Author: Pete Martin

Scales Wood sits on the steep north-east facing slopes opposite Buttermere village. It’s a marvellous place, the SSSI citation describes it as having “the best and most extensive example in the Lake District of a lichen community typical of upland, high rainfall oakwoods such as those found in the Scottish Highlands”. For some of us,  it was our third visit and it nearly didn’t happen.

Storm Ashley made us look carefully at the weather maps. The rain was forecast to stop between 10 and 11 o’clock. So we pushed back the start time. The strongest winds were later on, and maybe we’d be sheltered by the fells. Indeed, as we eight lichen botherers gathered at the foot of the Newlands Road it really wasn’t very windy at all. But it was bucketing down. Morale sank as we waded along the ankle-deep river oops, sorry, path towards the bridge.

But the rain soon stopped, and it was almost pleasant as we wandered along the bottom of the wood, discussing Peltigera membranacea (bullate, tomentose, downturned lobes and long separate rhizines), Hypogymnia physodes (soredia on splayed hollow lobe ends) and Parmelia saxatilis ( linear pseudocyphellae and isidia). A ninth member of the party joined us. There was a selection of Pertusaria species to compare: amara (bitter),  corallina (isidiate) and pertusa (pepperpot-style apothecial warts). It didn’t seem right to mention that the first two have now changed genus to Lepra…

We had lunch by a holly at the northwest end of the wood, and then began the climb up alongside a beck. To no-one’s surprise, we didn’t go very fast or get very far. There were Punctelia pseudocyphellae to look at (dot-like, rather than linear) and a good array of the upland rainforest specialities: Hypotrachyna laevigata with its smooth, clean-cut lobes; Sphaerophorus globosus the coral lichen, Mycoblastus sanguinarius with red patches under the apothecia. There were Micarea alabastrites and M. cinerea. A little Cetrelia olivetorum was found on a fallen oak with its longer pseudocyphellae and bare undersides near the lobe edges.

The star of the show, as ever in Scales Wood, was Hypotrachyna (until recently Parmelinopsis) horrescens. It’s a small, leafy thing, with isidia and cilia (hairs) on the surface. It looks like a diminutive version of Parmotrema crinitum, so I think of it as Desperate Dan’s little brother.  It’s not quite on every tree, but there’s a lot of it in Scales Wood. What’s odd is that this is the most northerly known population. It’s only been found in one other Lakeland wood, and the main areas of it in Britain are north Wales, the New Forest and the south west. I wonder if a concerted hunt across these western valleys would reveal any more?

We also saw the yellowish crust Lecanora alboflavida on birch, not recorded at this wood before, although it is nearby in Ennerdale. Also new to this site was Schismatomma umbrinum, a brown granular crust which likes sheltered rocks in old woodland.

I also wonder if Lobarina scrobiculata is still here in Scales Wood. It was last seen in 1961. So it’s hard to imagine it has survived. But it’s quite a big wood, not easy to move around, and after three visits I feel like we have barely scratched the surface. So maybe, just maybe… oh we’ll have to come back for a fourth visit!

Text: Pete Martin
Photos: Pete Martin, Chris Cant

A slow climb to Alcock Tarn.

Mid July and I feared that the central Lakes would be very busy;  have no parking; experience torrential downpours and be full of biting insects. But none of these were true for our Alcock Tarn trip!

In a break with tradition, we didn’t get distracted on our journey from meeting point to target area. Well, that’s not quite true. As we ascended out of Bracken Fell woods we succumbed to the lure of an outcrop. It was the ideal place to outline lichen basics to the newcomers: there was Lepra corallina, Rhizocarpon geographicum, Stereocaulon vesuvianum and Ophioparma ventosa. Some Cladonias too. It was a good half hour before we moved on up the zigzags. There was a boulder with Ephebe lanata on it. And an emerging dragonfly to examine: a female Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) I think.

But we quickly found another outcrop to distract us, and an oak tree with Normandina pulchella. By the time we’d examined a hawthorn with a wide variety of foliose species and particularly nice “dancing” Pseudevernia furfuracea it was time for lunch. On the crag nearby was the bright yellow Arthrorhaphis citrinella.

After a break, our slow ascent continued. An impressive metal pipe boasted a number of metalliferous lichens: Placopsis lambii, Rhizocarpon oederi, Scoliciosporum umbrinum, Stereocaulon pileatum (“fuzzy headed Fisher Price” people as Rebecca Yahr once described them) and Ionaspis lacustris.

To our surprise, we caught up with the bryophyte party ( but only briefly). Ash limbs had impressive Platismatia glauca (frilly lettuce) and Parmelina pastillifera. The jelly lichens on a boulder in the beck- Collema glebulentum and Scytinium pulvinatum– maybe suggested a basic influence.

On the move again we found Lichenomphalia ericetorum on an old stump base- and L. hudsoniana too. Bird perches had piles of bones: and Candelariella vitellina; flat outcrops had Sphaerophorous fragilis, the first Acarospora fuscata of the day and pruinose blisters of Lasallia pustulata.

A final push brought us to the tarn. There were Mallards, Water Horsetail and Lesser Spearwort, together with impressive views. But somehow, having reached the goal, we didn’t have any desire to push on. Would there be more at Butter Crags? We’ll have to leave that for another day. Needless to say, it didn’t take very long to descend at all. But we had found nearly 100 species on our slow climb…

Text: Pete Martin
Photos: Pete Martin, Chris Cant, Paul Hanson

The last few trips have been dogged by winter deluges. But, mirabile dictu, the forecast for Sunday kept on improving. The rain stopped, the mists cleared and hordes gathered at the Witherslack Hall kennels. Would there be enough parking room? Yes! How many people were there? 23 I think, though only 11 in the lichen party!

As ever, we didn’t get very far very fast. The hawthorns in the first field provided a convenient opportunity to talk form (leafy, crusty etc)  and reproductive features (apothecia, soredia etc). The sun came out; layers were shed. Physcia tenella looked very frilly, and we found a convenient limestone outcrop. Free-living Nostoc was there to be handled, adjacent to the jelly lichen Lathagrium cristatum var. marginale. The latter was in more exposed positions. There was Placynthium nigrum’s blue margin to be admired and the difference between Protoblastenia rupestris and Protoblastenia incrustans could be demonstrated.  A nearby ash had the non-lichenised fungus Hysterium angustatum on it. An hour and a half after starting and we had maybe made it 250 metres.

Bu things speeded up. A bit. The fence by the sports pitch had some Cladonias to admire. The adjacent trees boasted Usnea subfloridana, Hypogymnia tubulosa, and fertile Hypotrachyna revoluta sensu strictu. And then we were into the woods.

A mossy wall with Peltigera membranacea , P. praetextata and Scytinium lichenoides detained us a while. Hazels had Graphis scripta and plentiful Coenogonium cinnabarinum extending in a pink sheen several feet up the stems. Chris found Pachyphiale carneola and there was some Thelotrema lepadinum too. Eventually, in a surge of enthusiasm, we made it up onto the open ground for lunch with a view of Morecambe Bay and Heysham nuclear plant. Was the sea silver, gold, or green? Opinions were divided.

The shattered limestone was possibly less rewarding than hoped, though we managed to pick up some of the common limestone species: Gyalecta jenesis, Romjularia lurida, Collema fuscovirens, Cladonia pocillum, Placidium squamulosum. Sandstone erratics gave lovely mosaics of species we mostly couldn’t identify, though there was a lot of Porpidia tuberculosa. The sad ruins of ash and birch trees gave us a dramatic patch of Trapeliopsis pseudogranulosa.

The afternoon was drawing on and a decision was made to move more quickly. Almost immediately we were detained by hi-vis roundels of Caloplaca flavescens. Sheltered juniper seemed to have more lichens:  one patch had an impressive Parmelioid community. A fenced off area (presumably to stop cattle falling down a hole) had the best Cladonia rangiformis we had seen all afternoon. Deer bounded off across the ripped out pavements.

Soon we were heading down again: there was more Thelotrema lepadinum, and as the longer-lasting members of the party came through the woods, under the cawing ravens and mewling buzzards, we found primroses in bloom. And then, finally, there was an intriguing white sorediate crust on an ash. Chemicals were applied: C+ orangey yellow, K+ yellow, UV+ orange. Is that Lecanora alboflavida? Or Ochrolechia turneri?

“What a good day” someone wrote afterwards. “ It was really fun” someone else said. I enjoyed it immensely. It is good to know others did too.

Text: Pete Martin. Photos: Chris Cant, Pete Martin

Peltigeratastic Hartside!

Hartside Pass stands at 580m (1904 feet) above sea level. There are cracking views over the Eden Valley to the Lake District Fells and across the Solway to Criffel beyond Dumfries. You can see the weather coming in. And that’s where we gathered, a week after we were meant to (blame the weather forecast) and 5 years after the café burnt down. It was July and most of us wore winter hats.

After a short journey down the road (and an admire of the Lady’s Bedstraw) we veered off on a track towards the old Barytes mine. A gate with fine growths of Parmelia sulcata and Ochrolechia androgyna detained us for a little while: there was noticeably less lichen growth around the impressive nail heads in the top rail. The first concrete buildings had good growths of Collema auriforme and Collema crispum, together with nesting swallows.

A further building provided even more distraction: there was Bilimbia sabuletorum and Agonimia tristicula on the mosses; Aspicilia contorta and bright growths of Caloplaca flavovirescens, Leptogium gelatinosum and Collema cristatum among others on the concrete roofs. The sun shone briefly, matching the only Xanthoria parietina we saw all day. And then we headed down into the mine valley proper, towards where Caz and Chris had done a recce earlier in the month.

There were boulders, grassy and mossy patches and shaly mine spoil terraces, interspersed with steep slopes and little outcrops. There was limestone and sometimes sandstone, together with some obviously mineralised boulders. We leapfrogged from substrate to substrate, ticking off Cetraria muricata, then C. aculeata; Cladonia furcata then C. gracilis and C. potentosa. Rabbit droppings provided some entertainment and interest: there were fungal fruiting bodies, but were they lichenised? Samples were taken- just in case. Wooden posts had Hypocenomyce scalaris, Hypogymina physodes and tubulosa, a variety of Cladonias. “Do you want to see my other rabbit dropping?” asked Chris.

And so to lunch. And the Peltigeras. There was P. hymenina and lots of P. membranacea. The reddish looking tomentose one was P. rufescens and the one that looked a bit like P. membranacea but had curly rhizines like the hair on a Belted Galloway must have been P. canina. There was P. neckeri, with black (or at least dark) apothecia. Underneath it is strikingly dark in the middle, and has dramatic white “net holes” between the veins. Peltigera didactyla was new to me, the younger lobes having a lovely pattern of soredia. P. venosa was new too, a lovely greeny colour and dramatically fertile. Caz pointed out the rounded cephalodia on the underside. It seemed confined to a particular level of small shaly waste. Searches elsewhere drew a blank.

“Have you seen any P. leucophlebia here?” Asked David. “Cos there’s lots lower down the beck.” Within a couple of minutes he had found some amongst the moss. And the more we looked, the more we found, bright green from the recent rains, and half buried among the mosses.

As the rains came in, we headed down a little, to where there were more acid-rock loving species like Parmelia omphalodes on the boulders. The shaly terrace didn’t reveal any more venosa. But there was a lovely underhang with lots of Diploschistes scruposus on rock, Dibaeis baeomyces and Trapeliopsis pseudogranulosa on the soil.

An old metal mine bogey provided some puzzles. Rhizocarpon oederi was identified, and whilst we wanted the sorediate Lecanora to be L. handelii it was probably L. soralifera. A lovely mine arch detained us for a few minutes; there was Peltigera praetextata (at last!) above it on some concrete; Gyalecta jenenis on a limestone boulder and Cladonia pocillum on moss. Chris found Lichenomphalia alpina, a bright yellow hi-vis mushroom shining out of the turf. And with that, and the weather looking to close in, we trudged up towards the cars.

Our list wasn’t that long, but it’s a very interesting site, with the variety of substrates giving a wide range of mainly terricolous and saxicolous lichens. Further explorations would no doubt reveal a lot more. And someone very knowledgeable could make a long list! The Peltigera venosa was a real find, and it would be worth making further explorations of other terraces to see if there is more. Unfortunately, the vegetation growth on the terraces and tree plantings around the site probably mean its days are numbered.

Text: Pete Martin. Photos: Chris Cant, David Clarke, Geoffrey Haigh, Pete Martin, Caz Walker

Ten of us gathered on a sunny May morning to look at lichens. We crossed the road, went through a gate and there was a slope. Small outcrops beckoned. The bracken wasn’t yet tall enough to be in the way. Yellowhammers wheezed about no cheese. This was Caz and Chris’s local patch, and they had an itinerary planned…

Outcrop one had some very impressive Massalongia carnosa: it was strange to see it dry. There were lichens to explain to first timers: Rhizocarpon geographicum; a conspiracy of Cladonias; Ochrolechia androgyna to demonstrate a C+ red reaction on; Pertusaria corallina for K+ yellow; Ephebe lanata to stroke.

Heading across the slope (and edging a little bit higher) we came to an outcrop where Chris and Caz had previously found Lecidea fuliginosa. It’s not in Dobson, so there had been some uncertainty. I’d not seen it before: it’s an interesting brown nobbly crust, with darker black-brown apothecia. My photos suggest the lichen equivalent of home-made chocolate chip cookies, but maybe I’m taking the food analogies too far. There was also a Small Copper butterfly, interesting little still-lifes of Cladonia furcata and very fertile Xanthoparmelia conspersa; a good example of Lecanora sulphurea taking over (i.e. parasitising the algae of) another lichen. Was it Tephromela atra or Lecanora gangaleoides? I must admit I didn’t check.

There was Ochroclechia tartarea and parella to compare; Diploschistes scruposus hiding yellow tinged behind an outcrop, and Lecidea grisella’s cracks to ponder. We found some shiny Cetraria aculeata too.

Lunch was taken in the shelter of a little quarry, which occupied us for a while afterwards. There was Opegrapha zonata and O.gyrocarpa (now renamed Enterographa zonata and Gyrographa gyrocarpa respectively) to discuss, and some evidence of metals in the rock: Tremolecia atrata looked rusty and there were Stereocaulons aplenty. I’d not tried the KC test on S. evolutum before: it gives a fleeting “violet”. Well, a different colour from the C and the K anyway.

A little further uphill and there was a dramatic boulder: Bryoria fuscescens cascaded for several feet down the lower side. There was Tuckermanopsis chlorophylla to compare with nearby Platismatia glauca, hi-vis Arthrorhaphis citrinella and an intriguing Lecanora with pearly pruinose apothecia: C-, K+ yellow, P+ orange. There was a suggestion that this was Lecanora subcarnea, but the chemistry didn’t agree with Dobson. Though it looked like the picture. The puzzlement was resolved back at base when it transpired that the chemistry listed in LGBI3 agreed with our “in the field” records: result! Another new one for me.

Over the top of the next knoll was a little area of heath. Hands and knees alternated with standing and staring at our toes. Apart from Cladonia we found a couple of pieces of Cetraria islandica: cue a debate about pronunciation. And a small population of Cetraria muricata: much more spiny, closer together, pseudocyphellae not in pits.

A short wander took us to the slope overlooking Haweswater and the green expanse of Naddle woods. The Willow Warbler chorus that had been with us all day continued. There was Protoparmelia badia on the final erratic, a last chance of the day to say “ornithocoprophilous” (whilst looking at probable Xanthoria ucrainica) and a great expanse of Parmelia omphalodes, split by a line of bilberry.

Thank you everyone for coming, Caz and Chris for the planning, and the weather gods for being kind. All in all it was a very good start to the rocky summer season (as opposed to the winter woods).  

Text: Pete Martin
Photos: Chris Cant, John Adams, Pete Martin

We were going to the rainforest so… it rained. Which put some folk off. But it didn’t rain that much: the four of us who gathered to look at lichen ended up being able to look at things without too much watery difficulty.

Predictably, we got rather distracted before the main event. The moment we left the road at Seathwaite Bridge we found a wall jam-packed with typical saxicolous species: Parmelia saxatilis; Xanthoparmelia conspersa; Lecanora soralifera; Hypotrachyna revoluta sensu lato; Ochrolechia androgyna. So it was a while before we were heading up the slope from tree to tree, noting the difference between the lichens on older oaks and those on hazels, though some species like Thelotrema lepadinum seemed happy on both.

It was, of course, the Lobarion lichens on the older ashes that stole the show. We were examining a Collema (subflaccidum I think) when we realised there was a profuse growth of Peltigera praetextata on the other side of the tree, which led us to notice the sorediate margins of Nephroma parile. The next tree had profuse Nephroma laevigatum for contrast, with apothecia the other way round from those on Peltigera. There was Sticta fuliginosa too, which had us sniffing our fingers for fish. At some point someone said “the more knackered the tree, the better the lichens” and I couldn’t disagree.

There’s several curiosities about these Seathwaite woods. The ashes aren’t that big, but are very decrepit and have amazing lichens in spite of it being a mine and industrial site just a couple of hundred years ago. The Borrowdale yews, where we had lunch, are pretty enigmatic too. And there’s no Lobaria pulmonaria there. Except there is now, because of the translocations undertaken in 2020. We looked at a few of these: some were growing really healthily.

The translocations of dual morph Sticta canariensis were doing OK too: the brown lobes have cyanobacteria (“blue-green algae”) as the photobiont, whilst the green lobes that protrude from them have algae doing the job. The fungi is the same in both parts. We quickly found a larger, “free-living” population of dual morph S. canariensis, and then some large thalli of vivid green Ricasolia (was Lobaria) virens, complete with little volcanoes on the lobes and beautiful apothecia.

We made out way back through the wood, hopping from oak to ash to hazel but finally finished at an ash with the largest growth of Sticta I’ve ever seen. There was more than I could shake my stick at; great overlapping brackets cascaded down the trunk. I think it is Sticta sylvatica, but I struggle with telling the difference between that and S. fuliginosa.

I say finished, but of course we didn’t. There was a little revision on the wall at the entrance to the wood, and then a quick look at the Candelaria concolor on the rowans in the car park. Very different in scale, habitat requirements and conservation evaluation. There seemed rather more than I remembered. A nice little thing, even if it’s not as dramatic as the Lobarion.

Text and photos: Pete Martin

Ten folk braved the March snow to look at lichens near Hutton Roof this week. And there were half a dozen for the bryo option: this looking at small things is getting popular! Right on the wall by the meeting point in the village was Diploschistes muscorum, a crusty species that has the white-with-a-yellow-tinge crust of its commoner cousin Diploschistes scruposus, and the hollowed out apothecia too. But D. muscorum is parasitic on Cladonias (particularly on limestone in my experience). It seems to smother them, covering the podetia in a white blanket. And then eat them up before moving on to the mosses.

A short distance up the lane we found a limestone wall to occupy us for half an hour or so: Caloplaca flavescens,  Diploicia canescens, Acrocordia conoidea and other typical species. The odd silicious rock had Parmelia saxatilis, Rhizocarpon geographicum and Opegrapha gyrocarpa to make them stand out. And then it was on to the Ash trees: with a lot of Physcia adscendens and Lecidella elaeochroma to discuss. Adjacent Punctelia subrudecta and Parmelia sulcata thalli gave good illustrations of their different pseudocyphellae: points versus lines. Bubbling Curlews and screeching Jays provided an interesting soundtrack.

And then there was an outcrop: Dermatocarpon miniatum as big as (small) elephants’ ears; bubbling thalli of Collema (now Lathagrium) auriforme and an unfamiliar tiny jelly lichen whose proportionally long extended lobes were pruinose at the tips. We discovered later that it is Scytinium (was Collema) fragile, confirmed by Brian Coppins. A well camouflaged moth was disturbed- initial investigations suggest Ectropis crepescularia – The Engrailed. Nearby walls had frilly Peltigera praetextata; the ash tree above had Pertusaria leioplaca and a couple of specimens – intriguing white apothecia, and one that turned out to be Gyalecta truncigena.

We pushed on through the Hazel woods. A real-life Coenognium (was Dimerella) lutea was compared with the front of Dobson. Pseudoschismatomma (was Opegrapha) rufescens was seen on an ash. We lunched on the limestone pavement of the Rakes, with Blue Moor Grass (Sesleria caerulea) at our feet and a snowy Ingleborough in view. Typical limestone outcrop species were quickly found:  Squamarina cartilaginea; Petractis clausa; Collema cristatum etc. Protoblastenias were discussed. Was that a colour change with K or not? Could it be P. lilacina?

Higher up on the outcrops we found some beautiful rosettes of Caloplaca aurantia, the flat lobe ends contrasting nicely with the nearby convex ones of Caloplaca flavescens. We debated saxicolous Opegraphas, found Dermatocarpon luridum in a karren (non-geomorphologists might call it a runnel) and demonstrated the K/UV purple reaction of Porpidia tuberculosa on an erratic. We failed to find Solorina saccata. Maybe next time.

It began to rain, so headed down, though were delayed for a while by a wall with Lecidella scabra, Baeomyces rufus, Leptogium gelatinosum and a mysterious greeny C+ red crust with small white features. Is it young Trapelia coarctata? Somewhat eerily, we emerged onto the road just as the bryo party arrived from the other direction: perfect timing for a post-trip debrief. We found 90 or so species, all learnt at least something, and there’s samples to occupy us over the next few days. But we have barely scratched the surface of Hutton Roof…

Text: Pete Martin. Photos: Caz Walker, Chris Cant, Geoffrey Haigh, Pete Martin