Category: Trip report

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

Arriving early to avoid hold-ups from roadworks at Threlkeld we found the car park by Derwent Water almost empty.  It quickly filled with lichenologists and bryologists all having had the same idea. Car parking for non-NT members is now restricted to 4 hours but luckily sufficient membership cards were produced (thanks, Pete) for us all to stay all day. There was still an early morning chill to the air but the clear blue sky presaged another dry, warm day to come, in this brief but welcome period of high-pressure.

First find of the day was down by the lakeside where Caz had seen a small inconspicuous piece of Sticta limbata on willow. Crossing the road from the car park our party of eight lichenologists followed rather more slowly in the steps of the bryologists who were more focussed on reaching the beck and falls behind the Lodore Hotel. There was plenty of interest along the path which wound along the base of the steep hillside through mainly sessile oak, elm and ash SSSI woods, where we found plenty of luxuriant Peltigera spp. on tree trunks and mossy boulders, various Pertusaria spp, Coniocarpon cinnabarinum, C. cuspidans (previously Arthonia elegans, one of the species that has changed both generic and specific names – annotate your Dobson!), Mycoblastus sanguinarius or bloody heart lichen and Normandina pulchella aptly given the common name, elf-ears. A highlight for me was Pete’s description of the orange, dark-rimmed apothecia on Pachyphiale carneola as iron-bru jelly sweets and his tip for remembering the latin name as ‘elephant flesh’ (it worked for me!). Graphis spp were much in evidence, G. pulverulenta and G. personii as well as G. scripta s.str. on hazel.

A bit further on, we crossed into the second monad of the day and began another list. Perhaps directed by a shaft of sunlight on a tree trunk, we found Parmotrema crinitum, which Pete memorably calls Desperate Dan because of its black whiskers. A few yards further on was our lunch-spot, the sunny viewpoint at the bottom of the Lodore falls from where we espied the bryologists picnicking in their natural habitat of shade, amongst the spray-splashed rocks in the streambed below us. It would have been easy to be lulled into a post-prandial nap by the soothing sound of the cascading water and the warm sunshine but instead we set off again, this time upwards, scrambling up a steep path over slippery scree and tree roots which led up high above the beck. Here we discovered some more, interesting specimens such as Pannaria conoplea, a diminutive foliose species on a horizontal but still living larch and a filamentous species on vertical rock probably Cystocoleus ebeneus. Wood ants were out and about, if you rested your hand on a larch it was soon discovered and discouraged. A large nest at the base of one of the larches on the slope was alive with ant activity.

By mid-afternoon we felt we’d gone as far as we wanted and retraced our steps downhill, catching tantalising glimpses of the placid lake waters which looked invitingly cool in the hot afternoon sun. Down at the falls where it was shaded and several degrees cooler, jelly lichens Scytinium lichenoides and Leptogium cyanescens were living amongst the moss. We recorded Sticta sylvatica but looking carefully at the photos, at least some of it was the much rarer S. ciliata. Tiny but exquisite mosaic-forming Enterographa hutchinsiae was colonising flat pebbles. When we eventually returned to our cars, the car park had emptied and a few hardy souls were swimming in the lake but none of our party were tempted in!

Microscopic study of small samples taken home brought up more surprises, see the discussions on our Facebook page.  Toniopsis (Bacidia) inornata was found, also on a pebble, and the first record for England. A putative Bacidia had spores that were much too short and has been confirmed as Lecania chlorotiza which has ‘near threatened’ status, whilst what we thought might be Catinaria atropurpurea had spores that were much too long and could be Bacidia absistens.

Text: Liz and Peter Bisset
Photos: Peter Bisset, Chris Cant, Pete Martin, Paul Hanson, Caz Walker

We seem to be making a habit of exploring borderlands, this time again at the Cumbria-Yorkshire boundary in the uplands to the south east of Kirkby Stephen: Lamps Moss, south of Nine Standards Rigg. It’s an interesting spot with both acidic peat hag habitat and gritstone rock adjacent to limestone pavement and sinkholes. As a result we saw a good selection of lichens which prefer these different niches. The site is part of the Mallerstang-Swaledale SSSI.

At over 500m this is an exposed site so the trip was nearly cancelled due to ongoing stormy weather. However a window of dryness after a later than usual start time meant we avoided the rain.

First we looked at the peat hags north of the road, commenting about the lack of lichens in the sward – not even much Cladonia portentosa was to be had. Dwarf shrubs such as heather, bilberry, crowberry and cranberry were there, however, so past management might be the explanation. However, on low exposed peat banks there was a range of Cladonia species – red-fruited C bellidiflora and C diversa, brown-fruited C ramulosa and spiky C furcata. The basal squamules of Lichenomphalia hudsoniana and the gelatinous green thalline bobbles of L umbellifera (now L ericetorum) were here too. A fuzz of yellow-brown granules on horizontal peat seemed a candidate for Placynthiella dasaea and a specimen was taken to torture once it had dried out – applying chemicals to sodden lichens doesn’t work. It turned out to be C+red with green algae of the right size, hopefully confirming it as P dasaea.

There have been attempts to restore some of the areas of bare peat by blocking channels and spreading cut heather on unvegetated ground – this may help mosses but will kill any lichens growing here and indeed very little was seen at these spots.

A long-discarded crisp bag deep in the Sphagnum turned out to be a sexton beetle graveyard where maybe 30 of them had been attracted to their deaths by the strong smell of earlier rotting beetles.

We went back to the carpark for lunch and to meet further participants. This allowed for the examination of several concrete posts which had a good covering of crustose and a few foliose lichens, including unusually fertile Physcia caesia.

A short walk further west took us into the next monad where we looked at terricolous and saxicolous lichens on limestone. There was green Peltigera leucophlebia dotted with brown cephalodia, P polydactylon with brown veins on the underside that come to the lobe edge and P canina showing bushy, confluent rhizines beneath. The intriguing Diploschistes muscorum was consuming a Cladonia victim nearby by overgrowing it and pinching its algae. The star find on limestone was Sagiolechia protuberans, a rare species with 4 previous records in Cumbria. This had black star-shaped apothecia on a slightly orange thallus. Nearby there were the immersed pink apothecia of Hymenelia prevostii (green alga so the thallus scratches green) and further on Hymenelia epulotica (Trentepohlia as photobiont so scratches yellow/orange). Other good finds included Solorina saccata amongst moss in a sheltered sinkhole, Bryobilimbia hypnorum and Arthonia calcarea, as well as the usual suspects Gyalecta jenensis (now Secoliga jenensis), Protoblastenia rupestris and P incrustans plus assorted jelly lichens. Pete had a specimen which may turn out to be a Staurothele species – tbc.

Before driving off, Judith found a beautiful Lecanora intricata with wrinkled areoles and flexuose apothecial margins on the sandstone capstone of the YDNP sign by the road.

Text: Caz Walker
Photos: Chris Cant, Pete Martin, Judith Allinson

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 forecast was wet and that’s how it turned out for this exploration of an upland valley cutting east into the Howgill Fells. At least at the start we had an hour without precipitation during which time we got about 200m from the road. Disconcertingly, we were in VC65 North Yorkshire the whole time as the boundary runs down the centre of the beck.

The fear beforehand had been that there wouldn’t be enough lichen interest as it was apparent there wasn’t much visible rock in the lower reaches of the gill, other than boulders in the beck. However, there were very small outcrops of Silurian sedimentary bedrock protruding through the turf. These were enough to show that there was a significant basic element according to the lichens, Peltigera leucophlebia spotted later on being the most striking. This was also borne out by John’s observation of Green spleenwort and Yellow saxifrage, indicator plant species for alkalinity. But the smattering of yellow Rhizocarpon geographicum and Porpidia species showed at least some rock was more acidic – were we having the best of both worlds?

A boulder in the beck had a good ornithocoprophilous community – Protoparmeliopsis muralis and Physcia aipolia, the latter normally on bark, were there as well as tiny fruticose Xanthoria ucrainica and the only thallus of the nitrophilous X parietina seen during the visit. Physcia tenella and P adscendens were also there. The saxicolous crusts with aquatic leanings Ionaspis lacustris and Rhizocarpon lavatum were found, as well as Rhizocarpon petraeum with concentric rings of apothecia. Trapelia placodioides, another indicator of less acidic rock, showed a good C+ red reaction. Banks of shingle bordered the beck where occasional flood disturbance keeps the vegetation down and here there were terricolous Cladonia spp with Peltigera membranacea and P hymenina. A willow and hawthorn which had managed to survive by growing out of vertical rock gave us a few corticolous species, but these were the only trees seen. We might have expected some jelly lichens but saw none, though it was hard to tell what was on some of the very wet rocks. Nor did we find the Dermatocarpon which had been seen in this monad previously.

Another species usually on trees was seen up the slope as we headed back. Lepra albescens was growing on exposed bedrock and spreading over bryophytes. LGBI3 says “rarely on weakly basic siliceous rocks, porous sandstones, sometimes overgrowing mosses and plant detritus on the ground”. All chemical tests on the specimen taken proved negative which is right for this species.

Several stonefly exuvia were found on rocks by the beck. Paul pointed out that their presence indicates good water quality as these aquatic insects are the first to disappear when a watercourse is polluted. The dipper suggested reasonable water quality too.

After lunch under the dripping hawthorn we soldiered on, trying to believe that the rain had eased. But with dampness seeping through waterproofs, and further precipitation setting in, we decided to head back to the cars, all of half a mile away. White water was visible in the steeper sections of beck higher up when we looked back. It’s definitely a place to be revisited on a dry day.

Text: Caz Walker
Photos: John Adams, Paul Hanson, Pete Martin

The May meeting took place at Side Wood, on the southern shores of Ennerdale Water. Side Wood was previously part of the adjacent Ennerdale Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) but now lies within the Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI. The SSSI citation states that the site exhibits one of the best examples of altitudinal succession in England. From upland birch-oak woodland at 120m on the shores of the lake, the vegetation changes through sub-montane heaths and grasslands to montane heaths along the summit ridge at an altitude of 890m.

Side Wood is one of the best examples of upland birch-oak woodland (National Vegetation Classification (NVC) community W11 Quercus petraea-Betula pubescens-Oxalis acetosella woodland) in west Cumbria. The citation describes lichen communities within the woodland as being of regional importance “with rare Ochrolechia inversa occurring abundantly on birch”. This species has been re-named Lecanora alboflavida since the citation was written.

We met up at Bowness Knott Car Park and then car-shared and travelled along a gated track to another parking area, closer to Side Wood. After crossing a few open fields, which held little to distract us, we arrived at the edge of the wood and our first tree; a not very healthy-looking hawthorn, with many of the common species such as Evernia prunastri, Hypotrachyna afrorevoluta and Ramalina farinacea present. It was at this point that a passerby stopped and asked us if we were looking at lichens by any chance. He had recently listened to a very interesting and informative podcast by somebody called Pete Martin! Pete was duly pointed out and delivered an impromptu short introduction to lichen thallus types.

Venturing further into the wood it could be seen that the best trees for lichen were the mature birch. The mature oak trees were mostly covered in dense mats of mosses and liverworts, as were the majority of rocks on the woodland floor. It was good to see some extensive patches of Wilson’s filmy-fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii though, a species mostly frequently occurring in western Scotland, Cumbria, Wales and Devon/Cornwall.

One of the first notable lichens found was Lecanora alboflavida, on birch. It was quite non-descript with a yellowish sorediate crust, with a C+ orange reaction but was easy to distinguish from surrounding lichens by the very bright UV+orange reaction. It seemed to be frequent on birch throughout the woodland. Other frequent species throughout the woodland included Thelotrema lepadinum and Hypotrachyna laevigata.

As we climbed further up the hillside the number of midges also increased, encouraged by the warm weather and still conditions. Despite this distraction though, lots more interesting species were recorded. The highlight for me (being a relative beginner) was the fertile Bunodophoron melanocarpum, with its large black spore-covered apothecia, growing on damp rock, high up in the woodland. We also found large amounts of non-fertile Bunodophoron growing on rocks and trees and the closely related Sphaerophorus globosus growing on birch trunks. The damp rocks were also the location of another very attractive species; Icmadophila ericetorum, which Pete said is often referred to by the slightly less attractive name of “fairy vomit”; a very good description though! Close-by to the fairy chunks was a small patch of Lichenomphalia umbellifera thallus, consisting of small clustered green granules. I have previously seen the toadstool-like fruiting body but not the granular thallus. An impressive patch of abundantly fertile Ochrolechia tartarea was also present on exposed rock.

Pete pointed-out Mycoblastus sanguinarius on birch which was very distinctive where apothecia had fallen out, revealing bright red spots formed by the medulla below. Another first for me was Coenogonium luteum, famous for being on the cover of the seventh edition of Dobson, but under the previous name of Dimerella lutea. The Coenogonium was growing on moss (Hypnum cupressiforme), attached to an oak tree, in a similar fashion to the way Normandina pulchella was growing on mossy trees.

Towards the end of the day me, Pete, Caz and Chris headed down towards the path which ran along the lake, to head back towards the cars. There was a bit of a breeze by the lake and fortunately the midges gave up following us around. It was here that Caz spotted another scarce species, Cetrelia olivetorum, growing at the base of an oak right next to the water. There was also a large patch of what could possibly have been some more Cetrelia, higher up on the trunk and out of reach. Luckily there was another large patch of what turned out to be Cetrelia on the base of a die-back ash on the opposite side of the lakeside footpath. The same ash also supported a small amount of Hypotrachyna sinuosa, another scarce species in Cumbria. After this we all headed back to the cars after what was a very enjoyable day. Apologies if I have missed out any important records as many of the lichens are still new to me.

Caz and Chris had also taken a sample of a species from hazel, thought to possibly be Porina aenea, in the field, but after microscopic examination of spores and pycnidia, turned out to be Dichoporis taylorii (formerly Strigula taylorii). This was new to Chris and Caz and is only the third record for vc70 Cumberland.

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

Note: the records list currently includes 11 lichen species that appear in the Upland Rainforest Index (URI). If the URI species count is 10 or more then the site should considered as eligible to an SSSI – see page 24 here. Further species may in the rest of the wood – which we didn’t visit.

As a Yorkshire person from Craven, used to seeing Cumbria from a distance, I am really pleased to occasionally join the Cumbria group, and they make me very welcome.

Today’s visit was to Little Asby Common. A plateau of Carboniferous limestone grassland at about 320m with very thin soil, and with stretches of limestone pavement and thinly grassed over slabs where pavement had been removed in the past.  It was April and heads of Blue Moor-grass were bobbing in the wind. A dry stone wall separates the common land from the farmland at Little Asby to the east. A copse of about 10 trees next to that wall break up the otherwise locally treeless landscape. I see from the website the group visited Sunbiggin Tarn 3 miles away in August 2022, on a very, very hot dry day during the “Frank Dobson month”.  A contrast to today’s cold and windy April showers weather, but we did have cheerful sun in the morning.

The 8 bryologists were setting off to Ewe Fell Mire before I had even tied my shoelaces. We 10 Lichenologists settled for surveying land nearer at hand.  Two absolute beginners, three beginner-intermediates and maybe the other five of us as intermediates. Chris informed us that so far only one species had been recorded in this 1 km square.

First the stone wall at the boundary of the common land.  We didn’t find anything rare, but it is a good starting point – the wall is nearly all limestone but with a very few siliceous stones (erratics) to increase the species list.  And very civilised to be looking at things at nose height. No bending. The wooden posts at the cattle grid provided Micarea lignaria ; and Fuscidea lightfootii.

Then we walked west across the road towards a depression/dry valley.

There were views across the Eden Valley towards the North Pennine escarpment with a view up what they said is Scordale (High Cup Nick is a bit further north, and was hidden by a hill with trees between us).  To the right of the picture, and behind is Mickle Fell.

I got side-tracked by a small 30cm long siliceous rounded boulder with at least 20 species, which I got the others to look at on the way back: Maybe nothing special, but they add to the list:- Physcia caesia on the top was growing over Rhizocarpon reductum with its concentric rings of black apothecia. Neighbouring circular thalli with much smaller dark apothecia in a mosaic: was this Buellia aethalea? Yes, it turned orange with K.   Protoparmeliopsis muralis looking amazingly beautiful for such a common species.  Lots of tiny circular colonies of a yellow Caloplaca which I would call Caloplaca holocarpa.

I caught the others up:

I was delighted when Chris found some Toniniopsis verrucarioides, a parasitic lichen growing on Placynthium nigrum, on a Limestone outcrop buried rock. I have only seen it once before. Good to see it again so I can keep looking out for it and recognise it again.  Thirty minutes later whilst the others had settled for lunch, Chris, Caz, Peter and I explored a quarried mound. The rock was a slightly browner colour. There was much less lichen and soil on it. “What’s this lumpy stuff?” I asked. There were lumps of it in crevices sitting amongst more Placynthium nigrum. Yes, looking totally different, it was more Toniniopsis verrucarioides at the little stretch of north facing limestone outcrop which also provided shelter from the wind. They were revelling in Solorina saccata. “What is this beautiful moss?” asked one person – a lime green rounded tuft with shoots with a rosette of 4mm long  mat leaves with a very broad tip and the nerve not extending beyond the tip.  “Extinguisher Moss” I said “Candle snuff moss” I said, racking my brains to remember the Latin.

One person had to go early so I seized the opportunity to take a group photo whilst we were all here – see above. The sun came out. At lunch time some people had to depart early.  

Five of us enjoyed looking at a platform of limestone with Placidiopsis custnani.  And Thalloidima sedifolium (formerly  Toninia sedifolia) ?

The remaining five progressed to the limestone pavement area in time for it to start raining. – Still only April showers… if somewhat horizontal ones.

Pete found a gryke and submerged himself in it to avoid the pelting rain, which did soon pass.

Caz found four species of Peltigera (membranacea, rufescens, leucophlebia and neckeri). I wish I had seen the Peltigera neckeri.

We enjoyed looking at the Callome multipartita (Collema multipartitum) on the clints.

The afternoon was drawing on. We crossed to the copse of trees. Here we examined the branches that extended over our side of the wall and found various tree species but were especially pleased to find Parmelina tiliacea growing on a sycamore branch.

The Moss people passed us as they were returning from their exploits to the cars. We returned too… having not walked more than 300m in any direction from the cars. And gained a total of over 70 lichen species. A big improvement on the one record that had previously been recorded for that monad.

Post Script: –

After the others had gone I decided to go and get a photograph of the Encalypta streptocarpa (Spiral extinguisher-moss) and one of the Solorina saccata.

Whilst there I discovered patch of Peltigera canina, with its white furry rhizines that grow in a line touching each other at their base.. It was growing less than two metres from where we had been eating lunch.. A fifth Peltigera!   It is even in the group photo I took straight after lunch, near where the lady in purple is standing.  But it was windy then!! So pleased to have seen it. I think I have only seen it in Scotland before.

Text: Judith Allinson
Photos: Judith Allinson and Chris Cant

It was good to have a trip to the north of Cumbria. This time we really were north of the Wall (beyond the pale?) and Pete kindly arranged a detour on the drive in so we could see Birdoswald and Roman wall remnants right by the road. Our goal was an area of woodland now in three adjacent fragments, known as Mollen Woods. This is designated as a SSSI for its slope and wet valley alder woods, with ash and hazel throughout and birch on drier ground, and is described as unenclosed parkland. Lichens are mentioned in the citation which isn’t that common. Of these we saw one (Thelotrema lepadinum) but Usnea dasopoga and Peltigera horizontalis were not seen.

The weather was forecast to be horrible but after early rain it turned out almost dry. At the start the lichens were saturated, making recognition of species we can normally do more difficult – they become swollen and often change colour. This also makes them hard to photograph.

We parked at Askerton Castle, with permission, and the five of us in team lichen walked north for a mile on the road, taking in crustose lichens on a sandstone bridge – almost the only saxicolous habitat we saw. Reaching the edge of access land we struck out across very wet ground, heading for the main woodland but looked at a couple of old alder trees on the way. Alder has naturally acidic bark so it was no surprise to encounter species that like that pH – probably the most attractive of these are the pin lichens which have tiny apothecia on stalks, represented here by Chaenotheca ferruginea and C brunneola, growing on the drier north side of the trees. There were also sheets of slightly mauve-grey Lecanactis abietina, which we checked by seeing the C+red reaction of the pruina on the numerous peg-like pycnidia, and lots of leprose and sorediate crusts which are more challenging.

As usual a well-vegetated gate detained us before entering the wood proper where we began by looking at some understorey hazel trees. Immediately we saw what would, until recently, have been straightforward Graphis scripta but this is now recognised as a complex of species so, until we get our heads around that, we will be recording these as G scripta sensu lato = “in the broad sense”. There were other crusts too – copious Coniocarpon cinnabarinum in shades of pink-red, Thelotrema lepadinum in creamy sheets, buff sorediate Pyrrhospora quernea which was sometimes fertile and squamulose Normandina pulchella. On ash there was Peltigera praetextata on the mossy trunks where we also had a flurry of excitement thinking we’d found Bryobilimbia sanguineoatra but it turned out to be the commoner Bilimbia sabuletorum when we looked at the spores later. This can have variable apothecia, anywhere from pink to red-brown to black, and being very wet looked tantalisingly like something else. It prefers alkaline substrates and as this was the only instance on ash it suggests that most of these normally base-rich trees had been acidified. On fallen rotting trunks we had Lichenomphalia umbellifera, with a thallus of minute green globules containing algae, and fungal fruiting bodies in the form of small mushrooms, and Cladonia polydactyla, blue-grey with red apothecia. Micarea alabastrites was here too, delicate-looking white flat apothecia confirmed by a C+red reaction.

In the centre of the wood was a strange fenced area of large beech trees and an infestation of rhododendron. On the east side of this was more wet alder wood which we crossed. Here there were yet more sorediate crusts on acidic bark, including tiny punctiform yellowish soralia. Could this be a candidate for the elusive yet supposedly common Lecanora jamesii? There was also Trapeliopsis pseudogranulosa on bark, usually a terricolous species. After a while, having not found many new species, we decided to head back to the cars.

There was discussion about why we were seeing the species we were, eg copious Hypotrachyna revoluta, Platismatia glauca and Parmelia in some places but missing in others. whilst other species we might expect were missing altogether, eg no acidophile Mycoblastus sanguinarius or Sphaerophorus globosus and only one Ochrolechia androgyna. Despite the habitat looking OK for them there was a general lack of canopy species, eg Usnea (sensitive to air pollution), either on the ground or when scanning upper branches, and a limited number of crustose species, though plenty of them. Suggestions for an explanation ranged from lower rainfall than elsewhere further west to lack of light getting in, as well as historic pollution – Carlisle and Dumfries are not far to the west and Newcastle to the east. The latter seems most likely, combined with past over-grazing and possible coppicing of some trees, which might mean they are not yet old enough to support well-developed lichen communities. This was supported by the odd shape of some of the hazel trees – very large-girth individual stems but few of them. Hazel is naturally multi-stemmed so one individual has a range of bark texture, from smooth young shoots to rougher old branches, so good for a variety of lichens. When this characteristic shape is lacking it usually suggests past heavy grazing, the tasty young shoots being constantly browsed off.

Hopefully we’ll be able to explore other parts of north Cumbria on future trips.

Text: Caz Walker. Photos: Caz Walker, Chris Cant, Paul Hanson, Pete Martin