For the third winter in a row I've wandered round Dare Valley Country Park trying to find the Goldeneye lichen, Teloschistes chrysophthalamus, that was found there a few years back. Finally, I connected with this rarity. As I approached a heavily lichen infested Hawthorn my thought process went along the following path: "This looks promising, I wonder how long, there it is."
Yep, it was that quick. It wasn't looking at it best, many of the "eyelashes" were missing or folded back itself, but I didn't care, it was just good to finally connect with it. Now I know just what it looks like, I know what to look for elsewhere and see if I can match Mark and find more in the area.
Well done, I am going to have to get my a**e in gear and have a look myself.
ReplyDeleteGood on you. I'm hoping to come across it somewhere else, as I search for lichenocolous fungi. Looking at your photo, the whole plant (if you can call a lichen a plant)... okay; the whole thing looks crisped, as if it is desicated, which is odd, as it was so damp yeasterday, that I would have expected it to be all plumptious and lovely.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is just the character of that individual. It certainly looks quite different in appearance to the the one I found elsewhere in the valley, which was more compact and had much shorter "eyelashes".
Mark, my thoughts were that this was probably past its best for this year.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it is a bit frost damaged, because until recently, it has been a species confined coastal areas; so you have to wonder how hardy it is and what would happen to ours if we had a really hard winter.
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