Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology

@aspenecology.com

730 followers 420 following 670 posts

Lichen surveying, consultancy, training and education. Posts mainly about lichens, sometimes moths, and occasionally other life-forms, especially if they're overlooked. Rocks now and then, too. Founder @anthonyspeca.bsky.social.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 18d

Join me at @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Carlton Marshes on 11 October and discover the secret world of #lichens! We'll learn all about the extraordinary beauty, variety and ecological importance of lichens, before heading out to see lichens 'in the wild'! www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/events/2025-...

Discovering the Secret World of Lichens | Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Join us Anthony Speca as he reveals the little-known yet fascinating world of lichens.

www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org

1 1

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 11h

Many thanks, Roger! Apologies, but your photo doesn't seem to have been included in your post. Would love to see your P rufescens!

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Honoured to announce my appointment as the new County #Lichen Recorder for Suffolk! Grateful to @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social for the opportunity to serve, as well as to my predecessor and now 'Emeritus Recorder' Dr Chris Hitch, a lichenological giant of East Anglia. aspenecology.com/suffolk-coun...

2 1 11

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

Thanks, Peter. Regarding the 'black flakes', I had epiphytic cyanobacteria in mind (i.e. just growing on the thallus), not a cyanolichen. As for apothecia: if they sit partly in pits, then C metzleri does seem a reasonable conclusion.

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

Thanks, Peter. I'm unsure. Much does seem to fit C metzleri, but apothecia of that species should be at least half-immersed, not slightly so. On another note, might your 'black flakes' be little epiphytic colonies of cyanobacteria?

1 1

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

Another #rockpool #seaweed that belongs taxonomically plants, but which looks like coral, is this coralline red #alga. Like pink forms below, needs microscopy to identify to species. I find variety of these algal life-forms astonishing, and often strikingly beautiful. Port nam Murrach, near Arisaig.

Corallinaceae : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 Port nam Murrach : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

Tagging into thread above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

2/2 …lobes of L confinis rounded (top left) but those of L pygmaea flattened (top right). Second, L confinis tolerates immersion less well: it grows at or above mean high tide in black Hydropunctaria maura zone (bottom left), whereas L pygmaea found among barnacles in intertidal zone (bottom right).

Lichina confinis : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6138 Port nam Murrach : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

Lichina pygmaea : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6591 Camusdarach : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

Lichina confinis : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6692 Achaidh Mhoir : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

1 1

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

1/2 Another #lichen I see in Scotland but not East Anglia is Lichina confinis. Filamentous cyanolichen like Ephebe lanata (see post series below), but it's found on coasts rather than in or near freshwater. Can be confused with L pygmaea, but there are sure ways to separate them in field. First…

1 5

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

2/2 …P serratus. Identified by number and position of spines or teeth on rostrum ('horn' emerging from carapace between eyes). I can't say to which species these specimens belong: not wholly clear from my photos, and I didn't capture any shrimp to count! Port nam Murrach, near Arisaig, Highland.

Palaemon : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 3d

1/2 Circling back to Scottish #rockpool shrimp as promised below. Curious little creatures: they'll manicure your hand by removing dead skin with tiny claws if you keep still! Feels like nothing more than barely perceptible tickle. Principle genus is Palaemon, with two common species: P elegans and…

Palaemon (with beadlet anemone, Actinia equina) : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 : August 2025

1 2

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

New factsheet and specimen galleries available: Xanthoria parietina. Probably Britain's most common #lichen. Originally adapted to coastal, dropping-enriched bird-perches. But now all-conquering thanks to huge burden of nitrogen pollution in today's environment. See aspenecology.com/xanthoria-pa...

Xanthoria parietina : England : VC25 East Suffolk : TM3389 : April 2023 : On Tilia twig

1 1 4

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

Thank you UKCEH for relaunching this app to measure nitrogen air-pollution using #lichens! Outstanding tool for citizen scientists! Essentially same method used by professional field lichenologists, too (applying useful modifications in Hope [2019]: cdn.naturalresources.wales/689206/nrw-e...).

1 1 7

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

2/2 …explored on summer holidays. If pools were polluted by e.g. agricultural runoff, they'd fill with quicker-growing green algae. But clean and nutrient-poor though they are, they're congenial to Rivularia colonies, whose filaments (see right) scavenge essential nitrogen and phosphorus from water.

Rivularia : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6692 Achaidh Mhoir : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

1/2 #Seaweeds aren't only sort of #alga in Scottish #rockpools. This is Rivularia: colonial photosynthesising #bacteria once known as 'blue-green algae' but now as #cyanobacteria. It's adapted to nutrient-poor conditions, and grows slowly, which attests to general cleanliness of rockpools that I…

Rivularia : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 Port nam Murrach : August 2025

1 2

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

More #lichens I see in Scotland, but not East Anglia: Variospora (Caloplaca) thallincola. (There is single record in each of Norfolk and Suffolk, but I suspect mistaken ID). Quite common where it occurs, on British rocky shores. Even so, it's small joy each time I see its elegant, sculptural form!

Variospora (Caloplaca) thallincola : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6138 Port nam Murrach : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

1 5

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 10d

Nicely spotted, Graham! Current name is Lichenomphalia ericetorum. It was thought that Linnaeus had named it 'Agaricus umbellifer' back in 1753 (eventually becoming L umbellifera). But careful study has shown that he'd actually given the name to another species! And so a different name was needed.

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 10d

More #seaweed from Scottish #rockpools: a species of Cladophora. Filamentous, branching green #alga (i.e. plant) growing in profusion from high to low shore. Each branch is chain of single cells! One of most common types of seaweed in Britain and indeed around world. Port nam Murrach, near Arisaig.

Cladophora : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 Port nam Murrach : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 10d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 10d

Continuing theme of #lichens I see on Scottish holidays, but which aren't found at home in Suffolk: Ophioparma ventosa, a most attractive lichen with pale thallus and blood-red apothecia. Thallus can appear yellowish (with usnic acid) or greyish (without). On siliceous boulder, Bracora, Loch Morar.

Ophioparma ventosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7192 Bracora : August 2025 : On siliceous boulder

1 5

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 11d

Daisy anemone (Cereus pedunculatus), Camusdarach, Scotland: last of four sea #anemone species seen while exploring #rockpools this summer (others in chain of posts below). Buries itself in sandy crevices with only mouth and short tentacles showing: many hundreds of them waiting to trap unwary prey.

Daisy anemone : Cereus pedunculatus : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6591 Camusdarach : August 2025

2 10

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 11d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI