichens… Read more: Lichens with students in Carlisle - Seatoller Wood Bryophyte Report 8 February 2025
It was an eventful early morning as we had late notification that the Borrowdale road from Keswick was closed. I made an extra-early start from home and took the narrow and very winding route via Buttermere. Reaching Newlands Hause, I found the first few metres of the descent into Buttermere valley was very icy, with… Read more: Seatoller Wood Bryophyte Report 8 February 2025 - Seatoller Wood Lichen Report 8 February 2025
Francis Rose called the woods along the Seathwaite Road “the most important … lichenologically in northern England”. Having been several times, it is apparent that a major factor in this is that there are several different pockets within the woodland, each with different rock types, tree species and lichen communities present. Each pocket is interesting,… Read more: Seatoller Wood Lichen Report 8 February 2025