Abundant fertile Flavoparmelia caperata on ca. 70 year old apples in Home Farm Orchard, Stanmer Village, South Downs. I rarely see fertile F. caperata; but here (on ca. 20 trees) about 25% of F. caperata was fertile. I wonder why? What factors promote fertility? @lichenGBI
Ancient Yew, Taxus baccata, in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Stanmer Village nr. Brighton. Estimated to be ca. 1000 years old. Certainly predates C19 church. Decorticated area of tree covered in Opegrapha vermicellifera. @britishlichensociety.org.uk ##lichenGBI Not unusual in Sussex
Lots of sporophyte (fertile stage) Marsh Hoestail, Equisetum palustre. Ouse Valley. East Sussex. The cone-like strobili at the tips of the stems contain the spores. A genus that's been around for 400-300 million years; ca. 200 million years before flowering plants evolved.
Land owners who have replanted ancient woodland with conifers, or turned it into arable land, or who have sold it for develoment are the people who have destoyed ancient woodland not people who walk through it.
Firsts for 2026. Town Hall Clock, Adoxa moschatellina; Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta; Wood Anemone, Anemonoides nemorosa; Early Dog-violet, Viola reichenbachiana. All ancient woodland indicators; all in ancient woodland shaw on @nationaltrust.org.uk Wolstonbury Hill, South Downs, West Sussex
Ancient boundary Beeches on scarp-face South Downs ancient woodland. @nationaltrust.org.uk Wolstonbury Hill, West Sussex
Graves with gravel seem propitious substrates for Redshank Moss, Ceratodon purpureus. Graveyard in Clayton West Sussex
Scytinium plicatile (a "jelly" lichen) in horizontal stripes along this churchyard wall in Sussex (Clayton). The photobiont of S. plicatile is a Nostoc sp. cyanobacteria. The filamentous thread-like colonies of Nostoc in jelly lichens swell and becomes gelatinous when wet.
Lecanora sulphurea parasitising Tephromela atra on a silicious wall (imported stone) in a Sussex graveyard (Clayton)
An island of Tephromela atra in a sea of Ochrolechia parella; on a silicious wall (imported stone) on a wall of a Sussex Churchyard (Clayton). The black surround of the T. atra seems not to be its typical prothallus but a zone of antagonism warding off further encroachment from O. parella.
Paralecanographa grumulosa parasitising Dirina massiliensis f. sorediata on mortar round a window on the north wall of an old southern church near coast (its very restricted habitat); a rare example of a lichen which parasitises other lichens. Whilst nationally scarse I see it quite frequently
St John the Baptist, Clayton, W. Sussex. C11 with early C12 frescos of international importance. Christ in Judgment in Mandorla; one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse; hexagonal City of God. There's never anyone else inside when I visit. As important to the history of British art as Tate Britain.
Tiny and huge. Foreground Early Dog Violet, Viola reichenbachiana. Background, ancient Beech, Fagus Sylvatica. South Downs ancient woodland. @nationaltrust.org.uk Wolstonbury Hill
Hazel Flower, South Downs, East Sussex.
Co-evolution. Small pollinators for small flowers; big pollinators for for big flowers! A Pollen Beetle, Meligethes sp., for a Dandelion, Taraxacum sp. Buff-tail Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, for Red dead-nettle, Lamium purpureum; South Downs, East Sussex.
Linnet, Corn Bunting, Skylark. On South Downs nr. Lewes. Corn Buntings are doing well on this path. I captured the Skylark by following it in song-flight and seeing where it landed; typically they are invisible when they land but this one landed on a hillock. #birds @sussexornitholo.bsky.social
2/2 marking a parish boundary. Some of the Oaks are veterans. Aside from Ramalina farinacea, and Evernia prunastri, typical of Sussex Quercus robur, there is also a lot of Usnea cornuta on the Oaks. It's a magical combe.
1/2 Ashcombe Bottom, @nationaltrust.org.uk nr Lewes East Sussex (South Down coombe woodland) is not ancient but it is remarkable. Nearly all the Oaks (rare on chalk) have abundant Polypody; & some Elder & Hawthorne does too. There are very old enormous coppiced Hazel stools. and near the top, Ash
Ashcombe Windmill, near Kingston, in a sea fret, coming over the Downs, from Lewes' former racecourse.
Egyptian Geese flying in to Creekmouth, River Thames, Barking, London. Photographed from the Barking Riverside Thames Clipper Pier. The post-industrial landscape of the Thames estuary provide foraging opportunities for ducks, geese and waders. I saw Brent Geese and Oystercatchers too
Demon with Bowl, Damien Hirst, Greenwich Peninsula, London, from Thames Clipper Quay.
Barking Riverside, previously named Creekmouth; a regeneration of the site of the former Barking Power Station. It has a huge well-deigned station and lots of housing being built; hopefully reasonably affordable. I'm not convinced that "A place like no other" is the best advertising slogan!
1859-1995 St Francis. Haywards Heath. A "mental asylum" for Sussex. Designed by Henry Kendall with a corridor plan; longest building in Sussex. Must've been hell. My great-uncle died there from suicide. I only found out he existed 10 years ago. My family didn't talk about mental health. Now housing
Lovely ancient Pedunculate Oak. Scrase Valley Local Nature Reserve, Haywards Heath. West Sussex
Relict High Weald woodland in Clair Park in the middle of Haywards Heath. Magnificent Pedunculate Oaks. Haywards Heath was in the middle of the Andredsweald in Saxon times.
First Peacock, Aglais io, of 2026. I love it in the spring when you see the first butterflies of the new season. But not a "new" butterfly but a butterfly that has just emerged from its overwintering diapause, a state of torpor. Racton. West Sussex
Two of the corbels on the Chichester Market Cross; commissioned by Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester from 1477 to 1503. Built so that the poor people should have somewhere to sell their wares.
Stupendous, ancient Sweet Chestnut, Yew & Pedunculate Oak in Racton Park Farm. West Sussex. Clue is in the name, "park", did some research: whilst now a farm it was part of Stansted Estate deer park. Still pasture woodland, now grazed by cattle, which produces giant ancient trees when well managed.
Fabulous relict hedgerow with ancient Pedunculate Oak, Beech and Sweet Chestnut. Between the Racton Monument, built by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax; and the C17 Stansted House, Rowlands Castle, built for Lord Lumely 1st Earl of Scarborough. West Sussex
Time flies; with the lichens Circinaria contorta, Diploicia canescens and Xanthoria parietina; on a grave stone in Racton St Peter's graveyard West Sussex; the parish has only a few cottages. Aisleless church with C12 nave & C13 chancel. The west end was altered in the C14; with C15 to C17 windows.
