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

Friston Forest, Lullington Heath NNR and the Cuckmere Valley Churches; abundant Ingaderia vandenboomii (pink powder) and Usnea articulata (strings of sausages) 24.02,26

I went to the Seven Sisters Country Park visitors centre at Eceat on the Brighton and Hove 12 bus. From there I walked through Friston Forest to All Saints Chirch Westdean. I then walked further north through the forest to Lullington Heath, From the heath I walked down past the Lullington’s remote hillside Church of the Good Shepherd, then crossed the Cuckmere to visit Alfriston’s St Andrews, then crossed back over the Cuckmere and walked down the road from Litlington to Exceat, walking past t. Michael the Archangel Church, 

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Friston Forest is a nearly 100 year old beech forest planted by the Forestry Commission; in the winter and early spring, when there are no leaves, it feels quite a barren landscape; but there are interesting things to see, including lots of red Elf Cups, Sarcoscypha sp. probably S. coccinea, Scarlet Elf Cup; looking lovely in the sun I see it a lot here in late winter/early spring.

There was also lots of Jelly Ears, mostly on dead Elder

Many of the Beeches were covered in a green sorediate crust lichen. (Sorediate = covered in soredia, which are powdery, microscopic, asexual reproductive particles). Theses are impossible to differentiate between without doing chemical reagents tests. I use two common spot tests aqueous potassium hydroxide (K test) and calcium hypochlorite (C test).

There are the four lichens that look very similar

Lecanora expallens K+ yellow (i.e. the lichen reacts yellow to Potassium hypochlorite) , C+ deep yellow or orange-red,

Pyrrhospora quernea K- (i.e. the lichen doesn’t react to Potassium hypochlorite, C+ orange (photograph of both below)

Lecanora barkmaniana K+ yellow, C-. 

Lecanora compallens K-, C-

These chemicals are caustic and should only be used if you know what you are doing see British Lichen Society Chemical Tests

Response K- (the green is from K making the surface of the lichen (fungi) transparent so you can see the green of the alga underneath) C+ orange so Pyrrhospora quernea 

On the way to the Westdean village; on the steps of a barn.

Lunularia cruciata, Crescent-cup Liverwort. When the gemma receptacles are present; Lunularia cruciata is obvious. Gemmae = small, clonal, haploid disc-shaped tissues for asexual reproduction, dispersed by raindrops, to grow into new, identical gametophytes.

All Saints and Ingaderia vandenboomii

Ingaderia vandenboomii doesn’t have a common English name, so I have made one up: pink powder

All Saints church (grade 1 listed) is of great antiquity with parts of the building dating back to Saxon times.  Most of the present structure is Norman, measuring 21m by 4.87m, and is constructed of flint and Eastbourne sandstone.  At the west end the square tower is covered by an unusual gable spire which John Betjeman in his Guide to English Parish Churches describes it as unique in Sussex.  It has been likened to a monk’s cowl and from a distance, the small high windows on the tower give the appearance of a face.  Cuckmere Churches, All Saints West Dean

Ingaderia vandenboomii is a National Scarce lichen in the UK, but it is common on the north walls of Sussex coastal churches. Here, All Saints Church, Westdean, it covers ca. 50% of the entire north wall – flint & mortar

Bleak beech

Brightened with moss. Probably Brachythecium rutabulum, Rough-stalked Feathermoss.  B. rutabulum can be recognized by its pale glossy shoot tips, which some say look a little like fairy lights. British Bryological Society Brachythecium rutabulum

Oak and Hawthorn from the beech wood of Friston Forest

Looking over more beech – beginning to bud red – to Lullington Heath – with gorse and hawthorn.

Sheep in the fields between the forest blocks; sheep grazing the South Downs has been going on forca. 3,000-6,000 years

Rabbit grazing on the South Downs is also important to the ecology and biodiversity of chalk short-grass grassland

Rabbit populations declined by 64% in the UK between 1996 and 2018 and numbers of brown, mountain and Irish hares are also thought to have declined in some areas. As ecosystem engineers, the loss or reduction of these species can have major consequences, particularly for rabbit-dependent habitats. In their absence, the consequent changes in vegetation structure due to a lack of grazing can have further impacts on other wildlife, such as invertebrates. The NHBS Guide to UK Rabbit and Hare Identification

Sweet Violet

Romantic and showy, sweet violet grows on woodland edges, its flowers providing nectar for butterflies in early spring. Woodland Trust Sweet Violet

Hawthorne covered in Lichen

In Sussex, hawthorns are covered in lichens – but the lichen communities on coastal hawthorns is slightly different from inland hawthorns . Inland hawthorn have Usnea cornuta & Hypogymnia physodes (and on the top of Downs Teloschistes chrysophthalmus) which are absent on costal Hawthorns, but inland hawthorns don’t have Ramalina canariensis found on coastal lichens. On all hawthorn Ramalina farinacea, Ramalina fastigata, Evernia prunastri, Flavoparmelia caperata, Parmotrema perlatum, Parmelia sulcata and Lecidella eleachroma

Usnea cornuta

Hypogymnia physodes

A felled ash

Sadly on the South Downs, I frequently see felled Ash, Fraxinus excelsior. Seen felled, you see what a wonderful substrate it is for lichens and bryophytes. The huge loss of Ash on the South Downs will have an impact on the ecology of the downs. Ash are very biodiverse holon ecosystems. Nearly every part of this Ash’s trunk & branches are covered in lichens & bryophytes. It’s harder to notice this continuous biodiversity along ash’s trunks when they are alive and standing. Ash is probably second only to Oak in terms of lichen diversity.

Lullington Heath NNR

Trees with abundant Usnea spp. are not common in Sussex. But this Hawthorn in Lullington Heath NNR, chalk heath (loess: wind blown acid soil on chalk) has abundant Usnea right at its top. It looks very like U. articulata, String of Sausages; which is rare it Sussex; but it was too high up to get a sample.

Managing the growth of Gorse on the heath. Lullington Heath NNR is chalk heath; covered with acid loess (wind blown acid soil)

Lullington Church

The church of the Good Shepherd, Lullington stands on the side of the South Downs above the Cuckmere Valley, almost hidden amongst a clump of trees. Its white weather boarded belfry peeps above the foliage, and there are magnificent views.

It is the smallest church in Sussex, and one of the smallest churches in the country, being 16 feet square, and seating only about 20. There is no electricity and evening services are conducted by candlelight. The building is the remains of the chancel of a larger church, which is believed to have been razed by fire in Cromwellian times.

The church dates from the 13th century, and is of Early English style, with the list of vicars extending back to 1356. The original dedication is not known for sure, but may be to St Zita (a saint canonised not because of miraculous powers, but because of simple devotion and hard work). More latterly, and after a decision by the local community, the church was rededicated in 2000 to the Good Shepherd (one of the earliest Christian titles for Jesus), in keeping with agricultural practices of the area.

More recently, the church was the inspiration for the popular song ‘The Smallest Church in Sussex’ by the nationally acclaimed band British Sea Power.

Alfriston St Andrews

St Andrew across the Cuckmere River

It stands beside the Tye, a large green that may have served as a market in medieval times. In 1399 the church was granted to Michelham Priory. The church is built on a small mound, surrounded by a flint wall, suggesting that the site was a sacred place in the pre Christian period. The sheer scale of the church has led to its moniker ‘The Cathedral of the Downs’. The church seems to have been built in one go, also unusual, at a time when most churches evolved slowly over centuries.

There is no indication of who built the church, and indeed, Alfriston did not even have a lord of the manor at the time. All of which raises the question of why a small village without even a lord of the manor should have such a large and impressive church.

Like most Sussex churches, it is built of knapped flint, with greensand stone for quoins. The roof was originally topped with Horsham stone, but that proved too heavy and was replaced by clay tiles.

The layout is very simple; a cruciform plan with a central tower and no aisles. The nave and chancel are the same length, though the transepts are shorter, creating a traditional cross shape.

One of the best features of St Andrew’s is the timber roof, built to a crown post design. Most is original 13th century work, save only the south transept. On the north side of the chancel is an Easter Sepulchre, within which is a chest tomb. Atop the tomb are carved stone figures that originally decorated the 19th century reredos over the high altar. On the north wall of the nave is a funeral hatchment to Richard Vincent (d1733). Under the gallery stairs is an old bell, cast in 1587.

The font may be older than the church, but is at least 14th century, and is set atop a later base. There is a royal coat of arms to George I, dated 1725. The church contains a very pleasing mix of medieval and relatively modern glass. National Church Trust Alfriston St Andrew

 East Window by J Powell and Sons and designed by C E Powell, 1904 

Alfriston Congregational Church

… the building is a living memorial to the early nonconformists of Alfriston. Before 1801 a group of them had already broken away from the established church and were holding their meetings in a house known as the Urn, in North Street. The Old Chapel Centre Our History

Non-conformist chapels are generally rarer and less visible than established Church of England churches in Sussex, although they have a strong, distinct, and historically significant presence. Lewes was a centre for non-conformists. Non-conformists were often persecuted 16th-18th century England because they posed a perceived threat to the stability of the state, which relied on strict religious, social, and political uniformity through the Church of England. Dissenters were seen as seditious for refusing to attend parish churches.

Litlington St Michael the Archangel at dusk

A very good example of a Downland church, built of flint with stone dressings, a white painted weather boarded wooden belfry tower which supports a broach spire covered with wooden shingles.

The main part of the building is thought to have been erected in about 1150 AD, but there are windows in the chancel which may well be Norman, and the remains of two Norman window openings (since closed) are visible in the north wall of the nave. Interestingly, but inexplicably, the floor falls 13” from east to west. The massive beams which support the main roof are original. Once there were three, but the Victorians removed one close to the chancel arch, which caused the church to split apart – since rectified by the insertion of a steel tie-bar. National Church Trust St Michael the Archangel

The Cuckmere flooding its flood plain

The Litlington White Horse at dusk

The myth of Sussex’s Litlington White Horse is still in the making. The chalk was cut – possibly – by James Pagden of Frog Firle Farm, near Alfriston, along with his two brothers, and cousin William Ade, who thought to scratch a horse in chalk to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria. But the makers of the horse might also have been John Ade, a certain Mr. Bovis, and Eric Hobbis, cutting it under the full moon of 20 February 1924. Another story is that it was cut as a memorial to a local girl whose horse bolted along the brow of Hindover Hill, throwing her down the hill to her death. And yet another suggests the white horse originally depicted a dog, cut by a farm boy to mark the grave of his dog drowned in the Cuckmere river below. It was covered up in the Second World War so as not to alert the Luftewaffe, and has been cut and recut, cleared and re-defined ever since.

It is this re-cutting and re-defining that keeps it alive, on the hill and in literature and in all our imaginations. Archaeologists believe there may have been many more chalk ‘geolyphs’ across the Downs, for if they are not looked after, they are soon overgrown. The Litlington White Horse speaks to that other, more well-known Sussex landmark, the Long Man of Wilmington, carved into the grass across the valley. Both chalk monuments remind us of the geographical and mythical echoes we have inherited from those who have stood on this ground, walked these tracks before us, and by connecting to them, we connect to the old ways, and step forward with the past – whether wholesome or destructive, whether more, or less understood – informing all our futures. Rosa Magazine Litlington White Horse

Bed time for Rooks in a rookery

Clapham, South Downs, West Sussex. An ancient wood with abundant polypody, butchers broom, lichens & dogs abducted by UFOs (allegedly) and a Norman church with archangels by Morris & Tudor tombs. 23.02.26

Clapham is not so easy to get to by public transport. It is possible to get the train to Goring-by-Sea and walk from there, but that entails walking along roads with no pavements. So I took the train to Worthing then took Metrobus 21 (every 30 minutes) to Findon Valley. I walked from Findon Valley Road to High Salvington Windmill; then walked on footpaths past West Hill to New Plantation, where I turned sharply south on the footpath into Richardson’s Wood above Clapham Wood

Screen shot of Google Maps Satellite View

Screen shot of Ordnance Survey Map from explore.osmaps.com

High Salvington Mill

High Salvington Windmill is a working post mill dating from approximately 1750.

Looking over to Cissbury Ring for High Salvington

Cissbury Ring is a Middle Iron Age hill fort in Sussex ca. 250BCE, with Neolithic mine, one of the first flint mines in Britain. There are about 270 shafts dug into Cissbury hill over around 300 years of use. See National Trust History of Cissbury Ring

Clapham Wood is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). It is designated as Ancient Woodland by Natural England. Screen shot of Natural England Ancient Woodland (England) Natural England Open Data Publication

There is little ancient woodland left on the South Downs; the majority of that left is scarpe face woodland dominated by Ash, Beech, Hazel and Yew; Clapham Wood is a rare dip face wood dominated by Pedunculate Oak and Hazel, with some Beech and Yew and some introduced Sweet Chestnut. It is actively manged through coppicing; and it could be categorized as Hazel coppice with Oak standards; a traditional woodland management strategy.

Into the woods

Walking North to South

Ancient Sweet Chestnut

Dogs Mercury, and ancient woodland indicator plant

Close up of flowers

Ash covered with lichens (mostly Ramalina fastigiata and Xanthoria parietina)

Fallen Sweet Chestnut

Pedunculate Oak covered in Polypody Fern; it is very unusual to see this much Polypody on a southern Oak. Polypodium spp. (any species) are ancient woodland indicators species in the south. See my post The ancient woodland of the Low Weald and Downs. Looking at plants. How do I know I am walking in ancient woodland? Butcher’s Wood, Lag Wood and Newer Copse (Wolstonbury Hill) 07.04.25 for more details

Coppiced Sweet Chestnut and Bluebells

Bluebells emerging; an ancient woodland indicator plant

Maiden Pedunculate Oak and coppiced Hazel; a traditional way of managing ancient woodland

Maiden oaks are oak tree that has grown in its natural form, featuring a single, uninterrupted trunk for at least 1 meter above the ground and an unpollarded crown.

Huge boundary Oaks at the edge of a wood segment

Pedunculate Oaks on an ancient boundary bank

Keeper’s Cottage at Holt Farm in the hamlet of Holt (now just two cottages and the farm) on the edge of Clapham Wood. Grade II listed. Restored C17 or earlier timber-framed building with painted brick infilling. Hipped thatched roof with two “eyebrows” and pentice behind. Casement windows. Modern gabled weather-boarded porch. Two storeys. Three windows. Historic England: Keeper’s Cottage

The far-away Castle Goring (taken at x80 magnification) from the footpath running eat-west just south of Clapham Wood

The weird Palladian fronted, but Gothic on the north side (the view above) castle built by the poet Shelley’s grandfather, Sir Bysshe Shelley, about 1797-8. Built at the same date. …. The Palladian front was designed by Biagio Rebecca and is said to be a copy of a villa near Rome. It is of yellow brick. … The Gothic back is of flint and sandstone. Historic England Castle Goring List Entry

Part of the southern edge of Calpham Wood; with boundary maiden Pedunculate Oak prominent; behind maiden oaks and coppiced hazel.

Walking south to north

Pied Wagtail

Primrose, an ancient woodland indicator plant

Butchers Broom, ancient woodland indictor plant

I love Butcher’s Broom and don’t see it often. When I do I am excited. It was very abundant in Clapham Wood’s Church Copse. It was in a fenced off area that was being coppiced by volunteers as part of a South Downs National Park Authority project see: https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Role_profile_Church_Copse_2024.pdf

Butcher’s broom is a monocotyledon [a flowering plant with an embryo that bears a single cotyledon (seed leaf). Monocotyledons constitute the smaller of the two great divisions of flowering plants] of a most curious appearance. It is a multi-stemmed, evergreen shrub that rarely gets taller than one metre high, and appears to be covered in stiff, spiny leaf-like structures. However, closer examination shows that these structures cannot be true leaves; they sometimes bear tiny flowers, followed by spherical, bright-red, fleshy fruits, on their upper surfaces. The green structures are cladodes. Evolutionarily, cladodes are flattened stems that perform the same photosynthetic function as leaves. The true leaves are reduced to tiny, non-photosynthetic, papery scales associated with the flowers and the bases of the cladodes.

Butcher’s broom is native to southern England, and is the only British monocotyledonous shrub. It is slow growing and shade tolerant, and occurs naturally in dry, shaded woods and hedgerows. Outside of the Britain, is distributed north around the Mediterranean as far as northern France, Italy and Hungary, with scattered populations in North Africa. The species’ western limit is the Azores, whilst it extends through Turkey in the east.

Unusually for a stem-photosynthetic plant, butcher’s broom is highly shade tolerant and drought resistant with low transpiration rates and water storage in the cladodes. Stem-photosynthetic plants are usually associated with arid, high-light environments.

Butcher’s broom is dioecious, it has separate male and female plants with insect-pollinated flowers, apparently offering pollen as a reward. However, there is little direct evidence for either insects or wind having a role in pollen movement; this might explain the low levels of fruit and seed production found in natural populations. In addition, there is poor fruit dispersal despite the fruits having clear adaptations for bird and mammal dispersal. One idea to unite these apparent contradictions is that butcher’s broom is a relic of the tropical forests that covered parts of Europe during the Tertiary (2.58-65 million years ago). The ecological success of butcher’s broom populations today appears to be a consequence of vegetative reproduction. The plant has a deep, stout rhizome (horizontal underground stem) system.

The generic name derives from the Latin for a butcher’s broom, ruscum; this plant has traditionally been used for cleaning butcher’s chopping blocks. The specific epithet, aculeatus, is a reference to the plant’s spines. In antiquity, the plant had few medicinal uses, despite butcher’s broom containing a rich cocktail of steroidal saponins. These have been shown to have a wide range of potent medicinal effects; wild-collected material is particularly rich in these compounds. Oxford University Herbaria: Butcher’s Broom

Pedunculate Oak’s covered in “white” lichens; lichens of the Mature Mesic Bark Community (Pertusarietum amarae). The Community of Mature Mesic Bark often forms at the base of Oak and Ash on wayside trees (where they get much light) in Sussex

Moslty Pertusaria hymenea and

Pertusaria pertusa (Pepper Pot Lichen)

A whopper ancient pollarded Beech

An Ash covered in lichens

with much Lecanora chlarotera

Evernia prunastri (Oak Moss)

Pyrrhospora quernea

Flavoparmelia caperata (Common Greenshield Lichen)

Pertusaria hymenea . This P. hymenea is pretending to be a Lecanora sp. P. hymenea on shaded trees can form warts with more Lecanora-like apothecia, rather than its typical punctiform wart

A Graphidaceae family lichen probably Graphis scripta; Graphidaceae family lichens can not be definitively identified to species level without spore microscopy.

Sussex Reds in pasture woodland. A rare and declining cattle breed, in a form of pasture now rare in Sussex

Pollarded Oaks at the Northern Boundary of the wood

A 1975 segment from BBC’s Nationwide about alien dog abduction. Are these UFO hunters real, or are they pranksters. This would make an excellent 2026 comedy series with Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook .

Sadly in the 1970s there were four dead bodies found in or near Clapham Woods, which resulted in conspiracy theories about satanists. An article from the Argos (a Sussex newspaper known for poor quality journalism) is at the end of this article.

This podcast from Folkways: The Folklore of Britain and Ireland, tells folk stories of Cissbury and Chanctonbury rings and Clapham Woods.

Clapham Church St Mary the Virgin

Clapham church stands in a wood north of the village, which has shrunk considerably in size since the Middle Ages.  The C12 nave has C13 aisles and a tower, whilst the restored chancel originated then.  There were further alterations in the C15 and C16 and a well documented restoration by Sir George G Scott with some good fittings and decoration Sussex Parish Churches Clapham – St Mary

From the outside, there are signs on the south side of what may have been an additional side chapel; there is also the remains of a low window, which legend has it was a ‘leper window’, through which lepers could receive communion and watch the service without infecting the congregation. National Churches Trust Clapham Church St Mary the Virgin

The writer of the blog John Ireland: music, people, places asserts: There was a medieval leper colony to the west of Harrow Hill, hence the story that lies behind Ireland’s tone poem. There are also a number of leper windows in the vicinity, including Clapham and Burpham parish churches, Presumably based on G. Palmer, Clapham Church (1952)

However, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1, Bramber Rape (Southern Part). originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1980, available at BHO | British History Online, disputes this: Suss. Subsidies (S.R.S. x), 161. There is no evidence for the medieval leper settlement at Lee farm. mentioned by e.g. G. Palmer, Clapham Church (1952), 6.

On the inside, the chancel is not in a straight line with the nave; one theory goes that this was deliberate, and was supposed to imitate the angle of Christ’s head on the cross. … The church has an exceptional collection of 16th century brasses and monuments, in memory of the de Michelgrove and Shelley families. The other pride and joy of the church is the set of tiles behind the altar, depicting the four Archangels. These are from the workshop of William Morris, and are believed to have been made by Morris himself. National Churches Trust Clapham Church St Mary the Virgin

Tudor tombe to one of the Shelleys and his wife: William Shelley (1479-1548) and Alice Belknap (ca. 1475-1537), with seven daughters (one a nun) and seven sons

The Morris Reredos pf the archeangles

The tiles at Clapham benefitted from being produced at a time when the firm
had conquered the technical problems in glazing the hand-painted tiles and
therefore their original colouring is better preserved. Large rusty hooks above them
bear witness to the fact that they have almost certainly spent several years covered
by curtains, which may well have helped their preservation. Although the figures,
being placed immediately above the altar, are not as tall as the Findon tiles, they
shine with authority. The Morris tiling extends across the full width ofthe chancel.
In the centre, above the altar, is the main painted panel depicting four archangels- Gabriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel- the four best known in Christian and
Jewish literature. Six-inch tiles have been used and the panel is six rows high by
fifteen rows wide. On either side to floor level are alternating rows oftiles showing
grapes, leaves and tendrils: this design has become known as the ‘Clapham Vine’.
Although the tiles show some irregularity and imperfections, they still complement
the strength and perfection of the archangels. Tessa Kelly (n.d.) The Morris Reredoses at St. John the Baptist Church, Findon, and The Church of
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Clapham, West Sussex, accessed online.

Clapham parish boundary from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol6/pt1/pp10-21


John Ireland wrote Legend for Piano and Orchestra about Harrow Hill in the Clapham Parish 1933. It was first performed in 1934,  Inspired by a mystical experience on the South Downs, Orchestra of the Swan Bax/Ireland Piano Concertos CD with Mark Bebbington

Many of John Ireland’s works have strong Sussex connections: The Downland Suite, Equinox, Amberley Wild Brooks, the Cello Sonata inspired by a place on the Downs known as the Devil’s Jumps and, perhaps, most colourfully, Legend for Piano and Orchestra.

Harrow Hill is located high up on the Downs above and well to the south of Storrington. Access to Harrow Hill is by footpath – there is no public road. You are walking into a remote and mysterious region which one feels time has passed by. It was here that Ireland found the inspiration for Legend for Piano and Orchestra. It is based on two stories that were related by Norah Kirby : –

‘In the far distant past there had been a leper colony in a remote part of the Downs and there had been a steep path leading up to what was known as Friday’s Church because the clergyman attended it on Fridays for a service for the benefit of the lepers who were allowed to participate through a squint so that they shouldn’t contaminate the congregation. On one occasion John Ireland arose early, cut some sandwiches and chose Harrow Hill as the place for his picnic. Just as he was about to start eating, he noticed some children dancing around him in archaic clothing -very quiet, very silent, He was a little put out about having his peace invaded by children; he looked away for a moment, when he looked back they had disappeared. The incident made such an impression on him that he wrote about his experience to Arnold Machen whose books had greatly influenced much of his music. The reply he received was a postcard with the laconic message “So, you’ve seen them too!” ( See also Colin Scott Sutherland’s article John Ireland and Arthue Machen BMS News September 1995) John Ireland by Ian Lace retrieved form the John Ireland Charitable Trust website

Legend is beautiful, and its an example of English pastoral romantic music of the peculiar English type of English Music in the beginning of the 20th Century, totally anachronistic in an era of European modernisms.  Igor Stravinsky’s had disrupted the hegemony of the late romantic musical tradition with the premier of The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps) on May 29 1934; but many English composers carried on as before

The tumulus at Harrow Hill is the site of many local legends. From The Sussex Folktale Centre (University of Chichester)  the last home of the fairies in England is said to be Harrow Hill, near Patching,  … Archaeologists discovered dozens of ox skulls buried here close to the Neolithic flint mines and a golden calf was believed to be buried at nearby Blackpatch Hill.

Older Sussex legends and the nonsense about the UFO-abducted dogs provided a context for fantasists to spin speculative stories of Satanism in Clapham Wood, here from The Argus, the home of very poor journalism

Quest to rid village of satanists, 23rd September 2002

Satanic rituals, animal sacrifice and UFO sightings seem more the stuff of Hollywood fiction than picturesque Sussex village life.

But the quiet village of Clapham, near Worthing, is thought to have been the home of a sinister black magic cult for more than 50 years.

That is, at least, according to supernatural investigator Charles Walker, who is determined to track down an occult group called the Friends of Hecate.

The chain-smoking 49-year-old retired council worker makes an unlikely-looking Fox Mulder, scouring the woods in his tracksuit and trainers.

But his tales of paranormal perils lurking amid the trees would easily fill an episode of the X-Files.

Now the glare of the media is back on Clapham Woods, 35 years after reports of dog disappearances and UFOs first put the village under the spotlight.

Cable channel LivingTV sent six young volunteers into the woods for a night as part of spooky new docusoap Scream Team.

Charles, of Western Place, Worthing, expects a revival of interest in the area’s mysterious past when the show is broadcast on Tuesday night.

But when that flash of curiosity fades, he will still be there – as he has been for the past 30 years.

He and colleague Wayne Lewis, spend every day looking for clues to the existence of the Friends of Hecate and stakes out the woods at night, once a month.

Charles believes the group has been using the woods for satanic ceremonies involving the sacrifice of animals.

He also links in four mysterious deaths in the Seventies, including that of retired Clapham vicar the Reverend Harry Neil Snelling.

The 65-year-old vicar went missing from his Steyning home on October 31, 1978.

His skeletal remains were found three years later near Wiston Barn on the South Downs. An inquest recorded an open verdict.

In their book The Demonic Connection, Charles and co-authors Toyne Newton and Alan Brown, suggest he was a victim of satanic foul play.

Clapham has borne a curse since 1288, when Robert Le Faulconer lost a case he brought against local parson Adam le Gest for alleged bodily harm.

Angered by the defeat, Le Faulconer pronounced: “I call upon She who knows to damn this accursed village and all its meagre holdings. May the priesthood of this false God soon come to know their fate.”

Charles started researching reports of missing dogs and UFO sitings in the early Seventies.

Other people have claimed to have felt sick, suffered stomach cramp, vertigo or felt an eerie presence, while in the woods.

A mysterious phone call one evening in 1978, was Charles’ first major breakthrough. Someone claiming to be from the Friends of Hecate summoned him to a meeting at a crossroads in the woods.

A booming voice addressed him from behind a bush, telling him the group was set up in Sussex 30 years earlier.

He was told how they met in Clapham Woods once a month and sacrificed animals, mostly dogs, to the Underworld goddess Hecate.

Charles said: “Maybe he was a dissatisfied member of the group who wanted it exposed. Or maybe he was warning me to go no further. “

In February 1996, Charles and an animal welfare campaigner found a well-constructed hide buried in the woods. A hidden door opened into two rooms which he thinks were used for rituals.

Charles has tried to work out which dates in the year are most likely to be marked with black magic rituals.

But he and his fellow investigators have never managed to time their woodland visits to coincide with a ceremony.

Charles said: “I want to find them, get photographic evidence and bring them to justice. They have to be stopped. I’ll keep doing this until the day I die.”

Ramalina fraxinea in a Brighton suburb: under-recording of (urban) Lichens. 27.01.26

Ramalina fraxinea

On Sycamore, on verge on Queensway, Craven Vale Estate, Brighton; surrounded by Xanthoria parietina, Lecanora chlarotera s.l., and Arthonia radiata

Habitat: Locally frequent on well-lit trees with basic bark. Now rare in many areas. Very sensitive to SO2 pollution and fertilizer-enrichment.

Distribution: East and South England (much decreased), northern England (increasing), Central and East Scotland and East Ireland.

Threats & Status: Declined in areas impacted by sulphur dioxide pollution in the 20th century, with limited recovery as yet, but some recolonisation has been noted

Britain: Notable and an International Responsibility species. British Lichen Society Ramalina fraxinea

The term “International Responsibility” (IR) refers to lichen species whose populations in a specific country (e.g. the UK) are internationally significant. Because the national population is so important to the overall survival of the species, the nation has a special responsibility to protect it from extinction or decline.

A country can only look after an IR species if we know where they are. This lichen is not on the BLS database yet (I will record it). But we don’t know where important lichens are because there is inadequate recording of lichens in the UK.

This map British Lichen Society’s all-species interactive map shows the monads (1k x 1k squares) for which there are records of lichens. Many of these monads have no records.

There are 62946 individual lichen records on the British Lichen Society’s database for East & West Sussex (as of 2022). All of these appear to be from rural areas; mostly woodlands, churches and deer parks; none of these records appear to come from urban areas. This is a result of an unconscious bias for rural areas and against urban area, that I am guilty of too. I would much rather walk around a beautiful ancient deer park or a wood or a churchyard than a town. I have seen R. fraxinea in two places in Sussex – in the High Weald countryside, on the Ashburnham Estate, and in the town, in the Craven Vale council estate, Brighton. From this statistically insignificant sample size; you could conclude that you are as likely to see R. fraxinea in an urban setting as a rural setting!

The British Lichen Society acknowledges these habitats for lichens Habits and Conversation: Churchyards, Coastal shingle, Freshwater, Gardens, Lowland heaths, Lowland grassland, Lowland rocks, Metal-rich habitats, Montane habitats, Monuments & Urban habitats, Parkland, Pasture woodlands, Seashore, Walls, Wayside trees and hedgerows.

These are the Sussex records for Ramalina fraxinea. They are only 17 R. fraxinea records in 12 places; all of them rural.

I

n one hour of walking round the Craven Vale estate this afternoon I saw 25 lichens, many in large abundance, on road trees, brick walls, recycled plastic (street signs), and worked wood (bollards and seats)

Looking up from my house. The large tree is an English Elm (Ulmus procera); these do not exist in the UK countryside any more as they have been killed by Elm Disease. It only survives because of the cordon sanitaire thrown around the town in 1970 by Brighton Borough Council. This tree started its life probably as a field tree, in the land enclosed in ca. 1825 as agricultural land called Bakers Bottom (now called Craven Vale) a coombe sculptured out Sheep Down (now called Race Hill) by glacial melt water. The tree survived the land being turned into municipal allotments in 1923 and the building of the housing estate in the 1950s. That tree was around when my grandparents and great grandparent grew up in East Brighton.

Lichens seen in Craven Vale:

Physcia tenella; Xanthoria parietina; Physconia grisea; Hyperphyscia adglutinata; Physcia adscendens; Physcia caesia; Physconia grisea; Pheaophyscia orbiclaris; Lecanora chlarotera, Lecanora sp., Lecanora symmicta, Lecanora campestris, Myrolecis dispersa, Punctelia subrudecta, Punctelia borreri, Diploicia canescens, Lecidella stigmatea, Candelariella aurella, Candelariella vitellina, Protoparmeliopsis muralis, Micrarea denigrata, Ramalina fraxinea, Ramalina fastigiata, Arthonia radiata, Xanthoria parietina

Here are a few of these:

Candelariella vitellina – on wooden bollard

Punctellia subreducta – on tree

Leanora campestris -on brick wall

Lecanora chlarotera and Lecidella eleachroma on bench (worked wood)

Xanthoria parietina on recycled plastic road sign post

A liverwort and some lichens in Lake Wood, Uckfield, East Sussex. 26.01.26

Lake Wood is magical landscape. See my post Lake Wood, Uckfield. A “Picturesque” landscape. Trees, Rocks, Lichen & Bryophytes. 22.11.22 for its fascinating history.

Bazzania trilobata

This is the first time I have seen B. trilobata in Lake Wood

A calcifuge, particularly characteristic of western oak woodland, where in humid conditions it can be locally dominant in the bryophyte layer, forming large, deep cushions on banks, boulders, cliffs and rocky outcrops. Plagiochila spinulosa and Scapania gracilis are common associates. It also grows on deep humus and brown earth soils, especially in grazed woodland, as well as on logs; it is occasionally arboreal. In SE England it is mainly associated with sandstone rocks in shaded valleys. British Bryology Society Bazzabia trilobata

I have only seen B. trilobata in two other places in Sussex: Eridge Rocks and Chiddingly. All of these three locations are High Weald ghyll woods; a location which matches the humidity level of Atlantic Woodland because of its ghyll, despite lower precipitation.

Thelotrema lueckingii

Previously I thought this huge patch of Thelotrema on Quercus robur was  Thelotrema lepadinum but I hadn’t tested it with chemical reagents. Today I tested its thallus with potassium hydroxide; it was dark yellow. T. lepadinum tests negative to potassium hydroxide; but T. leuckingii tests red to potassium hydroxide. This tested dark yellow. So it may be Thelotrema lueckingii?

Cladonia polydactyla

On mossy bank (over Ardingly sandorck)

Pertusaria pertusa

On Hornbeam

Usnea cornuta

On Pedunculate Oak

Cladonia coniocraea

On dead tree stump; the most likely place you’ll see C. coniocraea in Sussex.

Evernia prunastri

On felled Oak branch

Sullington, West Sussex. The wonders of chalk. Bryophytes, lichens and invertebrates predominately found in chalk landscapes. 25.01.26

These organisms were found on a British Bryological Society South East Group (Sussex Bryophytes) field meeting. I would really recommend attending these meetings; they are very friendly and very accommodating of beginner bryologists (like me!). With us yesterday was pan-species listing guru Graeme Lyons. The bryologists Ben Bennat, Sue Rubinstein and Brad Scott made all the bryophyte identifications. My specific interests in natural history are birds and lichens; but I am trying to take a pan-species listing approach. No one can be an expert in everything so taking a pan-species listing approach is also an opportunity for social natural history; learning from others who know much more about specific areas of biology than you. My interest in pan-species listing is not the opportunity it provides for listing large numbers of species, but the opportunity it provides to learn more about your own patch and thus travel less, and thus minimise your carbon omissions. Local pan-species listing in your own patch means there will always be more things to find without having travel miles.

Lichens of southerly downland churches: Sullington St Mary’s Church

Zwachhia prosodea on ancient yew. A Near Threatened (Red List) Nationally Scarce lichen. This is not a species specifically of chalk but it is very much a species of the south. It grows on ancient trees – mostly Pedunculate Oak and Yew; but I have only seen in on Yew, all in church yards – East Chiltington, Coldwalhtam and Sullington. It is a Graphidaceae family lichen. Typically this family of lichens can only be identified by spore microscopy; but Z. prosodea has such distinct lirellate apothecia (writing-like fruiting bodies) it can be identified morphologically.

Ingaderia vandenboomii on north wall of church. Again not a species of chalk but a species of the far south. A Nationally Scare lichen but I find it quite often on the north walls of Sussex flint and mortar churches near the coast; I have seen it on the north walls of St Peter’s, Southease; St Thomas à Becket’s, Pagham; St Nicholas Church, Bramber; and St Mary the Virgin, Stopham. Identification of this lichen is by spot reagent chemical tests. It doesn’t react to potassium hydroxide (left drops on photo); but turns red immediately to sodium hypochlorite (centre drop on photo)

Lichens of Chalk Downland

Cladonia furcata. Not a species specifically of chalk, but one of the few Cladonia species found on chalk grassland.

Enchylium tenax Distributed throughout the British and Ireland but more common in the south. Not a lichen specific to chalk; but one of the few jelly lichens that grow on chalk

Verrucaria muralis Very widely distributed. Not a lichen specific to chalk; but one of the few lichens that grow on chalk pebbles, and is abundant on chalk pebbles. Oliver L. Gilbert (1993). The Lichens Of Chalk Grassland Lichenologist 25(4): 379-414 is one of the very few articles on lichens of chalk. This is a provisional identification as spore microscopy is required to confirm the identification; but its morphology and its abundance on chalk pebbles according to Gilbert make it highly likely that this is V. muralis

Teloschistes chrysophthalmus Golden-eye Lichen on Hawthorn. I see Golden-Eye frequently on Hawthorns of the South Downs, particularly on the downs north of Brighton and Lewes

Confined mostly to Chalk Downland Hawthorns in the south. See my blog post of two years ago 12 Golden-Eye Lichens on one Hawthorn. The resurgence of the once-thought-extinct Teloschistes chrysophthalmus on the South Downs. 06.04.24 This is from my blog: Sim Elliott: Nature in Sussex: nature journeys made by public transport 2020-2024. Whilst I do not publish new posts to this blog the blog posts are still available; to act as a compendium of nature sites that can be visited in Sussex by public transport

Chalkland bryophytes

None of these identifications were made by me; they were all made by Ben Bennat, Sue Rubinstein and/ Brad Scott

Seligeria calcarea Chalk Rock-Bristle or S. calycina English Rock-bristle – to be confirmed. on a shaded chalk bank in a holloway bostal

A Seligeria on chalk fragments in a sheltered place, such as a north-facing holloway bank or a woodland floor, is almost certainly going to be either this species or S. calycina. Because the plants are so small, this species pair is not always easy to separate in the field, unless dehisced capsules are present (usually March to April). Then you will easily see that the capsule of S. calcarea is widest at the mouth. Capsules of S. calycina characteristically narrow a little at the mouth when mature. Beware though – like many mosses, capsule shape does not develop fully until the spores are ripe. British Bryological Society Seligeria calcarea

Aloina aloides Common Aloe-Moss

Not solely chalk but A species of bare but not regularly disturbed ground and
soil in a variety of situations, usually base-rich, but occasionally on ground that appears to be circumneutral. The most characteristic habitat is in old pits and quarries on chalk and limestone, growing on the floor or on earthy rock ledges, but it is also frequent in some districts on old or weathered mortar on walls and ruined buildings. .. It is occasionally found on bare patches in calcareous grassland and on soil on natural rock outcrops; other habitats include chalky and earthy banks by lanes, coastal slopes and cliffs, clay in brick pits, calcareous dune sand and gravel, and path edges and earthy rubble (here often only as a temporary colonist). British Bryological Society Aloina aloides

Pleurochaete squarrosa Side-fruited Crisp-moss

Grows loosely tufted or scattered and mixed with other plants on sandy or calcareous ground. Usually found in unshaded habitats in sand dunes, maritime grassland on cliffs, chalk and limestone grassland, and in chalk and limestone quarries. British Bryology Society Pleurochaete squarrosa

Orthotrichum anomalum Anomalous Bristle-Moss

OK! Not a chalk moss; but what a beauty; on a tomb stone in Sullington churchyard. more or less ubiquitous on concrete, gravestones, wall tops and other man made structures except in the most polluted parts of Britain. Also common on exposed limestone, but absent from chalk. British Bryology Society Orthotrichum anomalum

Invertebrates

All identified by Graeme Lyons


Cyphostethus tristriatus  Junipers Shield Bug.

Formerly a southern shieldbug but has had a significant range extension of late. Formerly restricted to Juniper woods in southern England, the Juniper Shieldbug (Cyphostethus tristriatus) is now common across southern and central England, having colonised planted Junipers and Cypresses in gardens. It has also been recorded on native Juniper in northern England and Scotland. North West Invertebrates, Juniper Shieldbug

Distribution map from National Biodiversity Network Atlas

Corizus hyoscyami Cinnamon Bug

Although historically confined to the coasts of southern Britain, this species is now found inland throughout England and Wales as far north as Yorkshire. It is associated with a range of plants, and overwinters as an adult, the new generation appearing in August-September. Nymphs are yellow/red-brown in colour and also rather hairy. British Bugs Corizus hyoscyami

and Graeme made this extraordinary find

Eratigena picta

Distribution map from Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website

IUCN Red List status Vulnerable (VU)