Pete Martin

Glencoyne Wood lichen trip report 14 November 2025 We met in a layby just north of Glenridding, and stepped into winter. Brrr! It was windy too. But a quick stroll along the road warmed us a little and then we were into the wood and the wind was forgo...

A little something about our trip to Glencoyne Wood last week.
#lichenGBI cumbrialichensbryophytes.org.uk/2025/11/21/g...

Jamie Normington Memorial Sponsorship.

Jamie Normington Memorial Sponsorship.

Jamie Normington Memorial Sponsorship.

We are proud to announce the Jamie Normington Memorial Sponsorship

The sponsorship will be awarded to ten aspiring or established nature writers for whom the cost of entry is a bar

To qualify – on a first come first served basis – please contact christine@naturechroniclesprize.com

#booksky
📚💙

Belated photos from the Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte Group trip to Glencoyne last week. Lots of upland rainforest stuff like Sphaerophorus globosus and Hypotrachyna taylorensis; more Thelotrema than I could shake my stick at. So it had to lean against it instead... #lichenGBI

I'd incline towards fungi, but I've no idea really...

You're in my manor....

Fond memories of the serving hatch in a 1950s house I lived in as a child... especially of climbing through it.

Borrowdale lichen trip report 19 October 2025 I know of three Cumbrian Borrowdales. The first, that we have visited repeatedly over the years, is justifiably famous for its lichens (as well as things like rain, tea bread, Yews and Gates). As for ...

I wrote a thing about last weekends Borrowdale trip:
cumbrialichensbryophytes.org.uk/2025/10/24/b...

#LichenGBI

Spent a pleasant day out on a recce

How has the government got itself into the position of standing up for Israeli football hooligans, while criminalising peaceful supporters of Palestine Action?

Nice lighthouse. If only I hadn't developed that oyster allergy...

Country diary: A springtime with an ending | Amy-Jane Beer Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire, and Old Hutton, Cumbria: Among this year’s epic blossom and mass of swarming insects, a funeral holds particular poignancy

Today's @theguardian.com country diary is a poignant celebration of the life of 'uniquely talented naturalist, conservationist, educator & campaigner Jamie Normington' by @amyjanebeer.bsky.social. A funny, dynamic, inspiring man whose life, along with the mayflies, reminds us to live every moment.

I don't like the look of this lads

Good point!

A lake district view

Ragged Robin

Pignut

Final @btobirds.bsky.social heron count of the year this morning. One local heronry appears deserted, the other's bigger than I've known it. Have they moved from one to t'other? We'll never know...

The big purples have been profuse in the garden and at the allotment.

It has been a good year for the Irises.

A case if it's one I've seen today...

Just one university - UCL - employs almost twice as many people as there are working in fishing boats.

Celtic rainforest in Wales facing extinction crisis, ecologists warns A rare lichen's last refuge on ancient oak felled by a storm puts a unique forest on the brink.

Welsh temperate rainforest facing species 'extinction crisis'.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

I mean technically we're an archipelago of strangers, but whatever

Once again everyone will pay the price for a govt that refuses to confront the trade-offs it faces. Failing to fix or pay for social care not only makes social care worse, it makes local govt and the NHS worse. I suspect voters will care more abt that than 50k off net migration via care visas.

Three pieces of old ornate metal, linked by wire. Something to do with horses maybe

A stonefly larva. No idea which species.

Dermatorcarpon luridum. There was a lot of it. Had to splash it to make it go green ( mostly it must be underwater).

The beck. Water levels are low.

Made it out today, and explored the currently very dry beck: more Dermatocarpon luridum than I was expecting; a rather fine stonefly larva; an old metal and wire contraption. 4 species of warbler heard, otter spraint found, and I have Verrucaria samples to "investigate at a later date". #LichenGBI

Up to 130 with today's count. I can't imagine it will get much higher.

I wish I knew the answer to that question...

That's great.

76 was the garden count the other day.

Cute coot?

I thought it pitched outside leg, myself

No wonder Jeremy Vine is hanging up his helmet cam – the rage we cyclists face is off the scale | Peter Walker Why does cycling make so many drivers lose their cool? It’s partly ignorance, but demonisation by politicians doesn’t help, says Peter Walker, a senior political correspondent for the Guardian

I’ve written about the strange way that just thinking about cyclists makes otherwise rational people furious, in the light of Jeremy Vine’s decision to no longer post his cycling video because of all the abuse.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Though the spores are right for naegelii