SD86 - 02a - SD8062 - Lichens-south of Giggleswick Station

18 March SD 8062- SD802628

This is the third monad (1 km square) that I am visiting a small part of in my project to visit all the monads in hectad SD86 (the 10 by 10 km square containing Settle.)

I park on the minor  road just south of Giggleswick Station, near the Houses at Swar Beck. I had intended following the path through the fields diagonally south west to Littlebank Barn (the SW corner of the km square) , but there is plenty on the roadside dry-stone wall to keep me busy. The wall stones are mostly acid rock - gritstone.

I find my first Parmelia omphalodes of this survey.  It is a coppery brown shiny foliose lichen with white lines along the crinkles on the thallus.  I associate that with more mountainous places.

Opegrapha gyrocarpa and Rhizocarpon geographicum are other distinctive lichens of acid rocks

Opegrapha gyrocarpa - actually this picture is from near Ingleton

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They are both crustose lichens and both have a black margin round the thallus.  Opegrapha gyrocarpa tends to grow on vertical surfaces in sightly shaded places.  Rhizocarpon geographicum is flourescent green and can tolerate strong sunlight. 



Six days later I will again visit part of this 1km square when returning from surveying the square to the north.  On the main road to Settle, adjacent to and just west of the Craven Arms is a wall that had a big path of a gold lichen.

I was delighted to find this lichen. I have not found it "by myself" before 

This is Caloplaca saxicola. It looks very similar to Caloplaca flavesens but the latter has narrower "pleats" and a deeper orange colour round the placodioid margin and only grows on base-rich rock.   the saxicola is paler yellow at the margin, with pleats that splay out - get broader.

Caloplaca saxicola

Caloplaca saxicola 

Lots of this Lecanora is growing on the same wall... Still have to find a name for it.

The same

The white building in this picture is The Craven Arms.  The Caloplaca saxicola grows just to the right of it.

Scenic view of "The Craven Arms" on 16 March

I have 25 species from this walk including 8 new ones.

Two posts that follow this: 
3b - SD8062 - A visit to  Rumney Bridge at the other end of THIS monad, next to the Ribble that I do a month from now. 
(This will increase my total from 25 to 35, and see two new species)

4- SD8063 - A walk north of Giggleswick Station.