#532: Lichens: a Curious Geographer Podcast

A really useful podcast recorded and shared by Ellie, the Curious Geographer.

Stones might seem lifeless — but what if they’re not? All around us, from monuments to buildings, stones are quietly alive, inhabited and transformed by lichens. As these organisms grow, they merge with the stone itself, blurring the line between what is living (biotic) and what is not (abiotic). 

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Nicholas Carter, biogeomorphologist and Lecturer & Subject Lead in Geography at Christ Church College, University of Oxford, to explore what lichens are, how they interact with stone and challenge the way we understand the world around us. 

This interview is ideal for A Level and GCSE Geography students, especially those studying Ecosystems and Geomorphology (including coasts) — and for anyone fascinated by the hidden connections between organisms, place, and environment.

Also would be a great resource for the new GCSE Natural History - I'm assuming lichens will be one of the things explored in the specification and possibly assessments.

#457: World Rainforest Day

Happy World Rainforest Day! Join @aprilwindle from the British Lichen Society to explore one of Devon’s finest temperate rainforests and the #lichens found there. Full video can be found on YouTube: https://t.co/wjWigtrrqd. #worldrainforestday #worldrainforestday2025 pic.twitter.com/Hv6mxqZfBc

— The British Lichen Society (@BLSlichens) June 22, 2025

Here's the video:

Happy World Rainforest Day! #Lichens are an important feature of these wonderful habitats. From loop lichens, to yellow speckle-belly’s to the red eyed shingle lichen & everything in between - they add so much beauty to our rainforests! #worldrainforestday2025 #worldrainforestday pic.twitter.com/Q5CTzpTQIy

— The British Lichen Society (@BLSlichens) June 22, 2025

#313: Lichens and Gravestones

Following a previous post from April.

This Guardian article describes a Church of England project.

It is a Citizen Science project.

The article includes the following really useful information:

Graves are a haven for lichen, with more than 700 of the 2,000 British species having been recorded in English churchyards and cemeteries so far. According to surveys by the church, many sites have well more than 100 species on the stonework, trees and in the grassland.

This summer, the church is running a nature count in burial grounds across the country. 

Between the 8th and the 16th of June, they are asking people to visit their local graveyard, record which species they find and send them in.

A lichen is a complex life form, made up of a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and algae or cyanobacteria. They are very important as habitat for small invertebrates, and they stabilise soil pH as well as carrying out water and nutrient capture and cycling. They play a crucial role in the environment but many of their preferred habitats, including ancient trees, are under threat.

In order to take part:

To submit records during the week, the easiest way is to use a free app called iNaturalist and join the Beautiful Burial Grounds project. This doesn't appear to be ready quite yet.

The app enables you to take a photo and it helps with identification.

I've got this app myself.

See the previous project outcomes.

A useful guide to Lichens has been produced and can be downloaded as a PDF.

Top image: Gravestones in Lexham Churchyard, Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license.

#280: Graveyards - for the living as well as the dead?

I've previously blogged about the large area of land that is made up of roadside verges and is called 'soft estate'.

Another area of land which is sizeable, but broken up into separate pieces is made up of the land occupied by churchyards, graveyards and cemeteries. There are also crematoria with gardens of remembrance.

The Bishop of Norwich recently called for more churchyards to join the areas which are to be rewilded.

There are already projects targeting churchyards in this way.

The Wildlife Trust has a Living Churchyards project for example.

Some sensitivity is needed about fieldwork in such places, and there is also a small risk linked to the presence of unsafe gravestones. 

They can be a useful indicator of age of gravestones linked to the size of the growth in certain lichens, which can also indicate the degree of weathering.

A UCL Weathering resource on gravestones.

The form of weathering observed on gravestones is a product of four interconnected factors and how they vary both spatially and temporally (i.e., in space and time).

The four factors are:

• Material the gravestone is made from 
• Environment the gravestone is in 
• Process by which the gravestone is weathered 
• Form of the weathering on the gravestone

Image: Snettisham Churchyard, Norfolk - by Alan Parkinson, CC licensed

#228: A likin' for lichen

There is a British Lichen Society which provides all your lichen related needs.

Lichens are a particularly unusual class of organisms.

The plant-like living things are made up of fungi growing in association with other life forms, such as algae. There are more than 2,000 species in Britain and Ireland alone.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license.

The British Lichen Society website has some useful documents for those wanting to know more about these organisms. 

They can indicate the quality of the air in a city, for example, and the rate of growth can give clues as to when ice receded to reveal bare rock outcrops.

More to come in time...

Update:

Did you know?

Lichen survived 18 months attached to outside of International Space Station.

When lichens were attached to the outside of the International Space Station for 18 months they survived the vacuum of space, no water, extreme temperatures and the full onslaught of… pic.twitter.com/P5Zmqcvwid

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 4, 2024

#139: Lydford Gorge: temperate rainforests

A news report from the BBC explores the UK's few temperate rainforests. I have mentioned Guy Shrubsole's book before - a copy is in my Natural History library and will be featured on the blog as well and in the reading lists we are making.

The story looks at Lydford Gorge in Devon, a place I've visited a few times over the years.

A reminder of the need to protect what we have. There are some particularly rare lichens in the woods, including one in Somerset which is the only known location where it is found.

The article says:

Lichens are a particularly unusual class of organisms found in temperate rainforests.

The plant-like living things are made up of fungi growing in association with other life forms, such as algae. There are more than 2,000 species in Britain and Ireland alone, many of which are found in temperate rainforests,

The horsehair lichen Bryoria smithii is known at only two rainforest sites in Britain and Arthonia thoriana, a rare comma lichen, is not known anywhere else in the world other than at Horner Wood in Somerset. 

Temperate rainforests are made up of oak, birch, ash, pine and hazel woodland, but the ash trees are suffering from ash dieback.

#117: October 7th: UK Fungus Day

I have a likin' for lichen...

Today is UK Fungus Day.

Fungi play vitally important roles in the natural environment and in our lives. This year, the theme for UK Fungus Day is the many faces of fungi, encapsulating the myriad of ways that fungi contribute to our world. Fungi are with us throughout history in folklore and mythology, playing important roles in ecosystems, and in modern use to benefit society.

Today is @ukfungusday - a celebration of the wonderful world of #fungi (@BritMycolSoc)! Lichens are special types of fungi, that partner up with algae and/or cyanobacteria! With over 2000 species in Britain & Ireland - today, is a celebration for lichens too #ukfungusday pic.twitter.com/YBJeojT6DM

— The British Lichen Society (@BLSlichens) October 7, 2023

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

We are putting togther a list of relevant organisations for teachers and there are several important organisations mentioned here. It's a reminder that there are many groups of experts in all aspects of natural history which teachers would need to connect with to upskill themselves should they be teaching about these elements of ecosystems.

Check out the British Lichen Society website.

They have some useful CPD material.

The British Mycological Society is a supporter of the GCSE in Natural History.

They are keen to develop the place of fungi within the final specification, which they feel is too brief. See this piece by Dr. Linda Davies.

It outlines some of the many benefits of fungi. It's a good piece which we shall make use of to help outline the importance of fungi in many ways.