30 Days Wild 2022: Day 4: Daisy chains, May blossom & Langcliffe Jubilee celebrations

 Jubilee celebrations on Langcliffe Green on Sat 4 June.

For me it was an opportunity to meet several new households 

both people who had moved into Langcliffe during the pandemic, and people who have been here a long while.

30 Days Wild 2022:Day 3: Lichen walk NE of Winskill Stones

Day 3 was to be a walk to the monad beyond Winskill Stones. But I had problems parking, and ended up using all my time exploring the adjacent field still in the same monad as Winskill Stones.. to be more specific exploring the lichens on one rock. 

I intended parking at the NE end of  the road through the Plant life Winskill Stones reserve - but would have had to share the parking spaced with young cattle who had the freedom to roam from the fenced field just to the south of this point and the reserve. And they seemed interested in my car. So I parked away from them just over the cattle grid, and walked thought the adjacent field to the NNE of the reserve

There was another fairy ring of St George's mushrooms in this field too:

There are areas of limestone pavement in the field. This clifflet has a big patch of the lichen Placynthium nigrum

Placynthium nigrum  has a navy blue edge to the thallus

On a glacial erratic nearby was some
Parmelia omphalodes

Lambs camouflaging themselves as lichens - maybe Placynthim nigrum

Now here are some lichens that I have not yet been able to identify  - Any suggestions please?

A is a Black Jelly Lichen. It did not have any fruiting bodies.

B, from a distance looked like a black dot Verrucaria , but a close up shows it has flat fruiting bodies, not the small immersed globular apothecia of Verrucaria  It turned K yellow.(see lower)

B

lichen B

Lichen B with KOH

 C from a distance reminded me of  Porpidia tuberculosa. with punctiform soralia that were an iridescent purple blue grey.

But

Porpidia tuberculosa grows on acidic rock - this is limestone

It has very obvious areoles. Maybe the blue grey blobs are just pruinose fruiting bodies of Aspicilia calcarea. - Needs more work.

Lichen C

lichen C.   No reaction with added KOH solution. 

Here is another lichen that intrigues me. 

Is it a new species of Lecanora (for me) or is it just Lecanora albescens gone peculiar. 

Elsewhere on that rock, on a flat area, and with a blackish thallus was this lichen. Could it be another Lecanora.

Elsewhere on that rock, on a flat area, and with a blackish thallus was this lichen. Could it be another Lecanora.

Elsewhere on a falt area, and with a blackish thallus was this lichen. Could it be another Lecanora.

The wall in the picture is the parish boundary between Langcliffe and Stainforth.

Right I have written up Day 3.  It is now Day 4 - The activity will be a visit to Langcliffe village Green where at midday we are celebrating we are celebrating the Queen's Jubilee.

30 Days Wild 2022: Day 2: Settle Queens Jubilee: ACE Settle

It is Thursday 2 June. Settle celebrates the jubilee with event on the market place. 

I go and help at Action for Climate Emergency Settle (ACE Settle) stall by bringing them 4 chairs to sit on, and sit on one of them in the sun. There are quite a few visitors to Settle, 

Including the queen..

I am sitting on one as the "town crier" announces to the "queen" and fancy dress procession that there will be a beacon lit tonight.

I visit the fire-engine next to us and one of the officers shows me what is in the "cupboards". - Cutters for cutting  metal (hydraulically powered) , a big axe,  water hoses of various sizes; firstaid kit; and many more things. A portable engine pump that need four people to move. They are recruiting - they need at least four people for a call out - and they only have 8 people at the moment.

Strong people of Settle (they welcome women as well), could you volunteer?

Down the road in Settle near the Cenotaph, Sally has painted the Churches Together Telephone Box - It looks shiny red again. I go down later and cut the dock plant and grass growing on the ground at its base - Smart for the Jubilee.

The Settle beacon is due to be lit at 9.45 (still light). However I decide instead to drive up to near Winskill Stones above Langcliffe and look to see if we can see the Ingleborough Beacon. By then it is 10pm and trying to start to rain. there are several other people. We can see a beacon on Giggleswick Scar. And we can see Ingleborough.. but not too sure about a beacon. There are lights lower on the hill of landrovers descending.

I then drive to the road to Airton, to the high point from where one can see Wales on a clear day. It is 10.40 now and getting really dark.

In the far distance to the east are the lights of Bradford (just announced to be city of culture in 2025). To the south is the sliver of the red mast of Anglezarke.  There are lights scattered but it is late now so maybe all the beacons are finished.  

It is quiet and not windy.  I hear a snipe beating its wings. It is quiet again. I go home.

30 Days Wild 2022: 1b: 1st Day of the month walk - wildflowers

On the first day of the month a group of us from Churches Together and from Craven Conservation Group go on a walk SOMEWHERE in  or near Settle, and spend a small part of the walk reflecting on Climate Emergency situation and responsibilities, and also on other eco-problems. Some members spend some time litter picking en route.

Looking at Bird's-eye Primrose

It was a happy walk because of the beautiful flowers. The two areas we visited now form part of the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve.

It was a privileged walk -  In much of Britain such wild nature no longer exists because of intensive farming has replaced it or because of intensive use by people for recreation, sports fields, houses etc.

It was a precious walk - these flowers only last a few weeks (maybe days) in this fine state.

It was a slightly sad walk - We use a sheet from the Pray and Fast for the climate website.

Two days ago I had watched a seminar (on The Global Church and the Fossil Fuels- recorded and now put online - pointing out

Even though more renewable energy  is now being produced than 10 years ago, the CO2 produced by fossil fuels has gone up. Fossil Fuels development are still being subsidised by governments (including the UK) and investors 

Another speaker, Rachel Mash, talked about the grab for oil in Africa - saying that (my words, and somewhat generalised - I need to watch the video again) in the order of 90 percent of the profits went to the investors from foreign countries who had invested in the oil/gas project, 10 percent to the government or to the pockets of African politicians of the African country, and the people who lived on the land got virtually nothing  and are in some cases thrown off the land. 

Religious leaders (whatever the faith) - should be holding the moral high ground and protecting God's Creation and the state of the world for our children - even ourselves - in 10 years time. What stops this? Greed, selfishness, apathy.

Right enough of sad things. 

Here is an interesting horsetail

Wood horsetail

Here is some Wood Horsetail. It has side branches on its branches. This is not common around Settle - this may be the nearest place I have seen it to Settle.

We also talked about seven of the ferns we passed, and missed talking about another three we passed. 

Day 2 of 30 Days wild is Thursday - the first of four days holiday for the Queen's Jubilee. I wonder where I will end up.

30 Days Wild 2022 - Day 1a: Winskill Stones ready for 6 June: Flowers & Lichens

It is 1st June and time for 30 Days Wild - Do something outdoors every day in June. Why not join in? Do something Wild where you are.

My events for 30Days Wild today:- (i.e. this blogposts contents)

1. Write up the blog about my walk at Plantlife Winskill Stones last night and the night before - exploring Winskill Stones - to be ready for the family Eco Explorers Walk I will be leading on 6 June -  (Eco Explorers is run by Sally Waterson and with help of some parents - and with Churches Together in Settle and District).
Winskill Stones is about 2.5 miles by road from Settle.

2. Type my recording form in results of some lichens I found

3. Lead a walk at 4.30pm TODAY meeting at Settle Swimming Pool Car Park to share transport, then travelling up to near Ribblehead for a wildflower walk. This is a joint walk between Churches Together and Craven Conservation Group. - with the label "Walk for the Climate" which we do somewhere on the 1st Day of the month.

4. Make a short report on the Webinar I heard last night given by Operation Noah and Laudato Si' on Climate Change. They had some forceful contributions and I do hope our faith leaders (and everyone els) will watch it. .to encourage our churches to make divestment from fossil fuel statements, and to ask our governments  to make international treaties about not subsidising fossil fuels any more. .. or maybe I'll just put a link to them

So-

 Evening of Sun 30 May: 

Just been for a walk at Plantlife Reserve "Winskill Stones" ready for the "Eco-Explorers" family walk I will be leading next Monday 6 June. It was past 9 pm but still light and very quiet. Just the occasional lamb and even more occasional curlew in the distance. Surprisingly no sound of traffic from the valley below.

I found the Mountain Everlasting flower on the slope I expected, and the Mossy Saxifrage on the place I expected, though not on the grassed-over pavementy-rocks behind. The Early Purple orchids would definitely be past their best by next week, but there were a good number of them.  

I am delighted to find a magic fairy ring

A ring of St George's Mushrooms. "That will be something to show the children. St George's Mushrooms come out April-May. St George's Day is 23 April  -  We are at 366m, 1200 ft above sea level. Calcybe gambosum.  (Health warning - These are not in the same family as ordinary mushrooms - Agaricus)

The happy yellow Mountain Pansies on their tussocks waved at me. There was still plenty of Milkmaid/Ladies Smock/Cuckoo flower.  the grass is starting to grow quickly now I think. We had a dry April and early May, but have had scattered wet days in the last half of May- so even though the water table is low, there is water in the soil

The hawthorn tree on the cliff on the south of the road was fully out, but not the one on the cliff on the north of the road was still in bud.

As the light dwindled I noticed a few "paint blobs" of the VERY white, thick lichen Rhizocarpon umbilicatum on top of some clints (It  has a distribution local to this area). I found Rue-leaved Saxifrage on top of some of the clints.  Will we have time to go up to the field in the south and look for it sister the Meadow Saxifrage next week? I wondered.

------

Next afternoon of Mon 31 May:

 this time I parked on the road at the far end of the reserve, and walked north down along the gravel track. 

Wall Speedwell Veronica arvensis

Next afternoon of Mon 31 May: this time I parked on the road at the far end of the reserve, and walked north down along the gravel track. 

The tiny Wall Speedwell Veronica arvensis  - I have never noticed the glands on the hairs before - but then I had not looked so close

A lone Bluebell felled by a slug? Just recorded the picture
as I have not noticed bluebells here before.
but may ne not been here on 31 May.

Lots of white flowers:

Thyme-leaved Sandwort

Limestone Bedstraw

Hairy rockcress

Bog Stitchwort - At the very northern end of the reserve
 in what is sometimes a pool but currently a damp muddy trampled area

Glad to refind the Peltigera leucophlebia lichen in the northern field of Winskill Stones - but there is not much of it.- less than last time.

Peltigera membranacea

Then I walk south of the reserve, down towards Catrigg Foss.

I want to get out of SD8366 ( north Winskill Stones monad) (which has 55 lichen records for me) and into SD 9367 (Catrigg Foss) for which I have 4 records.

A score of 55 is good for me - maybe not for ace lichenologists - and the Winskill square is my third highest total.

Bur en route down (and back), as the rainshower departs and the sun breaks through I notice glacial erratics - greywacke. (Not in the reserve)

which add three new species to my list for SD8366: Xanthoparmelia conspersa, Pertusaria corallina and Physcia caesia... and something that is "almost Candelariella coralliza" but I know will only turn out to be Candellariella vitellina" 

Glacial erratic, just south of Catrigg Foss.  Penyghent and Fountains Fell in the Background

Pertusaria corallina

Xanthoparmelia conspersa

Then in the field higher up almost into Winskill Stones Reserve another boulder (well several but I only had time to look at one)

I could write a whole article about this picture - the lichens on the rock and the relevant scenery behind. but maybe that is for another day.

On this rock:-

Lecanora poytropa - the lichen in the centre -
This really was much greener than in the camera recorded it.

Physcia caseia on the top of the boulder

This is a case of Candelariella vitellina
trying to look like Candelariella coralliza.

The same rock but with a view towards Penyghent

Enjoy going out in 30 Days Wild Month