Lichens of Ingleborough

Paper by Allan Pentecost and Mark Seaward in April's edition of the YNU "The Naturalist" - Journal of Natural History for the north of England 

on

 "Lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Ingleborough Hill and its immediate surroundings." 25 pages long.

I was delighted to receive this the day before I attended the  British Lichen Society's week long spring meeting in Wales (at Plas Caerdeon, between Dolgellau and Barmouth) and was able to show everyone at the meeting the journal and article I had just received.

Both Allan and Mark are former presidents of the British Lichen Society.

Allan has been visiting Ingleborough a lot over the past few years and I went on two walks with him in the lower slopes of Ingleborough - one in the west, one on the east.

Andrea his wife supplied the photo of Ingleborough for the front cover - taken from an unusual view.

Mark has done a lot of research into finding early records of lichens. It is impressive how some "Rainforest Species" have been found here in the past - including Lobaria and Nephroma. and Pannaria rubiginosa. Alpine species were seen near the summit. It is very useful to see what species were recorded in the past.

The rainforest species are not there now. The mill towns around Bradford and Lancashire, and maybe sulphur dioxide from chimneys from power stations in the last century have had their effect.

I ran a walk for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust / Wild Ingleborough project in 2023 introducing people to Lichens. .. potentially billed as Yorkshire's Lost Rainforest  . Colt Park Wood does get enough rain (just) to classify as an Atlantic Rainforest area.  The rainforest species don't grow here now due to pollution in the last couple of centuries - but it is good to see in this paper reports of records showing that a few species did once grow here.

 I visited Ingleborough twice with Allan when he was carrying out surveys for this project. Once when I was pleased to find Peltigera leucophlebia on the hillside above Bleak Bank Farm (famous locally from the channel 4 TV series with the Dawson family). The second time we walked from Horton via Sulber and above Thieves Moss when Allan showed me Placynthium garovaglii

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They say

"377 taxa have been recorded of which 34 taxa have not been seen since the 19th century and a further 18 taxa are doubtful in the absence of herbarium material" So I suppose that means 325 species have been recorded.

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The picture on the back cover of the magazine show the people at the YNU conference at York this March with over 100 people. I took the photo!  It was a good conference.

A lichen I was shown on a trip up Ingleborough below Sulber is

Placynthium garovaglii  

There are two upcoming BLS Week long Field Meetings in the north of England:   In Autumn 2025  at Hebden Bridge;

in 2026 maybe in the Eden Valley (in Cumbria, but bordering Yorkshire.)

The YNU has a field meeting in Kingsdale on Yorkshire Naturalists Union visit to Kingsdale Head Farm above Ingleton.

Find out more about the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union here.

Find out more about the British Lichen Society here.

Eventually I might write one or two posts about the BLS trip to North Wales. The previous post to this describes P horrescens

See more posts on this website about lichens