Lichens of Selwyns Wood (Sussex Wildlife Trust), Cross-in-Hand, East Sussex. 07.05.24

Selwyns Wood is a small nature reserve south of Cross-in-Hand, near Heathfield, East Sussex.

Selwyns Wood is a small, mixed semi-natural woodland near the town of Heathfield, mainly Oak, Birch and Sweet Chestnut, with a few old big Beech trees. It is nestled in a south-facing valley with three streams running through it, one of which has developed into a typical Wealden ghyll stream. There is also a small open area dominated by heather, a characteristic feature of woodlands in this part of Sussex. from Sussex Wildlife Trust Selwyns Wood Reserve Profile

Lecidelaa eleachroma

 Graphis scropta

 Arthonia atra

Pertusaria leioplaca

 

 Cladonia parasitica

 

Thelotrema lepadinum, Barnacle Lichen

 

 Phlyctis argena; the red patch is the reaction to Potassium hydroxide (spot test(

 

 Lepraria incana s.l.

 

 Cladonia fimbriata

Parmotrema perlatum

 

Cladonia caespiticia 

 

 possibly Normandina pulchella 

 

 Cladonia coniocrea

 

 Pertusaria pertusa

 

Possibly Diarthonis spadicea 

 

Lichens on a Sessile Oak, Quercus patreae. Fairlight Glen. 05.03.24

Habitat: High Weald ancient woodland; oceanic micro-climate in a steep High Weald ghyll. In Fairlight Glen there is the famous Dripping Well waterfall - the only location of Dumortier's Liverwort, Dumortiera hirsuta, east of Devon). The ghyll carves a ravine out of the rocks of the Tunbridge Wells series, where they meet the see.

waht3words location: ///collides.lion.remodels

 

Lichens:

 

It's trunk has vertical stripes of white and green lichen. The white lichen is mostly an old wood lichen, probably Opegrapha vermicellifera (as C- and K- to chemical reagent spot tests). 

 

The greens (on the wetter side of the trunk) are a mixture of probably Rinodina roboris (with black apothecia).

 

 

 

Normandina pulchella; Elf Ear Lichen

 

 

and a Lepraia dust lichen, probably L. finkii. 

 

Mosses: Amblystegium serpens, Creeping Feather-moss

 

 

Liverwort: Metzgeria furcata, Forked Veilwort

 

 

Ferns:

 

Polypodium sp. probably either. P. vulgare or P. interjectum Fern to high up to get a sporangia sample 

 

 

 

Lichens at Ashcombe Bottom, between Brighton and Lewes. A relict of ancient South Downs forest 01.04.21

Ashcombe Bottom, 4km west of Lewes, is one of the very few ancient woodlands left on the East Sussex Downs. ... the hazel coppice supports a colony dormice - an exclusively arboreal rodent - to which for millennia this wood must have been a kind of ark in an ocean of open fields. Among the hazels grow many spreading oaks, their branches festooned with polypody and harts tongue ferns. Oaks dislike chalk but thrive here because the acid clays deposited on top the chalk have not been dispersed by ploughing or erosion.Owen Johnson (1998) The Sussex Tree Book p.24. 

Normandina pulchella Elf Ears Lichen with Fruliana Dilatata, Dilated Scalewort 
Parmotrema perlatum, Black Stone Flower and Fruillana dilatata, Dilated Scalewort. growing on an Oak 

 An Usnea sp, possibly Usnea cornuta s. l., high up on the branches of the fallen oak above 

Xanthoria parietina Golden Shield Lichen  

Probably Lepraria finkii Fluffy Dust Lichen

 

Flavoparmelia caperata Common Greenshield Lichen; common on may trees in Ashcombe Bottom 

 

Ramalina farinacea Farinose Cartilage Lichen, a very common lichen on Hawthorn and other trees 

 

For a fuller account of all the species I saw at Ashcombe Bottom see:  

Ashcombe Bottom, East Sussex. Relict ancient woodland on the South Downs. Birds, vascular plants, bryophytes, lichen & fungi. 01.04.21