Titterstone Clee Hill Quarry - Day1 - Afternoon of British Lichen Society Field Meeting in Shropshire - Acarospora smaragdula, Sterocaulon pileatum

In the afternoon of 11 July the British Lichen Society Summer Field meeting finds itself at Titterstone Clee Hill (533m at summit) -  The Dolerite - Olivine Basalt sill  is a hard rock used that was used for buildings and for roadstone in Shropshire.

See blog for the description of the morning on the Boulder Slope  here.

What do we find? 

After lunch we set off 200m on the level for the quarry. This had been quarried until relatively recently. These rocks but had not been exposed many years - not the maybe thousands of years as had our boulder slope rocks in the morning.

The quarry would have made a good setting for a film.

  

We looked at a very civilised  boulder ( waist high - easy to look at) and found 

Placopsis lambii (I think - since the other Placopsis is mainly in the highlands of Scotland)

This picture measures about 2cm across

Acarospora smaragdula The brown lichen in thee picture below.  This was much clearer when we came back later in the afternoon as it had dried out by then. The yellow will be Candelariella vitellina

Acarospora smaragdula   dried-out.

I walked further round and there was a steep slope with plenty of assorted Cladonias. in the distance beside the road you can see a wall. I went back to that wall.

It led to a ridge next to it with shelves of rock and the shelves had lots of pebbles in them.

The pebbles on that ridge had lots of Stereocaulon  pileatum.

Stereocaulon pileatum has "Phyllocladia indistinct, small, white, and granular except at the apices which are grey and have green grey globose soralia"

On the way back to the cars we noticed a Musk Thistle Carduus nutans.  David told us that it has some chemical which makes insects go to sleep.  We found a quiet Hoverfly on this one.

Tonight we will be looking at out specimens under microscopes.

Tomorrow we will be visiting an old lead mine site "The Bog" - the spoil heaps have been reworked for barytes .. but leave wonderful spoils for us.. see

The Bog Mine, Day 2 Morning of the British Lichen Society field meeting in Shropshire

Visit the British Lichen Society website .. Learn about lichens and come on Future Lichen Society Meetings