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:
- Scordale bryophyte trip report 24 May 2026
On what promised to be a glorious sunny day, seven bryologists met in Murton for our visit to Scordale. The valley lies wholly within the Warcop Training Area and is usually closed to the public. Although the visit coincided with an access weekend, we had permission from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to visit as a… Read more: Scordale bryophyte trip report 24 May 2026 - Scordale lichen trip report 24 May 2026
Spring Bank Holiday Sunday, and a fine forecast: what could make that better? Well, being in an interesting place, that’s what! We were headed for Scordale, an old lead-mining area in the Pennines on one of the Ministry of Defence’s public access days. We met in the car park at Murton, on the East Fellside,… Read more: Scordale lichen trip report 24 May 2026 - Whitbarrow Quarry lichen trip report 30 April 2026
Whitbarrow is that bright white limestone cliff just by the A590 as you head towards Barrow, and a several-mile-long plateau of pavement, crag, woodland and grassland beyond. The group’s visited before- in early 2024- but that was on the western side by Witherslack Hall. This time, we were going to look at the south end,… Read more: Whitbarrow Quarry lichen trip report 30 April 2026 - Barbondale lichen trip report 21 March 2026
Barbondale is surprisingly little visited: if you don’t know it, you aren’t alone! You’ll find it on the map running between the Lune valley (just north of Kirkby Lonsdale) over to Dentdale (which some think the finest of the Yorkshire Dales, though these days it’s pretty much all in Cumbria). There’s a narrow road running… Read more: Barbondale lichen trip report 21 March 2026 - Barbondale bryophyte report 21 March 2026
Tempted perhaps by the sunny weather, quite a sizeable group gathered at the parking area by the cattle grid (SD 63784 82516) just below Barbon Low Fell. The bryophyte group was planning to look at the lower slopes of the fell, where there are a few gills and flushes coming down, maybe getting as far… Read more: Barbondale bryophyte report 21 March 2026