We had a good turnout despite a dreich weather forecast – in the end it was chilly and gloomy but largely dry, with the lichens damp but not underwater. About 15 people, both bryologists and lichenologists, met at Legburthwaite at the north end of Thirlmere from where a short walk along the busy road took us to the southern nose of High Rigg. This is a low N-S ridge formed of andesite, an igneous rock which can sometimes contain alkaline minerals, adding some variety to the frequently acidic upland rock – although we didn’t see any species indicating this.
The southern monad NY3119 already contained 43 records so we didn’t write down everything we saw, whereas the next monad to the north NY3120 only showed 3 lichen records. Our aim was to reach that in order to expand on the lichen knowledge for that square. In the end we made a list of 35-40 lichens for the northern monad which isn’t bad given that there was a lot of lichen chatting to distract us from recording.
As usual it was slow going as every rock and tree had the potential for lengthy discussions. Now and then we got cold and needed a brisk walk on to the next feature. Heading up hill we came across lots of hopeful oak seedlings as well as mature trees which had a range of typical acid bark lichens, such as bushy Evernia prunastri and red-fruited Cladonia polydactyla. Further up there were scattered pine with small grey lobes of foliose Parmeliopsis hyperopta. Also on pine was Hypocenomyce scalaris another acid-bark species, made up of little downward pointing scales with a sorediate rim, going a delicious C+red.
A large isolated boulder had a good range of crustose species, such as Trapelia glebulosa, Immersaria athroocarpa and Lepra corallina, as well as sheets of Lasallia pustulata forming a warted leafy mass. Here too were the charismatic fruticose Stereocaulon evolutum (KC+violet and Pd-) and S vesuvianum. Peter looked underneath and found orangey Gyrographa gyrocarpa where it would be drier, as well as Pertusaria amara on the top of the rock, confirmed by tasting (it’s very bitter). This is usually on bark.
As we got higher there were more rocky outcrops which began to show a nice range of upland species – Ophioparma ventosa with red apothecia, yellow granules of Candelariella coralliza where birds perch, lots of leafy grey Parmelia saxatilis and a range of terricolous Cladonia species. There was also the less common Stereocaulon vesuvianum var nodulosum which has blobs of soredia at the top of the podetia. At our furthest point Chris spotted several thalli of the terricolous placodioid lichen Baeomyces placophyllus. This looks similar to the commoner Baeomyces rufus in colour but forms distinct lobes around the edge of a rosette. On the surface are schizidia, convex propagules where the cortex has peeled up forming scales. A lengthy discussion arose about this…
As ever, the adjacent drystone wall produced interesting finds. Peter spotted an LF (lichenicolous fungus, ie a fungus that lives on or in a lichen) on Parmelia saxatilis which turned out to be Nesolechia oxyspora, new to Cumbria and the north of England. Nearby on the north-facing side of the wall was Psoronactis dilleniana, a mauve-grey pruinose crust with dark apothecia.
Liz spotted a bonus species earlier in the day – Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, a slime mould, on the upturned root plate of a fallen tree.
Other LFs seen were red-pink patches of Marchandiomyces corallinus on Parmelia and, earlier in the day, Zyzygomyces physciacearum on Physcia aipolia – or was it? It was later confirmed as the rarer Zyzygomyces aipoliae which has recently been separated from Z physciacearum. These used to be in the Heterocephalacria genus. Anyone coping with reading this paragraph deserves a prize….
Walking back didn’t take very long. After a final look at a quantity of Peltigera praetextata on the mossy wall at the road we headed back to the cars.
Thanks to Pete Martin for organising the trip which he was unable to attend.
Text: Caz Walker
Photos: Chris Cant, Peter Bisset, Caz Walker
