Ingleton Churchyard Lichens 3

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Leave the outside wall and go up the steps, through the gate into the church yard. On the left  is a cherry tree. On its trunk is a bright, pale pastel green powdery lichen: Lepraria incana

This is site 3a


Site 3 is divided into several parts.

Ste 3a is this tree.
Site 3b is the grave you can see on the lawn to the right of this tree.
Site 3c is the grave that was in the initial picture
Site 3d is doubling back to the flat table grave very near where we started.
Site 3e and site 3f and site 3g follow.

Site 3a

Lepraria incana

Even when seen close up Lepraria incana just has a simple powdery structure.

Lepraria incana

Lichens that have a powdery structure like this are said to be leprose.

Round the other side of the cherry tree trunk, hidden in a crevice is a yellow lichen.

Candelariella reflexa (Common on shaded nutrient enriched trees - e.g by dogs)

Site 3b

It is the one with some Bank Haircap moss (Polytrichastrum formosum) at the foot. -

Useful Links:

The British Lichen Society has a map of all the churchyards surveyed in England and Wales and the number of lichens recorded. The map show that Ingleton was surveyed in 1995 by Don Smith who found 32 species.  He found 29 at St Leonard's churchyard. (There are just over 1800 species of lichen in Britain, and just over 1000 species described in the 6th Edition (2011) of Frank Dobson's book

Lichens: An Illustrated Guide to the British and Irish Species (only 860 in the 5th edition). The high scorers in our area are Dent (89 by Oliver Gilbert, Ivan Pedley and Tom Chester in 1999)

Site 3c: is this gravestone.

See the green alga on it - Klebsormidium crenulatum.  A sign of NO2 pollution.

Site 3c gravestone.
Site 3b is the slate stone behind on the right, near the tree at 3a

Lecanora soralifera should be spelled with an a - need to change this

site 3d

Doubling back so you are next to the wall again  is site 

With low sunlight the edge of the apothecia stood up.

Testing with a chemical

Acarospora smaragdula

Acarospora smaragdula - because it turned red  with K

We found Rizocarpon reductum which has small round thallus and the black fruiting bodies from circles.

Site 3e  The old wooden notice board has a green filamentous alga on it ..Klebsormidium 

(This is yet another example of Klebsormidium on this website - evidence that there might be blanket pollution of nitrogen compounds from fertilizer and car fumes over this part of Britain)

Site 3f

Lecanora albescens on top of the tombstone

Lecanora albescens 

Site 3g

The yellow is Candelariella vitellina on the acid tombstone

The top of this same tombstone has Parmelia saxatilis (left) and Melanelixia fuliginosa (the blackish one on the right)

The top of this same tombstone has Parmelia saxatilis (left) and Melanelixia fuliginosa (the blackish one on the right)

Parmelia saxatilis (left) and Melanelixia fuliginosa (the blackish one on the right)

Site 3f

Lecanora handelii

Lecanora handelii

Lecanora handelii:-  the soralia (powdery patches) are round the edge of each bit of thallus, not at the centre.

End of Site 3

Click to go to Site 4

Visit other lichen posts

Ingleton Churchyard Lichens - 2

 (Click to return to Site 1)

(Remember: Sat 20 June 2015: date of introductory lichens workshop here)

This is Site 2 of the walk to look at the lichens of Ingleton churchyard           

From where you are standing in front of the cross, turn 90 degrees to the left and look at the outside of the church wall. The wall  is made of limestone, except for the capstones, which are made of gritstone. There is a black crustose lichen on the limestone, which,with close inspection, has a blue edge. This is Placynthium nigrum. The thallus is delimited by a wide dark blue felted prothallus, and the inner part of the thallus has a scaly texture

 The moss is Wall Screw-moss - Tortula muralis

Nearby on the limestone is a yellow powdery looking lichen

Caloplacca citrina

If you look closely there are some jam tart shaped tiny cups with white rims and golden yellow centres. These are the reproductive bodies called apothecia. This is Caloplaca citrina which grows on hard limestone. If a drop of alkali is added (KOH) it should go crimson.

Walk 2 m along the  churchyard wall on the left, so that you are looking at the wall but with the cross nearby

The capstones are made of sandstone/gritstone

On top of the gritstone capstone there are  patches of a very white crustose lichen. 

This has been grazed by slugs and much of it removed so it is not possible to say what speicies it is.

If it has been raining recently you will see on the side of the wall  black Jelly lichen in some of the cracks of the wall. I shall call this one Ear Black Jelly Lichen: Collema auriforme
If it is dry, the black lichen is pressed against the wall, almost as thin as paper. It grows in cracks in the limestone wall and on the mortar. When wet it is greenish black, as below.

 Here it is closer up. The tiny spherical blobs are called idisia.  They can break off and get carried away and then grow and form new plants.

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Near by, and lower down is another species of black jelly lichen -  It is Leptogium lichenoides. Its lobes are rather thin, concave, with deeply incised margins so it looks frilly. It dries brown/lead grey, not blackish as do the Collemas.

Leptogium lichenoides 

Leptogium lichenoides 

Leptogium lichenoides 

Near by - Is this another black jelly lichen? It certainly feels like jelly.. or more like goo.
Or is it just a blue-green alga?

An alga

Agonimia tristicula - a tiny tiny lichen
hidden in the dark crevices - near the green signpost

Agonimia tristicula

Agonimia tristicula

A 2cm diameter yellow dry patch nearby, when examined closely, has more structure

This is a species of Caloplaca. (decipiens?  ) The edge of the thallus is pleated. This type of margin is given the name placodioid

On the hard limestone rock you can see white lichens and there are tiny holes, some empty, some filled with black material - At first I though it was  Verrucaria   baldensis  (if the perithecia (black dots) are  .25mm diameter).

But very close inspection show the black fruiting bodies have greyish rims -so they are apothecia 

 rather than perithecia - bun shaped, with a star shaped hole on top.

So it must be Clauzadea immersa

See the pale grey rims round the black apothecia of Clauzadea immersa

Leave the outside wall and go up the steps, through the church yard gate.

End of Site 2.

Click to go to Site 3

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THE SEVEN POSTS IN THIS SERIES

1. The lichens on the cross but just lower than this picture below
2. The lichens on the wall in the foreground to the left of this picture
3. The lichens on several graves near to this one:-
4. The lichens on the flat slab of this table tomb
5. The white lichens round the door to the church
6. The lichens on the branches of the tree
7. The lichens round the back of the church

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Ingleton Churchyard Lichens - 1

Would you like to learn a little about the fascinating plants that encrust tree bark, rocks and places that are too dry for other plants?

Come on a Lichens Workshop for COMPLETE BEGINNERS. 
10am-12pm Sat 24 May - in the beautiful Dales village of Ingleton
as part of the 2014 Ingleton Overground Underground Festival (23-26 May)

Your eyes will be opened to a new magical world. You'll find you start noticing shapes, colours and textures on objects in the landscape that you never noticed before. You'll go back home knowing a few common lichens (knowledge that you can share with your friends)  and you'll be enthusiastic to learn more.

You can pronounce its "litchen" or "liken" - whichever sound you like best.  I now say "liken"

So what lichens might we see?

This and the next 6 posts (Ingleton Churchyard Lichens - parts 1 to 7) describe the lichens you can see in the churchyard, as you walk through 7 different areas.  They are made up of photos taken on three visits: 30 Jan, 3 March and 21 March 2014. Special thanks are given to Dr Allan Pentecost who accompanied myself and two friends on 21 March for his help in identifying the lichens. 

Don't worry if you don't remember all the names just now - simply enjoy looking at the colours.

Here is the memorial cross outside the Churchyard. I

Here are the seven sites we are going to visit, (marked with while and red numbers on the picture below).

1. The lichens on the cross but just lower than this picture (this post)
2. The lichens on the wall in the foreground to the left of this picture
3. The lichens on several graves near to this one:-
4. The lichens on the flat slab of this table tomb
5. The white lichens round the door to the church
6. The lichens on the branches of the tree
7. The lichens round the back of the church

Site 1. 
The lichens on the war memorial cross and on the paving slabs below.

Let's get our hand lens out.





Can you see the two blobs touching each other vertically near the base of the cross?

Well lo and behold, the first one I chose to look at we can't identify because the slugs have gazed it hard an removed all distinguishing features

Look just below them there is a yellow powdery lichen. this is Candellariella vitellina we'll see lots more of this yellow lichen later

Seen close up..the cross is in fact covered with lichen -
Candelariella vitellina

Lichens are an association of a fungus and an algae. The fungal threads give the lichen structure and they collect water and nutrients. The algae are scattered amongst the fungus as single cells, and they can photosynthesise and capture the sun's energy, so can make sugars.
The body of a lichen is called a THALLUS.

The white, and the yellow lichens are CRUSTOSE lichens. They make crusts on the surface of the rock.

.If you go round the back of the cross to where I have marked an arrow on this diagram, you can see Lecanora ....

Lecanora..is this Lecanora intricata?.....

Looking at the side there are twp patches near the lower middle

The centre right blob is Porpidia tuberculosa

Porpidia tuberculosa

Allan is looking at Buellia aethallia -
 this is blackish and grows on very smooth acid rocks.

Buellia aethallia

Caloplaca flavovirescens

Caloplaca flavovirescens - This turns red with alkali

Caloplaca flavovirescens

This is the white lichen in the centre tile of the above picture.
It is Lecanora contorta

is

Somewhere under their noses is Verrucaria fusconigrescens 

Verrucaria fusconigrescens  on the left

Left: Verrucaria fusconigrescens
Right:  Aspicillia calcarea

From where you are standing in front of the cross, turn 90 degrees to the left and look at the top of the limestone cap-stones  of the church yard wall - indeed over the top is a table tomb.

or the same stones looking back in.

Caloplaca flavescens bright orange

More Verrucaria fusconigrescens

Aspicillia contorta (var hofmanii)

Verucaria nigrescens

End of site 1.

 Click to proceed to site 2   ( the 3 metres of outside churchyard-wall between here and the green sign post )

Flowering Times - First Day of Spring

Today is the Spring Equinox - 20 March 2014 16.57GMT
We have had a warm "late winter".
 Rain and strong winds were forecast for later today - So I went out on a morning walk.
I challenged a friend on the internet to look for wild flowers in flower. - So I made a record of what I saw.

And found 12 Wild plants in flower:
Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) (just)
Goat willow (Salix caprea)
Early Scurvy-grass (Cochlearia danica) (Only 1 plant in flower)  (Stainforth)
Wavy Bittercress (Cardamine flexuosa)
Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis)
Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra)
Town Hall Clock (Adoxa moschatellina)
Primrose (Primula vulgaris) (just)
Opposite-leaved Golden-Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppostifolium)
Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hederifolia) (just)
Annual Meadow-grass (Poa annua)

I saw a Grey-squirrel and a Dipper.
And Great Tit and Chaffinch.
And a run-over hen on the road footpath

I saw some not-open Sloe and not-open Rue-leaved Saxifrage.
and a few bottles and cans in the verge.
There was a Prunus type tree in flower in someone's garden.

And found an interesting lichen (to be identified) at Stackhouse.) and No Syntrichia on trees near the river at Stainforth.


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in other places I have seen Groundsel and Spring Whitlow-grass