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Category Archives: lichen

Spot the spider

24 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in lichen, spiders, trees

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British spiders, camouflage, lichen on tree, Salticus scenicus, spider camouflage, Zebra spider

I was checking out the lichens and mosses on this tree trunk when part of the grey bark moved. This tiny spider, which I think is a Zebra spider (Salticus scenicus), was so well camouflaged that I hadn’t even noticed it.

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Barrage lichens

04 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in lichen

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British lichens, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Bay Barrage, lichens on concrete

Cardiff Bay Barrage is a monument to concrete, 135,000 square metres of concrete – in fact, it received an award from The Concrete Society soon after it was completed. And lichens love having so much concrete to colonise!

210204 Barrage lichens (1)

According to that same Concrete Society, ‘As the concrete ages, the surface alkalinity is reduced by carbonation and the action of rainfall, thus providing a more suitable environment for biological growth.’ And, as lichens are sensitive to air pollution, the almost constant blasting of fresh air aids their lush growth, as you can see from these photos, taken during one of last week’s exercise walks.

210204 Barrage lichens (2)
210204 Barrage lichens (3)
210204 Barrage lichens (4)
210204 Barrage lichens (5)
210204 Barrage lichens (6)
210204 Barrage lichens (7)

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Fencepost lichen

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, lichen

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British lichens, fencepost lichen, lichen, lichen on fence post, lichen on wood, springtail

Just one old fencepost, wood species unknown, but look at the number of lichen species it’s home to, as well as the lichen-loving Springtails. It’s a multifarious microcosm of the wider environment, a miniature landscape of vibrant colour and diverse shapes. Old fenceposts are usually worth a closer look.

210105 fencepost lichen (1)
210105 fencepost lichen (2)
210105 fencepost lichen (3)
210105 fencepost lichen (4)
210105 fencepost lichen (5)
210105 fencepost lichen (6)

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359/366 Winter white

24 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by sconzani in animals, birds, flowers, fungi, lichen, winter

≈ 4 Comments

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the colour white, white in nature, white wildflowers

With no chance of a white Christmas for me, I thought I’d share some of Nature’s whiteness instead.

201224 1 snowberry
201224 2 cow
201224 3 oxeye daisy
201224 4 cat
201224 5 bindweed
201224 6 goat's-beard
201224 7 mute swan
201224 8 snowman
201224 9 sheep
201224 10 Honey fungus
201224 11 horse
201224 12 yarrow
201224 13 lichen
201224 14 White Spindles
201224 15 white campion

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161/366 Mite galls on Lime leaves

09 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, lichen, nature, trees

≈ 3 Comments

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Eriophyes mites, gall mites, gall-causing mites, galls on Lime leaves, lime galls, Lime trees, mites

These stopped me in my tracks!

200609 lime gall mites (1)

I’d enjoyed a nice amble around a local park and was on my way home when I spotted these incredible galls and just had to stop for some photos. The galls are caused by tiny mites that spend the cool winter months huddling in cracks on the tree’s bark, then head out on to the leaves when they sprout in the springtime.

200609 lime gall mites (2)

The mites are leaf-sap suckers, and their sap sucking causes a chemical reaction in the leaf, which in turn prompts the leaf to produce these small, conical, hollow growths. The mites are incredibly tiny – less than 0.2mm long apparently – so they’re almost never seen, whereas their cosy gall homes can grow to 8mm long and, when they’re as bright as these ones were, are very obvious on the leaves.

200609 lime gall mites (3)
200609 lime gall mites (4)

I’m not sure which mites these are as I’m not sure which tree species this is. One mite species, Eriophyes tiliae, is the gall causer on Large-leaved lime trees (Tilia platyphyllos), Common limes (Tilia x europaea) and some hybrid Lime species, and another mite, Eriophyes lateannulatus, causes very similar galls on Small-leaved Limes (Tilia cordata) and hybrid Limes.

200609 lime gall mites (5)

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56/366 Spots and splashes

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in fungi, lichen, nature

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British fungi, British lichens, Common jellyspot, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Illosporiopsis christiansenii, lichenicolous fungus

Amidst all the greys and browns and dull greens of the wintertime natural world, there are still wonderful wee spots and splashes of colour to be found. These are some I found during today’s stomp around Cosmeston, a rather rapid stomp trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid the rain showers.

200225 lichen and fungi (1)

200225 lichen and fungi (2)
200225 lichen and fungi (3)

I’m not good at identifying lichens but I do love their fresh, bright yellow-greens, especially on the twigs and small branches that have recently blown down from the tree tops.

200225 lichen and fungi (4)200225 lichen and fungi (5)

The tiny bursts of lollipop pink are Illosporiopsis christiansenii, a lichenicolous fungus (that’s a fungus which is parasitic on lichens, usually on Physcia tenella and sometimes on Xanthoria parietina).

200225 lichen and fungi (6)
200225 lichen and fungi (7)

And the pretty pops of orange, found on several fence posts, are Common Jellyspot fungus, Dacrymyces stillatus.

200225 lichen and fungi (8)

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29/366 Cladonia lichen

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in lichen, nature

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British lichen, Cladonia lichen, Cladonia species

One of the Cladonia lichen species is the food of Reindeer but I doubt this is it, though I don’t actually know which Cladonia species this is. As you can perhaps guess from the snippet of sign showing in my photo, the lichen was growing well on a signpost at the Wildlife Trust reserve I visited today. The brownish blobs on the tops of some cups are where the spores of these attractive lichen develop.

200129 cladonia lichen (1)

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330/365 A good day for lichens

26 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, lichen, nature, trees

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British lichens, lichen, lichen on trees, yellow lichen

191126 lichen (1)

‘There is a low mist in the woods—It is a good day to study lichens. The view so confined—it compels your attention to near objects—& the white background reveals the disks of the lichens distinctly—They appear more loose-flowing—expanded—flattened out—the colors brighter—for the damp—The round yellowish green lichens on the white pines loom through the mist (or are seen dimly) like shields—whose devices you would fain read.’  ~  Henry David Thoreau, A Year in Thoreau’s Journal 1851, Penguin, New York, 1993

191126 lichen (2)191126 lichen (3)191126 lichen (4)

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40/365 A rose by any other name?

09 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, lichen, nature

≈ 3 Comments

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#365DaysWild, British lichens, Caloplaca decipiens, Caloplaca species, lichen on gravestone, Penarth graveyard, St Augustine's Church

In this case, though, my rose is not a rose but a lichen that I thought looked a lot like the outline of a rose – my warped imagination perhaps, but pretty nonetheless. I spotted this on a gravestone during a wander around the graveyard that surrounds St Augustine’s Church here in Penarth. I presume it’s one of the Caloplaca species of lichen, possibly Caloplaca decipiens, but many of this species seem to look alike and I am not at all skilled in identifying lichens.

190209 Caloplaca lichen

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6/365 On the fence

06 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, lichen, nature

≈ 4 Comments

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#365DaysWild, British lichen, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, lichen on fence post, springtail

Much to the amazement – or perhaps the amusement – of Cosmeston’s dogwalkers, I spent rather a lot of time closely studying the tops of fence posts today. The variety of lichen to be found on them is really quite astonishing but I wasn’t only admiring the lichen. There were even more interesting things sitting on those fence posts …

190106 on the fence

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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