Organisms in water and sand in the Low Weald of Sussex. Two water courses and a sand pit near Lewes. 17.09.26

This was a joint trip of three friends; we identified together.

Plumpton Mill Stream

In the mill stream, where the public footpath crosses the stream, which is fed from the South Downs springs nearby, we found Hildenbrandia rivularis a species of freshwater red algae. It forms red, crusty thalli on stones submerged in water, typically in streams and rivers. Not identified by me. The alga was on tufa on a rock of Wealden sandstone. Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in rivers or lakes.

Hildenbrandia rivularis … is a freshwater red alga growing on hard natural and artificial substrates, e.g., stones or concrete and steel structures. The thalli are crustose, bright red, and strongly attached to the substrate. Sometimes, wart-like protuberances are visible on the surface of the thalli, but most often, the thallus is smooth to the touch. The thallus consists of two layers of cells: (i) a basal layer firmly adhering to the substrate and (ii) a pseudoparenchymatic layer built from erect filaments. The basal layer is thin and formed by branched filaments densely aggregated laterally. In contrast, erect filaments are formed by cubic or short-cylindrical cells (Fig. 1). In freshwater ecosystems, sexual reproduction and the presence of tetrasporangia have not been confirmed. Asexual reproduction proceeds by gemmae, consisting of small and dense packets of filaments that release and germinate into new crusts. Vegetative reproduction by fragments of older thalli is predominant Emilia Jakubas-Krzak, Maciej Gąbka, Piotr Panek, Wojciech W. A. Kowalski, Daniel Lisek, Michał Smoczyk, Andrzej S. Rybak,
The red alga Hildenbrandia rivularis is a weak indicator of the good ecological status of riverine habitats, Ecological Indicators, Volume 147, 2023,109918,
ISSN 1470-160X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.109918.

In the stream there was also the liverwort Greasewort Aneura pinguis. When I looked at it I thought it was the liverwort Riccardia chamedryfolia at first

The smallest examples of A. pinguis can be confused with Riccardia chamedryfolia and R. multifida but the mid-green colour is usually sufficiently different from the pale brownish-green of Riccarda British Bryological Society Aneura pinguis to differentiate between Abeura and Riccardia

The distribution of Aneura pinguis (commonly known as Greasewort), in the Low Weald of South East England is localized, and scattered. The Low Weald is geologically dominated by heavy, poorly draining clays; Aneura pinguis relies on very specific damp microhabitats

On the sides of the stream was Alder a swamp-dweller, water-lover. The wood of this tough tree doesn’t rot when waterlogged, instead turning stronger and harder. Alder (Alnus glutinosa) – British Trees – Woodland Trust

The leaves showed the galls of Acalitus brevitarsus; a mite that causes blister like galls to form on the leaves of Alder. Like many mite galls, the leaf is made to grow clusters of hairs, called erineum, among which the mites live. On the underside of the leaf these galls have a shiny pale brown appearance. The galls are seen more often than the mite. Acalitus brevitarsus | NatureSpot

In the shallow parts of the stream there were lots of Mussels Musculium lacustre . Populations of these are frequently recorded in slow-moving margins or backwaters of major Sussex river systems, such as the River Ouse, River Arun, and River Adur.

Low Weald streams can experience dramatic seasonal flow variations, sometimes drying up or turning into stagnant pools during hot summers.

M. lacustre can tolerate low oxygen levels and survive periods of drought by aestivating deep within the damp mudThe lake orb mussel is a small bivalve mollusc which can live in a variety of freshwater habitats, but prefers small, temporary, stagnant or impoverished places. It is tolerant of enriched and de-oxygenated conditions, possibly because of an ability to crawl up plants to reach higher oxygen levels near the surface. … This species releases larvae in the spring which settle to the bottom and either continue growing to maturity in late summer, then reproduce before the winter, or aestivate and over-winter as sub-adults. Individuals live for just over a year and reproduce only once in their life-time. Musculium lacustre lake (or capped) orb mussel :: Northern Ireland’s Priority Species ::

Habitat degradation, agricultural practices, invasive species, and climate shifts are their main threats. As a freshwater bivalve that inhabits lowland ditches, drainage networks …, ponds, and slow-flowing rivers, its survival is heavily dependent on the health of local wetlands. Ditch Management & Habitat Loss is a major threat to these molluscs … grazing marshes, drainage ditches require periodic dredging or mechanical clearing to prevent succession. If clearing is done too aggressively, too frequently, or across an entire ditch network simultaneously, it can decimate local populations of Musculium lacustre. Watson, A., Ormerod, S. The distribution and conservation of threatened Sphaeriidae on British grazing marshland. Biodivers Conserv 14, 2207–2220 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-004-4670-4

A Sand Pit

Sands of the Folkestone Formation, Lower Greensand Group

Quarrying for sand has long been a feature in the small strip of soil known as the greensand that lies between the chalk downs and the clays of the Low Weald. Small scale quarrying for sand to use for building and glass making was a regular feature

Major mineral extraction at this site first occurred in 1949 and continued into the 1960s before stopping then briefly resuming again in the 1990s before the pit was finally exhausted with the lakes in view having formed by the base of the quarry being lower than the water table.

Abandoned Quarry Abandoned and Derelict Abandoned and DerelictAbout Abandoned And Derelict Photography Journal Website

The sand pit is no longer a quarry and there are no longer any current plans for building development there. But governments often talks of brownfield sites as having little ecological value, thus suitable for housing development; but many brownfield sites are very important for invertebrates; see Brownfield Hub – Buglife

I saw a huge agglomeration of Ivy Bees, Colletes hederea, nests, perhaps over a 1000 solitary bee,s making individual nests and furnishing them with nectar and pollen for their progeny, in the sand pit. Ivy Bees are a vital part of the late-season succession. They emerge in September specifically to forage on autumn-flowering ivy, marking the very end of the UK’s wild bee calendar. Some of the males had formed mating balls around females to compete

Sand pits and other brownfield sites are important for mining bees. e.g

Sandpit Mining Bee (Andrena barbilabris)

Pantaloon Bee (Dasypoda hirtipes)
Vernal Mining Bee (Andrena vaga)
Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva)
Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria)

Mating balls

At the beginning of September, male bees emerge about two weeks before females, when scores of males can be seen flying low over the ground with an audible hum, much like honeybees around a hive. They are waiting for the first females to emerge. When one does, all the male bees try to mate with her, and this is when you might see a mating ball … When a male succeeds in getting a female, they often fly off together, leaving the rest of the males to seek another female.

After mating, the female digs out a nest tunnel of around 30cm deep. which has side chambers. She supplies each of these chambers with pollen and nectar, then lays a single egg in each.

The females gather pollen exclusively from Ivy flowers, but will take nectar from other flowers as well. Female bees can be seen foraging on Ivy flowers before returning to their nest tunnels with yellow Ivy pollen on their hind legs.

The egg hatches into a larva, which eats the pollen and nectar which was provided by the female bee. Male bees do not contribute to nest building or provisioning.

As the larva grows, it sheds its skin several times, like a caterpillar. It eventually turns into a pupa and then undergoes metamorphosis to become a bee, like a caterpillar turning into a moth or butterfly.

The new bee emerges from the nest tunnel the following September and the cycle starts all over again. The life cycle of Ivy Bees – Sussex Wildlife Trust

A Wall Brown butterfly nectaring

  • Butterfly Conservation priority: High
  • Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England (widespread but rapidly declining)
  • GB Red List (2022): Endangered

Sand pits are also important for solitary digger wasps.

Mellinus arvensis, Field Digger Wasp

Possibly Panaeolus foenisecii Brown Brittlestem

Ranunculas aquatilis Common Water Crowfoot

The sandpit is wet and has a marshy feel as water collects in the low dugout sand pits and forms small ponds

New Zealand pigmyweed, also known as Australian swamp stonecrop, Crassula helmsi) was originally sold in garden centres as an ‘oxygenating plant It grows all year round and can quickly smother native vegetation. New Zealand Pigmyweed Invasive Species | Canal & River Trust

A ditch at the edge of meadow at the foot of the downs

This is an SSSI with some rare species; so I am not going to disclose its exact location. (None of the species below are rare; they are common in Sussex freshwater watercourses)

Volvox sp. green alga

Volvox sp. alga are found in in still or slow-moving freshwater habitats worldwide, such as ponds, shallow puddles, ditches, and quiet lakes.

Even though complex multicellularity evolved several times in eukaryotes, in most lineages it is quite challenging to investigate its molecular background because the transition happened too far in the past and, in addition, these lineages evolved a large number of cell types.

However, the situation appears different for volvocine green algae, n which multicellularity is a relatively recent innovation. In terms of cellular composition, Volvox sp is about as simple as a multicellular organism can be, yet it shares many features that characterize the life cycles and developmental histories of much more complex, higher organisms.

[Volvox species] only has two cell types: 2000-4000 small, terminally differentiated, biflagellate somatic cells near the surface of the spheroid, and approximately 16 large, potentially immortal reproductive cells just internal to the somatic cell layer. More than 95% of the volume of such a spheroid consists of a complex, but transparent extracellular matrix.

Not collected by me; but my photos:

Volvox are primary producers of oxygen in freshwater ecosystems by generating oxygen through photosynthesis and they as a key food source for microscopic aquatic organisms

From pond dipping with a net; all species retuned to the stream

Gasterosteus aculeatus, Threespine Stickleback

Genus Notonecta, Backswimmers or Water-boatmen

A dragonfly nymph, possibly Cordulegaster boltonii Golden-ringed Dragonfly

The Broken Wing Display; a Ringed Plover at Tide Mills draws a predator away from its nest. 03.05.22.

I thought I had lost the video of the extraordinary Broken Wing Display from a Ringed Plover, seen at Tide Mills on 03.05.22. But today I found it in a blog post I wrote four years ago Newhaven Port Nature Reserve/Tide Mills: birds & flowering plants seen on 03.05.22 This was one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen a bird do.

I took this video at 800mm zoom, so I was a long way from the bird. Initially I thought one of these Ringed Plovers had hurt its wing, then, as there was another Ringed Plover watching, I thought it was breeding behaviour. But I did some on-line research, and found this: ringed plovers are too small to fend off a crow or gull through aggression so they use a more sneaky tactic, they pretend to be injured! A ringed plover will feign having a broken wing and run away from the nest, the predator, assuming the adult is now an easy target, will chase after it. Once the adult ringed plover has lured the predator far from the nest it will suddenly fly away. The predator now has not caught the adult nor is it able to find the nest having left it behind. The plover can then go back to incubating the eggs or caring for the chicks. Defending the Nest – LIVE: Teaching Through Nature I think this must have been what this Ringed Plover was doing; as on the beach there were Carrion Crows and Herring Gulls around, and people with dogs off leads; from Newhaven Port Nature Reserve/Tide Mills: birds & flowering plants seen on 03.05.22

The broken-wing display. Depicted is a common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula). Illustration by L. de Framond.

The broken-wing display is a well-known and conspicuous deceptive signal used to protect birds’ broods against diurnal terrestrial predators. Although commonly associated with shorebirds, it remains unknown how common the behaviour is across birds and what forces are associated with the evolution of the display. Here, [in the article] we use the broken-wing display as a paradigmatic example to study the evolution of a behaviour across Aves. We show that the display is widespread: it has been described in 52 families spread throughout the phylogeny, suggesting that it independently evolved multiple times. Léna de Framond, Henrik Brumm, Wren I. Thompson, Shane M. Drabing, Clinton D. Francis; The broken-wing display across birds and the conditions for its evolution. Proc. R. Soc. B 1 March 2022; 289 (1971): 20220058. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0058

Charming little bird, it calls you from the shoreline “poo-ee, Poo ee, POO, EE” without any thought for your feelings. It is also a deceitful bird that will happily feign a broken wing to lure predators away from its nest. It also likes to get its prey moving by laying down some cool beats by tapping its foot on the ground in a hypnotising rhythm. 

It’s burglar-like appearance, with its natty banded mask,  is another one of its deceits as it rarely steals or shares its food. A brace of ringed plovers can be seen feeding off of flies, spiders, worms, crustaceans, and molluscs.

The ringed plover travels vast distances to feed on our shores, from Canada and Greenland. Whilst stocking up on energy, we need to give the birds some space. The ringed plover is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is on the Red List. Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) | Bird Wise East Kent

Tide Mills is now a completely depopulated ruin, with a sad history of the poverty of the Mill workers and the appalling treatment disabled children condemned to a residential “marine” school where they immersed in sea water and exposed to the elements.

Nature has reclaimed the settlements of Tide Mills

The history of the hamlet is outlined in this interactive website: Explore The Lost Village of Tide Mills – The Tide Mills Project

I produced a series of photographic still-lives of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes at Tide Mills, published here: Six photographic still lives: vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens in the ruins of Tide Mills and the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital, 12.08.24

Tide Mills is also the home of the now rare Adder’s-Tongue Fern, see: Uncovering the secrets of Tide Mills, Newhaven: Adder’s-Tongue Fern, Sedge Warblers & Reed Warblers singing, and a Cunning Fox on Thursday 03.05.24

Just after the COVID lockdown “Stay at Home” order was legally lifted on March 29, 2021, I visited Tide Mills and shot these photographic landscape views of Tide Mills Views of Tide Mills

Are some solitary, mining Ivy Bees, better at re-finding their nests than others? Observing a large agglomeration of Colletes hederae nests at the Devil’s Dyke. 12.09.26

Colletes hederae was recorded as new to Britain in 2001 when Ian Cross discovered specimens at Langton Matravers in Dorset. Since then, the bee has spread across much of southern England (as far north as Shropshire, Staffordshire & Norfolk) and into south Wales. It is now extremely plentiful in some coastal localities, and increasingly, inland. Peak activity matches the flowering period of its key pollen forage plant, Ivy (Hedera helix), and the species is on the wing from early September until early November. This makes it the last solitary bee species to emerge each year. BWARS has been mapping the spread since its discovery in Britain 15 years ago. Colletes hederae mapping project | BWARS

Today I saw an agglomeration of several hundred Ivy Bes: I have only seen an agglomeration of Ivy Bee nests once before; at Pett Level about 8 years ago. They were arriving with pollen and nectar to furnish their nests. Some seemed to fly straight to their nest; some seemed to go one or two before before arriving at theirs; some seemed to visit many nests before finding their own. I spend a lot of time looking at things that don’t move – plants, lichens, bryophytes – and enjoy that, but sometimes its to good to watch the behaviour (movements) of insects or birds as that prompts me to form ethological hypotheses from close observation; a discipline not needed in botany, lichenology and bryology. I watched these bees for ca. 15 minutes.

Ivy Bees were first recorded in Britain in 2001, and in Sussex in 2004 in Hastings. They have since colonised most of the county. They are usually found anywhere with flowering Ivy.

At the beginning of September, male bees emerge about two weeks before females, when scores of males can be seen flying low over the ground with an audible hum, much like honeybees around a hive. They are waiting for the first females to emerge. When one does, all the male bees try to mate with her, and this is when you might see a mating ball – as you can see in this amazing image, taken in Wadhurst churchyard and sent to us by Michael Howard. Any Suzy Izzard fans out there might bring to mind her ‘Covered in bees!’ sketch!

When a male succeeds in getting a female, they often fly off together, leaving the rest of the males to seek another female.

After mating, the female digs out a nest tunnel of around 30cm deep. which has side chambers. She supplies each of these chambers with pollen and nectar, then lays a single egg in each.

The females gather pollen exclusively from Ivy flowers, but will take nectar from other flowers as well. Female bees can be seen foraging on Ivy flowers …

An ivy bee foraging on Ivy on an ash about 400m from the nest agglomeration

… before returning to their nest tunnels with yellow Ivy pollen on their hind legs

.The egg hatches into a larva, which eats the pollen and nectar which was provided by the female bee. Male bees do not contribute to nest building or provisioning

As the larva grows, it sheds its skin several times, like a caterpillar. It eventually turns into a pupa and then undergoes metamorphosis to become a bee, like a caterpillar turning into a moth or butterfly.

The new bee emerges from the nest tunnel the following September and the cycle starts all over again. The life cycle of Ivy Bees – Sussex Wildlife Trust

As watches the nest agglomeration, these two hypotheses emerged in my thinking

(1) In the behaviour of the bees (flying around repeatedly over an area, and landing at possible home nest and placing their heads close to the nest entrance holes) is processing olfactory and visual cues important to them in finding their own nests.

(2) Some bees seemed clearly better at finding their nests than others; are their genetic variation in ability to find their nests

Research on Hypothesis 1

Flying insects are believed to rely primarily on visual cues for orientation, with chemical cues often being overlooked. In the case of solitary bees and wasps, being able to return successfully to their nests and provision their brood cells is paramount for the survival of the species. While vision has been shown to be involved in pinpointing the nest location, our results confirm that olfaction is important in nest recognition. … We have analyzed the chemical profiles of three nesting bees (Osmia spp.) and one wasp (Sceliphron curvatum) and that of their nest entrances. A striking match in the identified chemicals was revealed between each nest and its occupant. When the chemicals were removed from the nest, a clear behavioral response could be observed for Osmia cornuta. This shows the importance of olfactory cues in complementing visual orientation for precise homing in a solitary species, thereby opening up various promising biological questions in the fields of sensory perception and complementation, or the trade-offs of nest aggregation and associated costs. S.P. Vandenabeele & T. Schmitt, Olfaction is essential for nest recognition in solitary Hymenoptera, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (25) e2304703120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304703120 (2023).

Research on Hypothesis 2

I presume with bees, like other animals with brains, ranges of abilities and rates of learning are normatively distributed – some bees might just be more “abl”e at finding their nests than others!

According do BWARS Colletes hederae (ivy bees) do not generally have difficulty finding their own nests; but:

Factor 1: Differentiation between male and female behaviours. Males, which generally far outnumber females, occasionally settle to inspect open burrows Colletes hederae | BWARS so maybe the bees that went straight in the holes were females and those that seemed to explore other holes before entering their own were male; although I saw no mating occurring

Factor 2: disruption to local vector navigation. Because mining bee nest entrances are so small and look nearly identical, the bees don’t just look for the hole itself. Instead, they use a technique called local vector navigation. They map out the precise angles and distances of nearby objects like pebbles, twigs, and tufts of grass to pinpoint their exact destination.

From Google AI Gemini request. Date generated: 13.09.26. Prompt question: summary of research on how human observation of mining bee nest aggregation affects the behaviour of mining bees in nest aggregation

When a person stands over the nesting site, it creates two major disruptions [to vector navigation:

  • Visual Obstruction: Your feet and legs completely block the tiny landmarks the bee memorized during its orientation flight.
  • Shadow Interruption: Mining bees are highly sensitive to polarized light and shadow patterns. A large, moving human shadow alters the contrast of the terrain, making their visual map temporarily useless.

The hovering and “pacing” you see is actually the bee trying to re-orient itself. It will fly back and forth to widen its field of view, hoping to catch a glimpse of a familiar landmark outside of your shadow. Once you step away, the original visual cues reappear, and the bee can usually drop straight into its nest within seconds.

“Peeking” Behaviour: A female bee returning with pollen will often sit just below the rim of her burrow entrance, “peeking” out to watch a nearby human until they leave, delaying her provisioning

The most significant impact of human observation comes from sudden visual changes, specifically casting shadows or making rapid movements.

Aborted Landings: Foraging females returning to the nest aggregation are highly visually oriented. If a human observer stands directly over a nest entrance or moves abruptly, the bee will often abort her landing, circle the area, or hover nearby until the threat passes or the observer becomes still.

Freezing Behavior: When an observer approaches a active burrow, bees that are peeking out of their nest entrances (often sunning themselves or checking conditions) will immediately retreat downwards into the shaft or “freeze” motionless inside the tunnel collar.

From Google AI Gemini request. Date generated: 13.09.26. Prompt question: in mining bees is decison making learnt and is learning it normally distributed genetically

Active Learning & Plasticity: Once in the field, decision-making shifts heavily toward learning. A mining bee must make active choices regarding navigation back to its exact ground burrow, evaluating the quality of nearby nectar/pollen, and refining its floral handling skills. Research across bee species confirms that their brains possess neural plasticity; forming memories and learning from trial-and-error physically changes neural pathways in the brain’s cognitive centers

Polygenic Basis: Learning is not controlled by a single “smart gene.” Instead, it is governed by many interacting genes (a polygenic trait) that regulate neurotransmitters, brain size, and receptor sensitivity.

Normal Distribution: Because it is controlled by numerous genes, the baseline genetic potential for learning in a wild population of mining bees naturally forms a bell curve. Most bees fall into the average range of learning speeds, while a minority are genetically predisposed to be exceptionally fast learners (“curious” types) or slower to adapt.

In conclusion:

  • visual and olfactory factors are important to navigating to the bees own nests
  • mostly ivy bees are good at finding their nests quickly
  • males and females may behave differently in nest agglomrations
  • there is an observer effect when animals are observed; altering the subject’s normal actions.

New Blog: Pan-Species Listing in Monad TQ2611 West Sussex

An invitation to my new blog: Pan-Species Listing in Monad TQ2611 West Sussex

Where is TQ2611?

As you know I am an amateur naturalist. I am particularly interested in vascular plants, lichens, bryophytes and invertebrates; but I try, to the best of my ability, to undertake pan-species recording in a patch. My patch for lichen and birds is the county of Sussex (the vice counties of East and West Sussex for biological recording purposes in the UK). But this is far to large a patch to do pan-species listing, where you try to record every species in a patch. Therefore, I am narrowing my patch for pan-species listing to one square a kilometre (a “monad” in biological recording terminology. I only travel by public transport.

In a world of massive loss of biodiversity, it is really important to to widen the knowledge of the general public of what species exist in their local area, so that these species can be conserved; to conserve something, that thing has to have a name, and to record over time so that patterns of abundance and diversity and the effect of climate change and biodiversity loss can be seen. 

I have been visiting the Devil’s Dyke fortnightly over the last four years (on the 17 and 77 buses) but I have not formally recorded what I have seen there. From now on I will formally record in iRecord the species I see.

TQ2611 encompasses a rich tapestry of habitats, including unimproved chalk downland, the dramatic chalk combe of the Devil’s Dyke, ancient woodland surrounding a wet chalk stream valley, rising in a spring, secondary woodland part of an old chalk pit, and, at the foot of the downs, low weald pasture farmland.

I hope you enjoy my new blog; I shall still be wrting posts for this blog

The fascinating world of Butterflies and other insects. Horseshoe Plantation to Cuckmere Haven.

I started at Horseshoe Plantation, east of Birling Gap, Seven Sisters, East Sussex, as it considered a very good location for Butterflies, see Michael Blencowe & Neil Hulme (2017) The Butterflies of Sussex: A Twenty-First Century Atlas. I saw lots of Bumble Bees but I did not photograph them, I focussed on Butterflies, solitary bees and “small” insects

I reached Horseshoe Plantation by taking the 13X bus to Birling Gap (every two hours on weekdays; once an hour weekends). I returned to Brighton from Cuckmere Haven on the 12X bus (every 20 minutes)

Clouded Yellow, Colias croceu, on Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria

It’s always a good Butterfly day when you see a Clouded Yellow! They are migratory European butterflies and a regular visitor to Britain and Ireland. Although some of these golden-yellow butterflies are seen every year, the species is famous for occasional mass immigrations and subsequent breeding, which are fondly and long remembered as ”Clouded Yellow Years”. Clouded Yellow | Butterfly Conservation

Large White, Pieris brassicae, on Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae, on Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria

Chalkhill Blues, Polyommatus coridon on Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare, with bumble bee

Marbled White, Melanargia galathea on Bramble, Rubus sp.

Arachnospila sp. A Spider-wasp species on Wild Carrot, Daucus carota

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui on Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare

The Painted Lady is a long-distance migrant, which causes the most spectacular butterfly migrations observed in Britain and Ireland.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonising mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late summer. Painted Lady | Butterfly Conservation

Dark Green Fritillary, Speyeria aglaja, on Wild Marjoram, Origanum vulgare

Chrysoperla carnea; one of the common green lacewing in the Chrysopidae family, on Wild Carrot, Daucus carota

Closterotomus norwegicus Potato Mirid; in the Miridae, Bug Family, of order Hemiptera ‘true bugs; on Oxeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare

Probably, Lasioglossum morio Green Furrow Bee, drinking sweat of my arm, Birling Gap NT cafe garden; known as sweat bees because in tropical regions they may lick you to get salt in your sweat. It’s thought that the sweat may be important for nutrients needed for reproduction. Our summers are now “tropical”! Bee of the month – Furrow Bee (Lasioglossum) – Intellectual Property Law – Reddie & Grose

Scaeva pyrastri Pied Hoverfly on Dill (planted) Anthum graveolens

Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus

This feels like a very common butterfly on the South Downs, but nationally it is in trouble:

Conservation Status

  • Butterfly Conservation priority: High 
  • Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England
  • GB Red List (2022): Vulnerable   Small Heath | Butterfly Conservation              

Zygaena filipendulae Six-spot Burnet, on Small Scabious

Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus

Cinnabar Moth, Tyria jacobaeae. Cinnabar caterpillars feed on the leaves and flowers of Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea).

Five Spit Burnets, Zygaena trifolii, mating

Wall Brown, Lasiommata megera.

Conservation satuts:

  • Butterfly Conservation priority: High
  • Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England (widespread but rapidly declining)
  • GB Red List (2022): Endangered
  • Abundance trend: -86% (1976-2019)
  • Distribution trend: -87% (1970-2019) Wall | Butterfly Conservation

Anthophora bimaculata Green-eyed Flower Bee, on Red Star-thistle ,Centaurea calcitrapa. A very common bee on a very rare plant

Red Star-thistle is an archaeophyte. a non-native plant species that was introduced to a region by humans in ancient times and became naturalized.

there is a single archaeological record of this species from a Roman site, and it was recorded in the historic period by 1597. It is sometimes regarded as native in Sussex on dry chalky banks, where it grows in habitats similar to those near the Somme Estuary in northern France (Wigginton, 1999) Centaurea calcitrapa L. in BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Rare and common lichens on urban road trees in the Bristol Estate, East Brighton, and native pre-estate downland Elms. May 2026

When you look at the records of lichens the British Lichen Society holds for Sussex the vast majority come from countryside locations (woods, parks etc.) or churches; none come from trees in towns and cities. But its worth surveying urban trees, as lichens are abundant on the trunks of them, and rare lichens can be found on them

The trunk of a Swedish Whitebeam in Donald Hall Road, Bristol Estate (social housing) with lichens, including the rare Physcia tribacioides

Physcia tribacioides on this tree

An urban forest includes all trees and shrubs within the parks, gardens, streets, woodland and open spaces of a town or city as well as the wildlife living amongst them. This also includes any trees that are planted on land belonging to private landowners, institutions, and local authorities.

Urban forest data, covering trees in public/private urban spaces, reveals that UK canopy cover averages ~17% What is the urban forest? – Forest Research

Total tree canopy cover in rural Great Britain is approximately 16.7%, including both established woodlands and scattered trees. England’s Urban Forests – Using tree canopy cover data to secure the benefits of the urban forest – Forest Research

So, you are equally likely, on average, to encounter trees in urban and rural spaces; although the place you are most likely to meet trees is in a wood, be it countryside wood e.g. Plashett Wood between Lewes and Uckfield, or an urban wood like Brighton’s Stanmer Great Wood. However, in towns and cities, in roads and parks there are many trees; but almost none of these trees have been surveyed for epiphytic lichens. This brings into question the validity of statistical measures of abundance and the identification of critical species to protect (e.g. the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red lists of lichens)

Our statistical knowledge of lichen distribution and abundance is greatly impaired by sampling bias; the dislike of walking around urban areas to look at lichens. Even with countryside lichens there are very few recent observations of lichens in Sussex. The map below is from the British Lichen All species interactive map; only monads (1km x 1km squares) with boxes have some lichen records; many monads have no lichen records

All species interactive map | The British Lichen Society

The British Lichen Society records for Sussex are an observational, opportunistic dataset, as is the National Diversity Network; observational, opportunistic datasets have significant limitations for biodiversity analysis. However, they are all we have, and most records are the result of amateur naturalists making observation and submitting records in their own time. I would urge lichen recorders to spend more time in urban settings.

Captioned screen shot of Google maps satellite view of the Bristol Estate with the main areas of trees on the estate that I looked at for lichens (not all the trees on the estate)

The Swedish Whitebeam Sorbus intermedia, Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna (probably a C. monogyna cultivar), Cherry sp. Prunus sp. (probably a P. avium cultivar), Norway Maple, Acer platanoides and Holm Oak Qurcus ilex look like they were planted at the time of the building of the estate, commissioned by the County Borough of Brighton in the 50s, as they are located in lines along the roads or at the end of housing blocks. The Ash Fraxinus excelsior and Pine sp. (probably Austrian Pine, P. nigra), look as if they were planted much more recently, and they also follow road/path lines.

The Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus, Whitebeam Sorbus aria and Elder Sambucus nigra could have been planted, but more likely self-seeded, as they seem randomly located. Wych Elm, Field Elm, Whitebeam and Sycamore are native to the South Downs

The Elms Ulmus spp. (Wych Elm Ulmus glabra & probably Field Elm U. minor) look much older than the estate and were probably native Elms on the dip-slope of the down on which the estate was built. Because they are within the Brighton & Hove City Council control area, they were spared infection by Elm Disease. The majority of the Ems in the Brighton and Hove National Elm Collection are trees planted by Victorians and Edwardians in roads and public parks; but the Elms of the Bristol Estate (along with the solitary Field Elm at the bottom of the Craven Vale Estate) appear to be native Elms that have survived development around them and Elm Disease; they are very precious trees, and very under-appreciated.

The Bristol Estate is perched high above Brighton between the Downs and the sea with stunning views of land and sea. It was built in post war Britain to a cutting edge design of tower blocks and low rise flats. There were no houses on the development, but lots of nice green space. The first resident moved into Donald Hall Road in 1957, and a number of The Marquess of Bristol’s estate was Bristol Estate developments | Bristol Estate | My Brighton and Hove

The estate is named after the Marquess of Bristol. In 1828, Frederick William Hervey, First Marquess of Bristol 1769 -1859 bought a double house plot at the North West corner of Sussex Square, enabling him to build a house four times the volume of other houses in the square. ... The Marquess owned an extensive estate in Brighton stretching from the rear of Sussex Square to the racecourse and beyond north to Bear Road and west to the site of the Royal Sussex County Hospital. The Hervey family seat was, until 1998, at Ickworth, Suffolk. The Kemp Town Estate – Who’s been living in my house?

The lichens on trees which I recorded; there are undoubtedly more lichens on the trees than those I recorded; with photographs of some of them.

Sycamore

Puncetlia borreri

A very southern lichen

Phaeophyscia orbicularis

A common lichen on urban areas

Hawthorn

A cultivar

Hyperphyscia adglutinata

A common lichen on nutrient-enriched shaded trees in urban areas; very difficult to see as its very small

Lecanora chlarotera sensu latu

Lecanora chlarotera is impossible to separate from Lecanora hybocarpa without microscopy so I have recorded this is sensu lato “in a broad sense”; a term used commonly used in biology, to indicate that a scientific name is being used in a wide, inclusive sense, encompassing all its subordinate taxa or close relatives, rather than a narrow definition

Ash

Arthonia radiata

Arthonia radiata is a common pioneer species on twigs of smooth barked trees. It often grows with Lecidella elaeochroma and Lecanora chlarotera.

Cherry

Lecidella elaeochroma

Very common on well-lit smooth bark, especially twigs and small branches, often forming mosaics; moderately tolerant of both sulphur dioxide and ammonia pollution.

Holm Oak

A non-native evergreen Oak planted frequently by local authorities in urban settings; notoriously low in epiphyte diversity

Lecanora compallans

Lecanora compallans is very similar L. expallens and L. barkmaniana and can only be separated by chemical reagent spot testing, which I did.

Swedish Whitebeam

A small deciduous tree, widely planted as a street tree as well as in gardens and parks, spreading by seed and frequently self- or bird-sown in woodlands, cliffs, hedges, rocky pastures, limestone pavements and waste ground, usually on base-rich soils. The occurrence of old trees at remote locations in Scotland has led some to consider that it may have colonized naturally from Scandinavia, with the seeds having been dispersed by migrating thrushes. Sorbus intermedia (Ehrh.) Pers. in BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Physcia tribacioides

Four patches noted. Only one 19th century record of this lichen in Sussex.

ICUN red list status: Vulnerable, thus a section 41 species afforded special protection. British Lichen Society Status: Nationally Scarce

Found on sheltered, nutrient-rich bark and on +/- vertical walls and rocks. Most frequent in southern Britain.

Individual narrow, strap-like, convex, pale grey thalli lobes are small but can mass to extend over wide areas. The upper surface lacks the white flecks seen in Physcia caesia or marginal cilia seen in some other species. The marginal lobes can flare out to produce crenately incised apices. The soralia are mostly laminal, convex and can be so abundant as to cover parts of the thallus. The medulla reacts yellow when potassium hydroxide is applied. There is no reaction in the medulla of the similar P. tribacia. Physcia tribacioides | Lichens of Wales mainly in coastal areas in the south of the UK

A conservation Evaluation of British Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi

Physcia clementei

Closely adpressed pale-grey or whitish thallus with narrow, overlapping lobes. White undersurface with pale rhizines. Centre of thallus densely covered with short, granular isidia that can break down and become coarsely sorediate. Infrequently fertile in Britain Irish lichens – Physcia clementei

Seen on two trees

Also very rare in Sussex; but more common in the south than anywhere else ICUN red list status: Near Threatened; British Lichen Society Status: Nationally Scarce

Whitebeam

A small to medium-sized tree, native in scrub and open woodland on well-drained soils over chalk, limestone, and occasionally more acid substrates, and widespread as an introduction. A variable sexual diploid, responsible for driving evolution of many British endemics. Sorbus aria (L.) Crantz in BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Very common on Brighton street trees.

Physconia grisea

Wych Elm

A long-lived, deciduous tree of woodlands, especially on the upland fringe in northern Britain. It also occurs in hedges, field-borders and streamsides. It usually occurs in small numbers, typically forming mixed woodland with ash and sycamore on limestone and other base-rich soils. Unlike other British elms it is non-suckering and regularly produces fertile seed. It is a colonist of ungrazed grassland, rocky ground and waste and spoil heaps. This species hybridizes freely with U. minor in England, forming complex patterns of variation. …  It has declined locally as a result of Dutch Elm Disease in most regions since the 1970s, with few mature trees surviving.  Ulmus glabra Huds. in BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Physcia caesia

The bluish-grey thalli are roughly circular, up to 7 cm in diameter, and lie very close to the substrate. Lobes up to 1 mm wide are more obvious near the margin and are covered with white mottling. Light grey, powdery soralia occur as mounds on the surface, particularly towards the centre. Apothecia are rare. Physcia caesia

All the lichens I saw on the Bristol Estate

Ancient Low Weald Woodland and Well-Being: a hike through the woods east of Ashington, West Sussex to find Wild Service Trees (to record their lichens) and other ancient woodland indicator species. 20.04.26

My prime motivation for this walk was to record the lichens on the Wild Service Trees, Sorbus torminalis, in this area, as the British Lichen Society has no lichen records linked to Wild Service Trees. I have been recording the lichens on Wild Service Trees for two years now. Another motivation was to maintain my wellbeing. For the last 40 years I have had intermittent periods of poor metal health (mainly depression related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, with which I was diagnosed 25 years ago). But I live well, as a result of previous good therapeutic support (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy), anxiolytic medication (an SSSI), having a loving partner and friends, and undertaking volitional activities that I know boost my well-being i.e. walking in nature, having nature-based interests (species identification) that distract me from troubling thoughts and leads to a sense of purpose and meaning. I am aware that I have sufficient income to have stopped work early and have the time and resources to spend time in nature. That is a privilege. I was born in 1962 and was able to buy a house with my partner in 1991 (which we still live in, mortgage paid off) and I had a job (a local authority teacher) form which I could retire at 55 (with actuarial reduction). My well-being is in part because I have sufficient income; I am very aware that many people do not have sufficient income and time to do the volition activities that might support their well-being. I am doing my best through political volunteering to address that injustice.

The Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory is a great way of finding out where Wild Service Trees are across the country; especially now that the Lost Woods of the High Weald and Downs volunteer tree recorders have added many trees to the inventory for the Low Weald. I volunteer for the Lost Woods as a lichen-walk leader. I also volunteer for the RSPB Pagham Harbour as a lichen-walk leader and ranger. Communicating information about nature in Sussex to others is I think very meaningful. Nature and mental health are ecological systems; mutualism is the most useful interaction; helping others know more about nature helps them and my (and hopefully their) mental health.

David Bangs’ (2018) The Land of the Brighton Line: A field guide to the Middle Sussex and South East Surrey Weald has an excellent map of the location of Wild Service Trees around Cowfold; and fascinating information about the history of the Low Weald

Sorbus torminalis is a rare tree now, and is an ancient woodland indicator species. Climate change (global heating) and the loss of wild graving (boar, domestic pig, and cattle) may be significant factors in the loss of Wild Service Trees

P. Roper The distribution of the Wild Service Tree, Sorbus torminalis
(L.) Crantz, in the British Isles. Watsonia, 19, 209-229 (1993) Retrieved from the BSBI Achive 22.04.26: Although the fruit is avidly devoured by birds, Wild Service seems only rarely to be bird-sown (the seed, with its thin testa, is probably digested in the bird’s gut) (Prime 1960). In large, lowland forests wild boar and other animals, including domestic pigs and cattle, may well have been important agents for the dispersal and burial of Wild Service seed: wild boar are known to like the fruit and the effects of their trampling on woodland ecology have been well-documented (Conwentz 1895; Darling & Morton Boyd 1969; Goodwin 1975; Tansley 1968). Elsewhere seed was, and still is, extensively predated by birds, small animals and invertebrates so that almost none remains (Corbetm1974; Janzen 1970; Tansley 1968; Termena 1972).

The wild boar as well as burying much seed by rooting and trampling, destroyed many small rodents (Tansley 1968) as did the much higher numbers of predatory animals and birds that were formerly widespread. Populations of voles and mice have increased substantially as predators have declined and animals like rabbits, grey squirrels and pheasants (all of which eat seeds or seedlings of Wild Service) have been introduced and have spread.

Like many trees and shrubs within the family Rosaceae, Wild Service seeds need a period of some three months of near freezing temperatures before germination will take place (Gordon 1982). In places where winters are longer and colder than in much of Britain, germination will normally take place in the first spring following seed formation whereas in Britain two or more years are often needed and the seed is at risk for far longer. This is true of many tree seeds, but the first spring germination that would have taken place more regularly during periods when the climate was colder could have helped the Wild Service to reproduce from seed in slightly larger numbers in those days.

While a cooler, less continental, climate and increased seed and seedling predation coupled with other factors may have reduced populations of the Wild Service and prevented recolonisation, its survival in ancient hedges and woodlands has been helped by its ability to reproduce from suckers.

Wild Services live a long time: Mitchell (pers. comm., 1975) has estimated the age of large old treesto be around 200 years and many of these may themselves have arisen from suckers produced from an earlier generation of trees. Some mature populations – that in Epping Forest, for example – have been shown to originate largely from suckers (Uoyd 1977) and O. Buckle (pers. comm., 1975) was of the view that virtually all the Wild Services that he knew of in West Sussex (for which he wasB.S.B.I. vice-county recorder) had originated from suckers. No one knows how far back these sequences may have extended since the original seeds germinated, but it is clear that the species can survive for long periods before conditions recur in which seeds germinate freely. Sust beneath the soil surface).

More evidence has come to light to show that the tree was formerly more abundant than today, though probably never common in most areas. There is no doubt that the species is found almost exclusively in ancient woodlands and hedges or on rocky outcrops, unless planted, and its value as an indicator of primary woodland is confirmed.

Wild Service Trees of the Low Weald

Whilst Wild Service Trees are rare nationally, the Low Weald of Sussex is one of their strongholds; so you can discover them on your own when you know what you are looking for. In my experience most Wild Service Trees in Sussex are multi-stem trees (historically coppiced many years ago)

In early May their flowers are characteristic:

Photo from the Woodland Trust:Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis) – Woodland Trust 5-petalled flowers arranged in loose, flat-topped clusters (up to 12cm across). All the other photos in the post were taken by me

Leaf buds

A tree north west of Cowfold, found using Dave Bangs’ map, on 16th April 2024

As Wild Service Trees only flower for a few weeks, sometime between late May and early June, for most of the year look for the characteristic leaf shape is the probably the most reliable way of identifying them

A tree in Staffhurst Wood SSSI on 30th July 2025.  Surrey, near the Kent border, in the Surrey part of Low Weald, approximately 3 miles south of Limpsfield and close to Oxted

Leaves emerging. Photo form 20.07.26. Capite Wood

Leaves emerging. Photo form 20.07.26. Capite Wood

The leaves are broad and angular, similar to field maples or hawthorn. Some lower lobes may sit almost at right angles to the leaf stalk. They are dark green on both sides, though they may have a slightly paler, velvety appearance underneath. Young leaves are covered in silvery, glistening hairs, which disappear to leave a shiny surface. The leaves are arranged alternately on the twig. 

Autumn Leaves, a Cowfold Tree, 25th October 2025. Looking at the ground may help you identify Wild Service Trees in Autumn and Winter. A photo from the base of a Wild Service Tree near Cowfold

In late Summer their fruit, “chequers”, are very characteristic. A photo from Staffhurst Wood

In Sussex and Kent the chequers were used to flavour beer called Chequers Ale, and children used to eat the berries after drying them

To get to Ashington I took the train from Brighton to Worthing, and then got the Metrobus 23 bus to Ashington (every 30 minutes, journey time 30 minutes). Here is a map of my walk

The location of Wild Service Trees I found through accessing the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory accessed online 19.04.26 and filtering for Wild Service Trees. This inventory can be accessed for free. To search for trees click here: tree search page

Here are the Wild Service Trees I found through the Ancient Tree Inventory, transferred to OS pins, from grid references given by the Ancient Tree Inventory. This is a screen shot from the on-line OS explore retrieved 23/04/26 © Crown copyright and database rights 2025 Ordnance Survey under license 1156 0223 8260 7202. It is necessary to purchase a subscription to access OS maps online. I would recommend purchasing a subscription for all the OS maps in the UK, as you can access this on a Smart Phone or your laptop or tablet, and the GPS tracker tells you where you are; important if you get lost. I found these trees by having the OS App running on my smart phone whilst walking in the woods and occasionally looking at the GPS pointer to tell me where I was in relation to the trees.

Some of the Wild Service Trees I saw (shown on the map above)

Some of the epiphytes on the these Wild Service Trees.

A note on my recording. The lichens below are all iNaturalist records. For all species I use iRecord as well as iNaturalist. I am a pan-species naturlaist. However, as there is currently no county recorder for lichens for West and East Sussex, iRecord records for lichens submitted by are not verified and they don’t go anywhere and can’t be accessed by the general public.. The British Lichen Society do not accept records from iRecord or iNaturalist; records have to be sent directly to the British Lichen Society using their spread sheet. I do this and send a copy of the spread sheet to the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre

I use iNaturalist to record lichens (and everything I see) as it makes my records easily available to the general public. I do not use iNaturalist AI photo recognition, I use my knowledge and these lichen field guides and flora.

You can purchase at Books & Guides | The British Lichen Society

You can purchase at: Lichens of Ireland & Great Britain: A Visual Guide to Their Identification (2-Volume Set) | NHBS Field Guides & Natural History

This is the standard flora of Lichens in Great Brighton and Ireland. It is out of print and extremely difficult to buy second-hand, but the keys to genera from this volume are now available as a downloadable pdfs on the Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland webpage for free: https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/identification/lgbi3

All of these records are lichens except Metzgeria furcata and Frullania dilatata which are liverworts. N.B If you take a photo of anything with a Smart Phone with the Google Photos app installed on your phone Google (if GPS tracking is turned on) adds the X (Easting) and Y (Northing) of the international Cartesian coordinate system, and a visible Google Maps location. You can use Grid Reference Finder to covert X (Easting) Y (Northing) to a British OS grid reference if you find that easier. So you can find out where I have seen my sightings.

Bigger photos of some of the records above. These are very common lichens you may see on Wild Service Trees in Sussex

Evernia prunastri Oak Moss (rubbish vernacular name as it’s a lichen not a moss, and it doesn’t just grow on Oaks)

Hypotrachnya revoluta, Powdered Loop Lichen

Ramalina farinacea, Dotted Ramalina

Lecidella elaeochroma Lecidella Lichen

Flavoparmelia caperata Common Greenshield Lichen

Bluebell Woodlands and Colour Field Paining

An aspect of my well-being is experiencing visual pleasure in nature and visual art. I find blocks of colour in nature and art very pleasing!

Bluebells are an ancient woodland indicator species; they are extremely abundant in the Low Weald at the moment (April 2026)

Jill Campbell, Summer Blue n.d.

Mark Rothko No. 61 (Rust and Blue) 1953

Ronnie Landfield, Rite of Spring, 1985

with Wood Spurge, anther ancient woodland indicator species, in front

Ray Penn Colour Field Series #7 Painting, 2018

A musical interlude.

I felt full of positive emotion walking round these woods on Monday; it felt a wonderful world.

But, in 1967, when What a Wonderful World was written, and when Louis Armstrong sang it in 1968, the world wasn’t wonderful: the Vietnam War;,the Six-Day War between Israel Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and Nigerian Biafra Civil War were leading to many deaths.

Perhaps a message of the first two verses of What a Wonderful World is that focussing on nature (and other positive things) – a volitional slef-control of what you focus upon, whatever is going in the world, can lead to positive emotion, and thus increased resilience. Positive emotion can reinvigorate energy, and develop the courage, needed to stand up against wrongs e.g. war and climate change.

For me focussing on nature makes me feel good; but it does not lead me to deny that terrible things are happening, including global heating change and habitat loss; it increases my resilience and energy to try and do something about that. It is about balance; having positive experiences in nature means I am happier and more able to fight for nature; and Nature really needs our help; see Chris Packham’s introduction to the National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature

And good things did happen in 1967. Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army, citing his religious beliefs as a Nation of Islam minister and his opposition to the Vietnam War; although, as a result, he was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title, had his boxing license suspended, and was convicted of draft evasion (which was eventually overturned). Living well does not always entail continuous pleasure.

Walking around these woodlands slowly and attentively certainly created positive emotion for me, and this enhanced my resilience; that’s one of the reasons I do it – A LOT! But it is not just the visual pleasure, and the focussed attention to nature, that enhances my well-being; recording nature, so that what is out there is known to as many as possible, feels meaningful and congruent with my values; well-being is an outcome of meaning and purpose.

I don’t want lots of people not to have know what we had in nature untll after its gone

Other Ancient Woodland Indicator Species

Dog’s Mercury

Butcher’s Broom

Midland Hawthorn

How to differentiate between Midland Hawthorn and Common Hawthorn: Midland hawthorn tends to flower one to two weeks earlier than common hawthorn. It has twin stigmas in the flowers and twin seeds in the haws. Midland hawthorn has shallowly lobed leaves – cut less than half way to the mid-rib. Whereas common hawthorn leaves are deeply lobed, cut more than half way to the mid-rib. Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) – Woodland Trust In flower, it’s ease – two stigmas (green sticky-up bits) = Midland Hawthorn –

Wood Anemone

Yellow Archangel

Pendulous Sedge

Wood Spurge

Wild Cherry

Other Vascular Plants

Figwort, surrounded by Tormentil

Greater Stichwort

Little Mouse Ear

Pink Ivey-leaved Speedwell

Thyme-leaved Speedwell

White Dead Nettle

Common Dog Violet

Cuckooflower / Lady’s-Smock

Bush Vetch

Bulbous Buttercup

Pedunculate Oak

Covered in the lichen Dendrographa decolorans

More Pedunculate Oaks

with Gold Dust Lichen, Chrysothrix candelaris

Huge Pedunculate Oaks in an ancient hedgerow; ancient hedgerows are more likely to have large ancient oaks than ancient woodlands. In ancient woodland tt is the ecological continuity of the use of land as woodland that is ancient (leading to the presence of ancient indicator vascular plants, that take 100s of years to spread) not necessarily individual current trees that that are ancient

Some useful on-line resources for identifying vascular plants

Identification guides – BSBI Website

How to Identify Trees: A Simple Guide – Woodland Trust

Species Archive – Plantlife

And here’s two insects:

Beautiful Demoiselle (female, brown wings)

Orange-Tip Butterfly (female, wing tips not orange)

and finally pigs. I love pigs. I used to muck out pigs when my grandfather was an agricultural worker on the farm of the former St Mary’s convent in Rottingdean. That made me a vegetarian.

These pigs are free range, living the best life they can as livestock, on a small farm on the Wiston Estate. This farm has mixed livestock and arable, run by a tenant farmer who produces food and protects nature through nature-friendly farming. In a time of food insecurity and habitat loss this is the sort of farming we need. We don’t need huge agri-business farms putting profit above nature, and, in my humble opinion, we don’t need more rich landed gentry “rewilding” their farms to provide high-cost meat that few people can afford, and selling safaris to see nature that few people can afford, when you can see nature for free by walking in it and protect nature and produce affordable food in small nature friendly farming, but that requires governments financial support and that requires macro economic policies that redistribute not just wait for growth.

All opinions in the blog are my own and not those of any organisation I volunteer for

Sim Elliott BMus, PGCE, MA (History of Art), MSc (Applied Positive Psychology)

What I saw while being a volunteer RSPB ranger at Pagham Harbour on the path to Church Norton: fascinating lichens, and some vascular plants, as well as the birds. Easter Monday. 06.04.26

You can get to RSPB Pagham Harbour from Brightin, where I live, by taking the train from Brighton to Chichester (55 minutes, 2 fast an hour and 1 slow train an hour,1h 13m) then get the 51 bus from Chichester bus station, oppodite rail  station. The 51 bus from the bus station goes ditectly to outside the RSPB reserve (buses go evey 30 minutes, journwley time, 30mins).

It was a sunny but windy day, and there were many visitors. I chatted to about 45 people. The main objective was to remind visitors that the vegetated shingle part of Church Norton Spit (the harbour side) is now closed to visitors whilst the Ringer Plovers and Oystercatchers are nesting.

RSPB Wild Cards game (until 31st May 2026)

Egg‑splore the great outdoors with our new Wild Cards and uncover the hidden heroes of nature as you explore our nature reserves! From Easter until the end of May, pick up a special pack of playing cards (£3 at the reserve) to take on your adventure and compare the strengths, superpowers and fun facts of some of spring’s most familiar species. Track down the boards, play together to decide which creature will reign as the ultimate spring champion! Don’t forget to scan the codes and watch as amazing animals burst into life through augmented reality right before your eyes. RSPB Events

At a brief stop at the Ferry Pool. Black-Tailed Godwits (in blooming plumage ready for their rerun to Iceland), Shelducks, Avocets, Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Shoveler Ducks were the most noticeable.

Black-Tailed Godwits & Herring Gulls

Mallards, an Avocet, a Shoveler and a Shelduck

Walking Down the path from the Ferry Pool to Church Norton

Blackthorn with buds and flowers are very prominent fruticose (dangly) lichens of the Ramalina genus

The Ramalina lichens in Blackthorn and Hawthorn are moslty R. farinacea and R. fastigiata – both very common, but easy to differentiate:

R. farinacea has whiteish splodges on their lobes (soredia: vegetative [non-sexual] reproductive propagules consisting of packets of fungal hyphae and the alga)

R. fastigiata has little satellite dishes at the ends of its lobes (apothecia: sexual reproductive propagules containing fungal spores)

(photo 1) R. farinacea; (2) R. fastigiata (3); R. fastigiata with Lecidella eleachroma

Lecidella eleachroma is extremely common on all Pagham Blackthorns and Hawthorns. It is a crustose lichen (a crust on a truck, branch or twig, although crustose liches grow on rocks/stones too, but not this one) with a pale grey thallus (body of the lichen) and little round black apothecia.

A lichen is not a single organism; it is a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and algae and/or cyanobacteria, called photobionts. The which can produce simple sugars by photosynthesis. In contrast, fungi are ‘heterotrophic’ and require an external source of food. The fungi build the structure of the lichen thallus, within which they provide conditions for a long term, stable association with their photobionts. What is a Lichen? | The British Lichen Society

On the vegetated shingle harbour-side path, before you get to the coastal Oaks:

Thrift, clover-like and pink; a maritime plant of cliffs, shingle and sand dunes.

Cladonia rangiformis lichen, a false reindeermoss – looks like dried grass; grows in soil i.e. it is a terricolous lichen

Under our feet at this point are pebbles covered in lichens that few people notice. On these pebbles there is lots of lichen Rhizocarpon reductum (grey thallus with black apothecia); a pioneer species of siliceous rock and pebbles. Flint is highly siliceous, so it gets lichens you would typically see on upland granite.

Detail below (photo from Rhizocarpon reductum – Aspen Ecology). The black blobs are apothecia; fungal fruiting bodies containing spores

On the pebbles there is a version of this lichen called Rhizocarpon reductum var. fimbriata which consist of mainly a black/dark green web-like prothallus (a thallus that is free of algae; just fungal hyphae) [thallus: the part of a lichen that is not involved in reproduction; the “body” or “vegetative tissue”] connected to apothecia. This is very common at Pagham on pebbles on the vegetated shingle of the paths and Church Norton Spit; but you need to pick up a pebble and look at it with a handlens

As a long term Dr Who nerd as well as lichen nerd, I wonder whether the designer of the Kaled Mutant in The Eve of The Daleks (2022) based the design on R. reductum var. fimbriata

In a creek, some Greenshanks

On the ground just to the west of a gorse, on the path to the coastal oaks, is Cladonia foliacea. In the UK it is a rarer lichen confined to coastal dunes and vegetated shingle. In the Netherlands it is is called Summer Snow lichen, as its squamules (basal leafy lobes) turn over when desiccated revealing their white undersides.

Pixie Cups (lichens of the genus Cladonia) grow in the soils between the pebbles. Probably Cladonia pyxidata Pebbled Pixie Cup. There are many pixie cup species in the genus Cladonia

There are several pixie cups you can see at Pagham. I have seenL

  • Pebbled Pixie Cup (Cladonia pyxidata): One of the most widespread types, often found on bare soil or old trees. It is characterised by funnel-shaped cups that are typically coated with tiny, granular scales.
  • Mealy Pixie Cup (Cladonia chlorophaea): Frequently growing on rotting logs and acidic soil, this species is noted for having a “mealy” or powdery appearance due to fine soredia (reproductive granules) on its surface.
  • Gray’s Pixie Cup (Cladonia grayi): Highly similar to the mealy pixie cup but contains grayanic acid, which causes it to glow light blue under ultraviolet light.
  • Trumpet Lichen (Cladonia fimbriata): Known for its very slender stalks that flare abruptly into a neat, regular cup at the top, often described as looking like a miniature golf tee.
  • Madame’s Cup Lichen (Cladonia coccifera) Distinguished by yellowish to grey-green stalks and bright red fruiting bodies (apothecia) on the rim of the cup.

The above list was created by Google Gemini AI

On Church Norton Spit, in the part currently closed, I have seen Diploschistes muscorum, Cowpie Lichen. This is a lichen that parasitises mostly Pixie Cup lichens and the mosses around them. Parasitic symbiosis is a very rare relationship for lichens, mostly liches get all their energy from their photobiont (alga or cyanobacteria) (mutualistic symbiosis) not from another lichen

Lichens on the coastal Pedunculate Oaks

Presumably these Oaks started growing on more solid ground and the edge of the harbour has moved to meet them, as they would have got to this size if they started growing next to water.

They have the very common lichens of Oak, especially Common Greenshield Lichen (Flavoparmelia caperata) and Black Stone Flower lichen (Parmotrema perlatum); one of the spices in biriyani sauce

Parmotrema perlatum; Flavoparmelia caperata

But they also have the very rare Inodema subabietinum on parts of their lower trunks, above the high water mark, and on the stems of the Ivy on the oaks. This rarer lichen can only be separated from other similar species with chemical reagent spot tests of their pycnidial pruina (the “dust” on the pycnidia ‘ pycnidia are small, flask-shaped, asexual reproductive structures produced by the fungal partner (mycobiont), that appear on the lichen surface; they look like acne in Inodema subabietinum & Lecanactis abietina). If the pruina do not go red in response to a drop of sodium hypochlorite, and response to potassium hydroxide turns lemon-yellow, the lichen is Inodema subabietinum not the more common Lecanactis abietina (whose pruina turn red in sodium hypochlorite). It’s distribution is mostly coastal, at the bottom of coastal oaks in the south. It’s an international responsibility lichen i.e. the UK has a significant proportion of the total global population.

Just inside the harbour mouth I saw quite a few Sandwich Terns and a Little Tern (couldn’t get a photo of the Little Tern)

A collective art project titled ‘Looking Through’.

View finding frames have been placed at considered spots throughout the nature reserve, encouraging visitors to pay close attention to the details and subtle changes in the landscape and wildlife as we move through the seasons.

In the education hub, you can meet the four Sussex based artists leading this project. They will be exhibiting drawings, prints, film, photography and music exhibited, all in response to Pagham Harbour’s journey from Winter to Spring.

There will also be free workshops taking place where you can make you own view finders and concertina sketchbooks for keeping visual diaries of your walks around Pagham Harbour. 🎨 Art event at RSPB Pagham Harbour this… – RSPB Pagham Harbour | Facebook

On the spit.

As I walked on the spit to the east of the fenced-0ff area, there were lots of White Arses, Oenanthe oenanthe, on the fence posts. “Wheatear” is a Victorian change to the vernacular name because their historical vernacular name was deemed it too vulgar for polite society.

The bit of the spit that is fenced off is vegetated shingle, which is a very important habitats for lichens. But there is some vegetate shingle outside the exclusion area with many interesting lichens, including:

Oyster Shells on, with Candelariella spp. (Goldspeck) lichens, this is probably C. aurella.

There is also Circinaria contorta on them – handlens needed for these two

Both lichens are common on calcareous substrates (rocks, concrete etc). Oyster shells are ca. 35% calcium carbonate CaCO3.

Pebble with Xanthoria aureola Seaside Sunburst Lichen

Sea Campion

Physcia adscendens

Typically a corticolous lichen i.e. a lichen of trees but also grows on vegetated shingle.

Purple, orange, black & grey

Sea Kale (purple when young), Xanthoria aureola and Rhizocarpon reductum

Sea Kale seems so abundant, as we see it a lot on the shingle of Pagham and Church Norton spits; but is nationally rare and on the Sussex Rare Plant Register

A forest of moss spore capsules on the vegetated shingle; probably a Bryum sp. moss

Balls of Cladonia rangiformis on the beach; they blow in the wind like tumble weed.

The stunted wind-blown Oaks gwoing toward the Severals are covered in lichens

includingL

Ramalina fastigata and Lecanora chlarotera s.l. (s.l. = sensu lato i.e. in the broadest sense, either this lichen or a lichen very similar in the same genus)

Lecidella eleachroma (with black “button” apothecia) and Physcia adscendens (top)

Melanelixia glabratula Polished Camouflage Lichen

Physcia aipolia and Melanelixia glabratula

Xanthoria parietina (orange)

All of the above on one branch

Linnets at the Severals

Walking back from Church Norton to the Ferry Pool

Oystercatcher

Spot the Buff-tailed Bumblebee on Gorse

Peacock Butterfly

A Hoverfly possibly Syrphus torvus Hairy-eyed Flower Fly

Symbolic nature and real nature in Nunhead Cemetery, London. 23.03.26

Nunhead train station is next door to Nunhead Cemetery,  Linden Grove, SE15, so it is easy to get to.

Perhaps the least known, but most attractive, of the great Victorian Cemeteries of London. Consecrated in 1840, it is one of the seven great Victorian cemeteries established in a ring around the outskirts of London. It contains examples of the magnificent monuments erected in memory of the most eminent citizens of the day, which contrast sharply with the small, simple headstones marking common, or public, burials. It’s formal avenue of towering limes and the Gothic gloom of the original Victorian planting gives way to paths which recall the country lanes of a bygone era Nunhead Cemetery – Friends of Nunhead Cemetery

The burial grounds were laid out as a lawn cemetery with a linked scheme of gently curving hard paths, boundary plantings and scattered clumps of trees. Most of the original path system survives (2010) and although many memorials are overgrown with scrub, ivy and saplings, specimen trees from the original planting survive including holm oak, lime, plane, yew, beech and a gingko. Nunhead Cemetery (All Saints) , Non Civil Parish – 1000824 | Historic England

The first symbol you see arriving at Nunhead are serpents (ouroboroi) eating their own tails, representing eternal life, at the top of the pillars of the main entrance to the cemetery.

Since Roman times, the inverted torch has been a symbol of death https://pittsburghcemeteries.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/the-inverted-torch/

The inverted torch symbolizes death, and the burning flame, which would normally be extinguished when the torch was turned upside down due to a lack of oxygen, symbolizes the flame of eternal life and the Christian belief in resurrection. The soul of the deceased continues to exist in the next realm. Call Me Taphy Engraved: But the Soul Burns On…

The Friends on Nunhead Cemetery incorporates the ouroboros in their logo

But whilst ouroboroi may be used at Nunhead as a symbol of Christian resurrection, the origin of ouroboroi is pre-Christian.The first known use of an Ouroboros is on one of the shrines enclosing the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

From Djehouty, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Oroboros is a key symbol in Gnosticism and Alchemy. A dragon-like ouroboros represented in a late medieval Byzantine alchemical manuscript written in Greek. Theodoros Pelekanos, Crete, 1478 (vellum)

Anonymous medieval illuminator; uploader Carlos Adanero, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Whist Ouroboroi are often interpreted as representing eternal life, they also represent the transmigration of souls (from snakes’ ability to shed their skins) The snake biting its own tail is a fertility symbol in some religions: the tail is a phallic symbol and the mouth is a womb-like symbol. The Ouroboros is not traditionally a Christian symbol; it originated in ancient Egyptian iconography and Greek magical traditions. While sometimes adopted by Christian mystics to symbolize God’s eternity, it is primarily associated with Gnosticism, alchemy, and esoteric philosophies. I think it unlikely that  James Bunstone Bunning, the architect of the gates, didn’t know of the Egyptian and esoteric associations with the Ouroboros as he was a member of Society of Antiquaries of London

The East Lodge House. Two matching lodges to east and west, designed by Bunning c1840 and listed grade II, were built in neo-classical style inside the grounds adjacent to the gates. The two-storey lodges built from yellow brick face onto the main drive, steps leading up to the central doors on the first floors. Nunhead Cemetery (All Saints) , Non Civil Parish – 1000824 | Historic England

The three projections from the pediment are highly stylised leaves.

The Avenue of Limes is a defining feature of the cemetery, leading from the entrance to the Anglican Chapel. These are probably Common Lime (Tilia x europaea)

It leads main entrance gate is located on Linden Grove.

In one of the Limes was a Jay

Two typical Victorian monuments:

Detail. The triangle at the top of the Gothic memorial is decorated with symbolic foliage

There are many planted Yews in the cemetry (and some self-seeded Yew)

Yew trees, darker and older in reputation, carried associations of immortality and eternal life. Frequently planted in churchyards in Britain, the yew’s longevity made it both sentinel and witness, a tree that outlived generations of the dead beneath it. The Language of the Dead: Victorian Mourning Flowers and the Gardens of Grief | by Kittie Paranormal | Feb, 2026 | Medium

Many of the graves and memorials are covered in Ivy.

Ivy, clinging stubbornly to stone, symbolized attachment and eternal connection. Even in decay, it held fast. In Victorian cemeteries, these plants were not chosen randomly. They were messages rooted in soil. The Language of the Dead: Victorian Mourning Flowers and the Gardens of Grief | by Kittie Paranormal | Feb, 2026 | Medium

Whilst Yew and Ivy may have been planted the very overgrown nature of the cemetery now is not probably what its Victorian designers intended. Nunhead Cemetery was originally called the Cemetery of All Saints. It was designed by the architect James Bunstone Bunning, who later became architect to the City of London. His vision was for a garden cemetery, with a mix of lawn, tree-lined avenues and winding paths.

After the cemetery became full, its owner, the London Cemetery Company, faced spiralling maintenance costs. In 1969, the company ceased trading and Nunhead Cemetery closed its gates.Vandalism and decay meant many of Nunhead’s buildings and monuments were seriously damaged. Other parts of the cemetery became very overgrown, as nature reclaimed the space.To avoid the site being sold to developers, Southwark Council bought the cemetery in 1975. Since then the council and Friends of Nunhead Cemetery have worked together on maintenance.

Over time, parts of the cemetery have been restored, … The Anglican Chapel, damaged by Second World War bombs and then by an arson attack, has been stabilised.

But wandering off the main pathways can leave visitors feeling like they’ve stumbled into a woodland wilderness. One scientist has recorded more than 200 different insect species in the cemetery, including a number of rare beetles.Bird watchers have also noted dozens of different species in the grounds – among them tawny owls, wrens and the green parakeets familiar to south Londoners.

In 2003, Nunhead Cemetery was designated as a Local Nature Reserve. Nunhead Cemetery | London Museum

A Crow taking off

Love amongst the Ring-Necked (Green) Parakeets

The Anglican Chapel uses much foliage decoration.

Chest tomb with a foliate head.

High-up round the top of the Anglican Chapel there are a serious of grotesques; one of them appears to be anpther foliate head:

The Anglican Chapel

Whilst foliate heads are world-wide symbols; and are pre-Christian, it is likely that a foliate head on a tomb is a UK cemetery was intended as a Christian symbol: “disgorging foliate head motif” was part of a new repertoire imported into England from northern France after the Norman conquest. It is a Christian/Judaic-derived motif relating to the legends and medieval hagiographies of the Quest of Seth – the three twigs/seeds/kernels planted below the tongue of post-fall Adam by his son Seth (provided by the angel of mercy responsible for guarding Eden) shoot forth, bringing new life to humankind. The Christian history of the Green Man motif | Folklore and mythology | The Guardian

Field Elm

Apparently there are still approximately 4,000 Elms in Greater London. It is estimated that there are approximately 8.4 million trees in Greater London.

Red Dead Nettle

These Sycamore trees were covered in lichens, mainly Lecanora chlarotera, Lecidella eleachroma and Xanthoria partietina

Palm on tombstone

The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Gravestone Symbols- Meaning and Inspiration | Stoneletters

Fern on tombstone

Ferns symbolise sincerity and solitude, because they can be found in remote places. The Symbolism of Victorian Funerary Art – Undercliffe Cemetery

Passion Flowers

The passion flower is a trailing, climbing flower which lends itself to being carved on monuments and crosses. It is called a passion flower as it is believed to symbolise Christ’s suffering on the cross.

The Passion flower is a symbol of faith and suffering.  It is believed that it is so named, because of  Jacomo Bosio, a scholar in Rome, who was writing a treatise on the Crucifixion.  A Mexican friar showed him a passion flower and Jacomo included it in his work. Carole Tyrrell 2024 Symbol of the Month – the passionflower – shadows fly away

And on my way out of the cemetery I saw a Crow prancing

From their cleverness and adaptability to their association with transformation and psychic abilities, crows hold a special place in our collective consciousness. See: Crow Symbolism and Meaning: Exploring the Wise Bird | HowStuffWorks

A walk from Newick to Scaynes Hill. Low Weald to High Weald. Pasture, woods & commons. Trees, lichens, wild flowers and building. 16.03.26

I took the Compass 121 bus to Newick from Lewes (having got to Lewes on a Brighton and Hove 29 bus) and from Newich I walked through Newick Common, Fletching Common, Lane End Common, Warr’s Wood, an unnamed wood, Wapsbourne Wood, Hammer Wood, Hamshaw Wood .Scayne’s Common, and Costells Wood to Scaynes Hill. At Scaynes Hill I took the Compass 31 bus to Uckfield, and retuned to Brighton on the 29.

Warr’s Wood (1); the unnamed wood (2); Wapsbourne Wood (3); Hammer Wood (4); Hamshaw Wood (5), and Costells Wood (6) are all listed as ancient woodland by Nature England

Most of the walk was in the Low Weald, but Costells Wood [and Wapsboune Woods], is just within the southern boundary of the High Weald National Character Area (NCA), where it meets the Low Weald NCA. Woodland Trust Costells Wood Management Plan

Extract from Nature England National Character Area High Weald Context Map showing the boundary between the High and Low Weald. In reality, here is no hard and fast boundary between High and Low. Warr’s Wood clearly has a low weald biological and landscape character and Costells Wood has a high weald biological and landscape character with its ghyll; Wapsbourne Wood, although technically feels more interstitial

Low Weald character: Land use is still predominantly agricultural, and largely pastoral owing to the heavy clay soils … Most grassland has been agriculturally improved, but fragments of unimproved, floristically rich meadow and pasture are still present.

Fields are generally small and irregular, many formed by woodland clearance or ‘assarting’ in the medieval period and often bounded by shaws or formed from cleared land along woodland edges. Many of the especially species-rich hedgerows in this area may be remnants of larger woodland and often follow the pattern of medieval banks or ditches. …

Like the High Weald, the Low Weald is densely wooded … [with] Numerous and extensive blocks of ancient, semi-natural coppiced woodland … Oak is the principal tree and, despite centuries of clearances for settlement, transport and agriculture, significant areas of ancient woodland survive. Low Weald – National Character Area Profiles

Natural England on-line map of Ancient Woodland: Ancient Woodland (England) | Natural England Open Data Geoportal

Route taken from Newick to Warr’s Wood (pink line) OS online maps: Detailed maps & routes to explore across the UK | OS Maps

Route taken from Warr’s Wood to Scaynes Hill (pink line)

When I am walking I pay attention to whatever takes my eye so whilst this route was planned around visiting certain woodlands commons, I found interesting things on the paths between these.

Newick

The Newick C19 Water Pump.

Newick Common

Current OS Map Detailed maps & routes to explore across the UK | OS Maps

Not named on the map, Newick Common is the small lime-yellow triangle of land. Lime-Yellow in wooded areas of OS maps indicates areas of public access land. This may be National Trust, Woodland Trust or Forestry Commissions land, or it may be privately own land where there are still rights of common.

OS Six Inch Map 18302-1860 Georeferenced Maps viewer – Map images – National Library of Scotland Showing Newick Common as considerably larger than 2026

Newick Common is the triangle of land located between Newick Hill and Jackies Lane (outlined in red on the map below). It was originally much larger in extent, including a lot of the land between Jackies Lane and Western Road, but development over the years has meant that it has been reduced to its current size. A lot of small trees and scrub have grown up in this area, but we know from talking to people who grew up in the village that 50-60 years ago it used to be much more open. In conjunction with the Lewes District Council rangers, we are therefore trying to remove some of the trees and scrub, to restore a more varied habitat and increasae biodiversity Newick Rootz: Newick Common

On the common, there was Wild Garlic. Wild Daffodils and Early Dog Violet; that are often associated with ancient woodland

Fletching Common

I can find little on the history of Fletching Common. It is now continuously wooded. Part of it now a campsite, Wyld Wood Campsite, part of it is just woodland. The trees in the woodland were previously managed; as their are many old coppice hazel stool, and pollarded Pedunculate Oak and, curiously, coppiced Pedunculate Oak, some which appear to have no main trunks.

Interestingly Fletching Common is listed on the Government’s database of commons Copy_Common_Land_CPHs.xlsx but Newick is not; but on the OS maps, Newick is marked as public access land but Fletching is not

OS Six Inch Map 18302-1860 Georeferenced Maps viewer – Map images – National Library of Scotland showing the woodland of Fletching Common as Hangman’s Rough; here is no historic provenance for the name Wyld Wood; presumably the owners of it didn’t fancy a Hangman’s Rough Campsite!

Coppiced Oak

Pollarded Oak

What looks like an old Coppiced Pedunculate Oak with no main trunk:

There was very limited ground flora. The lichen flora was the common lichens you would expect on Oak

Flavoparmelia caperata, Common Greenshield Lichen

Ramalina farinacea, Oak Moss Lichen

Between Fletching Common and North Lane Common

This stunning old Oak pollard was in a field. Often the most spectacular trees are not in woodlands but hedgerows and fields. Field old trees are possibly relicts of cleared woodland, when trees are left for shade for famed animals

Lane End Common

Lane End Common is one of the five Chailey Commons. A Compact and dry woodland heath rich in insects and wood ants. Chailey Commons Society Five Different Commons

Southern Wood Ant, Formica rufa

Whilst Lane End Common is not designated as ancient woodland, there were some ancient forest indicator species in the wooded parts of the common, including Primroses, Bluebells, Wild Daffodils and Honeysuckle

In North End Common there is a lot of archaeological interest, including the medieval route on the NE boundary of the Common – known in the 17th century as the ‘Lewes to Grinstead Way’, probably 14th century or earlier, shown on a 17th century estate map, and on 1st edition OS map running NW/SE on the NE boundary of the Common to the old Ouse crossing, thought to be between Wapsbourne and Sheffield Bridge. It runs SE to Red Gill, Jackies Lane, Oxbottom, Cockfield Lane and eventually to Lewes (known as the pack horse way)  (GR TQ 404205) Chailey Commons Society – Archaeology

Other archeolgical featires of the common include:

  • Sunken lanes/braided tracks – 5 x parallel banks and dips (running SE/NW), bisected by the railway cutting and are likely to be earlier than the Lewes to E Grinstead Way.   Possibly animal migratory routes and post-medieval track-ways. Disappear in the mid-area of the Common, but emerge on the same axis in the Northern triangle point(GR TQ 405223).
  • Boundaries on the NE edge show an established bank topped by overgrown multi stemmed hornbeam with signs of coppicing and pollarding, and a ditch on the Commons side.
  • Ridge and furrow towards the West boundary opposite Lane End Farm – 6 or more parallel umbrella shaped ridges and furrow dips (N/S), medieval(?), manmade and possibly a system for managing the cycle for harvesting brakes, fern and ling and allocating in rotation? (GR TQ 402223)
  • Sand quarry, indicated by sandy soil, a deep cleft and spoil heap on the S boundary W of the car-park. (GR TQ 402222) Chailey Commons Society – Archaeology

Theses relate to the ancient rights of common: rights to collect bracken, fern, twigs and ling (or matted heather) for thatching and fuel (discussed on earlier walks). Chailey Commons Society Archaeology

OS Six Inch Map 18302-1860 Georeferenced Maps viewer – Map images – National Library of Scotland seemingly showing the the SE-NW banks and dips; as well as the Lewes to Eeat Grinstead Way.  

There were several attempts by landowners to enclose Commons and deprive Commoners of their rights.  For example, in the mid 17th century ‘anger resulted in physical harm to persons, when inhabitants of Fletching pulled down the fences Sir Henry Compton had erected around part of Chailey Common.  His stewards followed the men home and wounded one by gunfire.  This dispute was settled in the Court of the Star Chamber.’ Brandon (2003) p121. Brandon P (2003) The Kent and Sussex Weald, Phillimore. Chailey Commons Society Archaeology

E.P. Thompson (1963) The Making of the English Working Class)described the parliamentary enclosure movement in 18th and 19th-century England as a “plain enough case of class robbery,” fundamentally transforming the relationship between land, law, and the working class. 

Braded Trackways:

Huge Oak pollard:

Girth suggested an age of 300-400 years.

A completely decorticated dead Pedunculate Oak

Now a home for invertebrates:

and Cladonia parasitica, a lichen of decorticated wood

Warr’s Wood

Warr’s Wood is an example of typical low weald coppiced Hornbeam ancient woodland with some Pedunculate Oak; a frequent type of low weald wood. The boundary bank around it has coppiced and pollarded Hornbeams. The ground flora (in spring) is dominated by Bluebells

Boundary Bank

Bluebells

Coppiced Hornbeam

Lecanactis abietina, on Pedunculate Oak, an old woodland indicator lichen

Un-named Wood

This is a tree on the edge of the wood.

This tree shows lichens of the Mature Mesic Bark Community (Pertusarietum amarae) on Oak

The Pertusarietum amarae are shade tolerant communities on rougher bark, with Pertusaria species dominant. They are particularly characteristic of Beech and Ash, but also on less damp Oak bark. The basic community is composed of widespread species particularly Pertusaria s. lat. species: Pertusaria albescens, Lepra amara (Pertusaria amara f amara), Pertusaria flavida, Pertusaria hymenea and Pertusaria pertusa along with Phlyctis argena and Ochrolechia subviridis. This is a common community in drier areas but gets displaced by moss dominated communities in strongly oceanic areas. . British Lichen Society Lichen Communities

On this tree I saw Lepra amara (previously Pertusaria amara), Pertusaria hymenea and Pertusaria pertusa; all very common, plus others I didn’t have time to fully investigate. I used my UV torch to search for Pertusaria flavida, as it reacts to  UV light with bright orange fluorescence. I only got the dull orange of Pertusaria hymenea and P pertusa. I also tested any likely candidates of Varicellaria hemisphaerica (previously Pertusaria hemisphaerica) with sodium hypochlorite spot tests; but I did not get the characteristic red reaction. I do these tests as I have found P. flavida and V. hemisphaerica on trees with Mature Mesic Bark Community elsewhere in Sussex

Pertussaria hymenea

Lepra amara

Pertusaria pertusa

Pertusaria pertusa biofluorescent dull orange with UV light

The blue florescent lichen(s) remains mysterious

Between the unnamed wood and Wapsbourne Wood

Ditches bordered by coppiced Hornbeam. What are they?

They are on the land of the WoWo campsite, part of Whaspsborne Manor Farm see. The name Wapsbourne is the modern version of the older Sussex names of Whapplesbourne, Werpplesborne and other derivatives. The name means ‘a track by the stream’. This track leads you from Lewes to East Grinstead, right past the Elizabethan Manor house built in the late 15th C. Wapsbourne was once part of the Sheffield Park Estate, auctioned into private hands in 1953 when the estate of several thousand acres was broken up. The Farm – Wowo Campsite

On the WoWo site there is a camping space called “Lower Moat” in the central field surrounded by a moat, this field also becomes home to the ‘WoWo village’ in the summer months. Wowo Campsite, Uckfield, East Sussex – 2026 from £24/nt

But it is not a moat; it is a Pondbay and Overspill Channel.

The monument south-west of Wapsbourne Farm includes a short length of earthen bank, a low-lying area beside the bank and a long L-shaped ditch leading eastwards and then northwards from the bank. These are the remains of an iron-working site dating to the 16th-18th centuries and perhaps earlier, where already-smelted iron was heated and beaten using water power to drive the bellows and hammers. The remains were formerly misinterpreted as those of a medieval moated site. The most distinctive feature of the monument is the well-defined L- shaped ditch which measures 270m in total length and which averages 12m from side to side. It is embanked on the more northerly side. The purpose of the ditch was to carry floodwaters safely away from the principal industrial area and to prevent erosion of the dam itself by overflowing water. At the western end of the ditch is a 20m stretch of earthen bank 12m wide at its base which increases in height as the land slopes downward, so achieving a constant level at its crest. This is the southern end of the pond bay which formerly extended across the shallow valley, damming the stream and ponding back sufficient water to drive a water-wheel. The northern five-sixths of this pondbay, outside the scheduled area, has been flattened to allow the cultivation of the field. Where the stream cuts through the former pondbay there is a marked basin which probably indicates the location of the principal water-wheel. The 20th century culvert at the western end of the ditch and the field drain outlet to the south of it are both excluded from the scheduling. Post-Medieval Pondbay and Overspill Channel, Wapsbourne Farm., Chailey – 1013405 | Historic England

And just north of Pondbay and Overspill Channel, is the magnificent farm

My photo does not do this building justice, so he is a photo from the WoWo website The Farm – Wowo Campsite

Probably the most interesting house in Chailey Parish. Early C17. The Victoria County History says that the date 1606 was once legible on the pendant of one of the gables. Tall L-shaped timber-framed building with squares of plaster infilling. The west and south walls are of red vitreous brick. Horsham slab roof. Casement windows with diamond-shaped leaded panes. The north gable end has a bay window on the ground and first floor, that on the first floor consisting of 2 tiers of 5 lights with old glass, and above an oversailing gable containing an attic window of 2 tiers of 4 lights. The east gable end has a carved pendant. The south wall has an immense brick projection consisting of 2 chimney breasts side by side, each with 3 diagonal brick stacks. These breasts were probably added in the mid C17. Three storeys. Not more than 2 windows to any front. Contemporary staircase. Wapsbourne, Chailey – 1352974 | Historic England

It is thought that there has been a building of some description on the site of Wapsbourne Farm since Anglo Saxon times. It was known at Domesday time as Werpesburn, which in Sussex vernacular later became Wapses Boorn. During the period known as the ‘second great rebuilding’ in the 17th century it was reduced in size and the timber framing on the South and West sides the weather fronts were covered with fine brickwork, with the magnificent chimney stacks erected. A notable feature of the chimney stacks is that they were constructed to present a corner angle to the prevailing wind. The Farm – Wowo Campsite For more information on the building see: The Manor House – Wowo Campsite

Wapsboune Wood

On entering Wapsbourne Wood, the feel of its ancient past remains; with some beautiful ancient Oaks

The mauve-grey of this Oak, is not the colour of its bark; it is the lichen Dendrographa decolorans

Dendrographa decolorans is the most widespread of a series of grey-brown to whitish usually sterile sorediate species that grown on dry bark in the south and west and probably depend on dew for a good deal of their water. These can be separated by subtle colour differences and by spot tests with Dendrographa decolorans lacking any positive spot tests. It is quite distinctive when younger, with mauve-grey to pale lilac-grey neat punctiform soralia on a slightly darker thallus. Dendrographa decolorans | The British Lichen Society It scatches Orange Photobiont: Trentepohlia (characterized by orange scars). Lichens marins – Dendrographa decolorans (Turner & Borrer ex Sm.) Ertz & Tehler = Schismatomma decolorans (Turner & Borrer ex Sm.) Clauzade & Vezda

The orange scratch test is not definitive as all the former Schismatomma genus lichens lichens scratch orange

Dendrographa decolorans was previously Schismatomma decolorans, the other former Scismatomma genera lichens i.e. Sporodophoron cretaceum; Snippocia nivea and Schizotrema quercicola, all scratch orand.

The only way to be 100% that this is Dendrographa decolorans would have been to use para-phenylenediamine spot test; it would have not responded But as para-phenylenediamine is mutagenic, allergenic and may be carcinogenic, I choose not to use it. I think trading off not being absolutely sure that this Dendrographa decolorans with potentially getting a cancer is a good trade off.

Much of the south part of Wapsbourne has Oaks, Hornbeams and Bluebells.

However, walking further north there is much replanting and the quality of the woodland declines as much of the wood is replanted.

Hammer Wood on OS Map; but called part of Wapsbourne Wood on the Nature England database)

There are many Hammer Woods in the weald and the name indicates connection with the Weald iron industry. But most of this ancient woodland is replanted with conifers; as in many places in Sussex. The land owners of many ancient woodlands in Sussex are not primarily interested in stewarding ancient woodland; but in making money out of it.

Hamshaw Wood

This not named on the OS map but is named on the Nature England Ancient Woodland; and is designated as ancient and semi-natural woodland

Ancient Woodland (England) | Natural England Open Data Geoportal

A stable at Hamshouse Stud with the right of the door covered in Psilolechia lucida lichen. Note that it here favours the chemical nature of the bricks not the mortar (abotioc zonation)

An old gate; a perfect substate for lichens that like worked wood. Hamshaw Wood behind

Cladonia parasitica, fertile with red apothecia (fruiting bodies) on the top of podetia (tubes of the thallus (body)) of the the lichen

Hypogymnia physodes Hooded Tube Lichen

Flavoparmelia caperata, Common Greenshield Lichen

Coppiced Ash

Wild Daffodils and a concrete sheep in part of the ancient woodland captured as the private garden of a large house

Concrete sheep amongst bluebells and planted (non-native ) rhododendron; how the High Weald is spoilt

Much of the High Weald now feels like a middle class landscape of leisure rather than a landscaper of employment. This house would never have got planning permission if it wasn’t on the site of a previous building, presumably a farmhouse

Scaynes Hill Common

Photo © Simon Carey and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence from the Geograph Website

Map (n.d.) showing Common from Scaynes Hill Village Community Website

Much of the south of the common has been lost to development. Scaynes Hill Common used to be Henfield Common and looks like a typical edge green of a woodland common such as you still find in the New Forest. It retains an archaic acid grassland flora David Bangs (2018) The Land of the Brighton Line: A field guide to the Middle Sussex and South East Surrey Weald p.212.

Forge on the common. Photo from Scaynes Hill Village Community Website

Old School House on the edge of Scaynes Hill Common

Costells Wood

Costells Wood is part of a larger continuous woodland that include Henfield and Nashgill Woods. It is the only part of the wood that had public access.

Costells Wood is a 21 hectare (53 acres) site on the edge of the village of Scaynes Hill, West Sussex, just within the southern boundary of the High Weald National Character Area (NCA), where it meets the Low Weald NCA. Woodland Trust Costells Wood Management Plan

An “avenue” of planted planted Pedunculate Oaks from Costells Manor into Costells Wood

A very typical High Weald Oak: one side moss; the other, the lichen Lecanactis abietina, an old woodland lichen

Bluebells

Pedunculate Oak

Hornbeam

A Pedunculate Oak covered in Usnea cornuta