Conservation & Ecology


Interesting aspects of the conservation and ecology of lichens in the region will be put up here.

Species Listed from a Fallen Beech in the New Forest


In the early spring of 2010 Neil Sanderson came across a recently fallen old Beech at The Ridge, Busketts Wood that had an interesting looking lichen flora on its trunk. The whole tree was recorded by Neil and Andy Cross over four visits in March and April 2010 (1st March, 6th March and 3rd and 10th April). The survey and the results are described in an article by Cross & Sanderson in the British Lichen Society Bulletin, 111, Winter 2012, 54 - 60. The full species list for the tree is put up on this website Link

New Forest Heathland Lichen Survey


I last looked at the lichens of the New Forest heathlands seriously with Francis Rose in the 1990s. In the autumn of 2011, however, a contract recording lichens in randomly chosen plots on the heathlands for the Natural History Museum (NHM) as part of their New Forest Quantitative Inventory concentrated my attention on the New Forest heaths. The result has been a cascade of exciting finds, which will be detailed on the Heathland Lichens section. The quantitative inventory work on the heaths has stimulated an on going survey of the New Forest heathland lichens by 1km square, run on a voluntary basis by Neil Sanderson. This aims to cover 25% of the heathland. Details (page under construction)

History & Ecology of Goldeneyes Teloschistes chrysophthalmus in England

Goldeneyes Teloschistes chrysophthalmus is under going what is clearly a large scale colonisation event along the south central and south east coast of England after being extinct in this area for over 100 years. It would be an easy assumption to take this as a straight forward result of recent warmer temperatures but the fact that the species was found in much the same areas in the mid 19th century before disappearing is intriguing and suggests more is going on. Link