Sign in

Di Napier

@larkinlichen.bsky.social
460 followers 95 following 421 posts

UK lichens, fungi, wildflowers, botany, wildlife, microscopy of tiny things

PostsRepliesMedia
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
#butterfly @bcwarwickshire.bsky.social Common Blue or Brown Argus? Markings don’t quite seem to be right for either.
140
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Hummingbird hawkmoth, Small Copper, Red Admiral and Gatekeeper. Warwickshire garden and field edge #moth #butterfly
Hummingbird Hawkmoth hovering over Red Valerian, with proboscis in a flowerSmall Copper butterfly resting between dry grasses on a field edgeRed Admiral butterfly feeding on BuddleiaGatekeeper (Hedge Brown) butterfly feeding on Wild Marjoram growing in a garden
070
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Though I have had a Micarea peliocarpa where I only saw the C red reaction in an apothecial section under the microscope
020
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Interesting. I’m afraid I can’t add anything useful to Anthony’s points
110
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Brown Argus in our Warwickshire garden on Bird’s-foot Trefoil
090
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Interesting. I’ve only seen it non-fertile or with apothecia, but wondering whether yours maybe has pycnidia? Like Cladonia can have apothecia and/or pycnidia. The Italic website says Bunodophorum can have pycnidia, so seems plausible? italic.units.it/index.php?pr...
italic.units.it
Bunodophoron melanocarpum (Sw.) Wedin
Thallus fruticose, shrubby-coralloid, 3-5 cm high, often forming extensive mats; branches highly divided in upper part, markedly flattened, especially towards the base, ending with small, subterete, p...
110
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I really thought it was a map! Very nice.
110
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
I’ve a strong suspicion they are mites rather than slime mould. Mites like that (oribatid mites) are very common under or amongst lichen. I have seen quite a range of slime moulds (including Trichia), but none anything much like that. I think I can just about see tiny legs.
220
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
The soredia gave a faint pinkish reaction to K (not really ‘dull violet’).
050
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
#lichenGBI Caloplaca teicholyta with apothecia. First time I’ve seen it fertile. On calcareous ironstone, Warwickshire, UK. Used video to catch the red reaction on the apothecial section, as it dissolved out rapidly. The soredia gave a faint pinkish reaction to K (not really ‘dull violet’) >
Whitish crustose lichen with white/brownish soredia and dark red apothecia with pale rims A non-fertile example. Whitish crustose lichen with white/brownish sorediaThe edge of a non-fertile example. White lobes, and white/brownish soredia away from the edgeSection of apothecium in KOH. The upper layer of the apothecium (dull reddish in water) turned bright red in KOH, but rapidly dissolved and dispersed. More or less continuous green algal layer below the hymenium.
1264
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Very nice!
000
Reposted by Di Napier
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 24/05/2025
Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes
theguardian.com
Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes
MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds Providing every new home with at least one “swift brick” to help endangered cavity-nesting birds has been rejected by Labour at the committee stage of its increasingly controversial planning bill. The amendment to the bill to ask every developer to provide a £35 hollow brick for swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings, which was tabled by Labour MP Barry Gardiner, has been rejected by the Labour-dominated committee. Continue reading...
298343
Reposted by Di Napier
Kiera Chapman @kierachapman.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
So Labour say they won't install swift bricks because they are moving away from specific species mitigations to landscape level ones. But swifts nest IN BUILDINGS. So how is landscape-level compensation supposed to help? Just ecologically illiterate nonsense 🤦‍♀️ www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes
MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds
99644
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Nice photos. Not one I know.
010
Reposted by Di Napier
Gulnara Tagirdzhanova @metalichen.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
🌟Call for Papers on #Lichen #symbiosis🌟 Thrilled to be a guest editor for The Lichenologist, together with @veera-t-nogerius.bsky.social, @ioanabrannstrom.bsky.social, and Ellen Cameron. Send us papers on the inner workings of lichens, submission is open till September 2025! tinyurl.com/2w7wwubm
A special issue dedicated to lichen research with emphasis on new approaches to the study of the symbiosis: The diversity of organisms present in thalli (including all fungi, algae and bacteria); Their physical and metabolic interactions; Their contributions to the functioning of the lichen symbiosis. In addition to original research, we also welcome perspectives, reviews and methods papers.
Submission deadline: September 2025.
Guest editors: Veera Tuovinen Nogerius, Ioana Onut Brännström, 
Gulnara Tagirdzhanova, Ellen Cameron
1249
Reposted by Di Napier
anntouza.bsky.social @anntouza.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
My first post! And my posts are going to be about lichens. Because they are amazing and I love them! This is Dimelaena oreina, moonglow lichen. A tiny sample highly magnified, from Ft Adams, RI
4727
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Good question!
010
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
That is a fantastic display of slime mould (not a fungus or a lichen). It will likely change colour and texture dramatically. Not sure which one, maybe something like Didymium or Fuligo, or Brefeldia, but the PNW likely has different species to where I am in the UK.
120
Reposted by Di Napier
Highlands Rewilding @highlandsrewilding.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
🌿 Rainforest in the UK 😮 At the Chelsea Flower Show @RobStoneman, Director of Landscape Recovery at @TheWildlifeTrusts, is championing from the Rainforest Garden, which won silver-gilt. It is a breathtaking exhibit reminding us that rainforests are not just tropical.#ChelseaFlowerShow
124
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Apothecium, plural apothecia. Like jam tarts. Some lichens have perithecia, which are enclosed. Both are types of lichen fruiting body, that produce the spores
010
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Ooh!
020
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Sequencing has its own deep rabbit-holes!
110
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Agh! Sorry! Not sure I like the name variiformis anyway, it sounds like it has even worse implications than varia. Dastardly things
020
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Interesting. The habitat description for A. variiformis maybe makes it less likely? (Mostly coastal.) Don’t think it’s a UK species, so I wasn’t aware of it before. But I agree these lirellate things are tough. I have several samples that need reviewing as I couldn’t decide what they were.
210
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
It looks like a lovely soft candlewick blanket. Perhaps Lepra (Pertusaria) corallina?
110
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Interesting link to article about different perceptions of lichen interactions with building stone
174
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Not sure about the greenish foliose one, but that bubbling bulgy one peeking in on the left looks like the weird and wonderful Lasallia pustulata
000
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Wonderful photos. I missed so much when we were there 4 years ago. Spectacular place.
030
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Ooh! Such lovely little things. Was that today? We saw some on 9th March, though only just opening then.
100
Reposted by Di Napier
Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
We have 3 fab #WildFlowerID webinars lined up for you this spring. Led by national experts. All absolutely free! 22 Apr: Mulleins with Mike Crewe 7 May: Mints with Ambroise Baker 10 June: Broomrapes with @christhorogood.bsky.social Details & booking links: bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/03/shar...
111345
Reposted by Di Napier
Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
10934311111999
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
#eclipse projection just now onto paper, using binoculars, cardboard and (a lot of) parcel tape. Quite a fiddle to set up. Warwickshire, UK
071
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Busy frogs last night. There was only one clump of #frogspawn at 7 pm. Warwickshire
6 or 7 dense clumps of freshly-laid (last night) frogspawn in a Warwickshire garden pond. Surrounded by leaves of Lesser Spearwort, Ranunculus flammula. The jelly has only partially swollen so far
1111
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
#Frogspawn in our pond, Warwickshire
0140
Reposted by Di Napier
Sean Cooch @waxcapscooch.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
wcwd.substack.com/p/its-at-the... - great story, eloquently explained by @graceblakeley.bsky.social Having visited and ‘advised’ on Middlewick it deserves protecting. That means SSSI notification. There is no better legal mechanism to protect wildlife sites.
wcwd.substack.com
"It's at the heart of the community"
How local environmentalists built a winning campaign to save a much-loved nautral space.
0114
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Seems to be partly a matter of luck, finding basidia on lichenicolous species. I haven’t seen that one, but on Laetisaria, sometimes there are quite a few basidia, but usually it takes several tries and often no success. They are much more delicate than asci, and the basidiospores easily detach.
130
Reposted by Di Napier
Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery @rammuseum.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
📣ARTIST OPPORTUNITY Open call for artists to apply to make new work for the exhibition Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi 🍄 We're looking for work that breaks down boundaries + engages with scientific concepts through a lens of critically engaged art. Deadline 28 Apr. Apply: ramm.uk/artist-oppor...
a collage of a diverse selection of mushrooms on magic lantern slides
12610
Reposted by Di Napier
Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
(🧵) How Elon Musk betrayed America: a thread from a Musk biographer and former federal criminal investigator. Please share widely, here and elsewhere. This will be long. Author bio: www.sethabramson.net/bio Latest book: sethabramson.substack.com/p/proof-of-d...
15848502883
Reposted by Di Napier
Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
This is unbelievably and horribly shocking. 280 million acres = 1.13 million square kilometres, which is: 11.5% of the USA 33% of USA's forest cover 64-91% of USA’s national forest + protected public land area (exact figure depending on how much protected public land is also national forest)
128761
Reposted by Di Napier
Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest @asrainforest.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Invitation to tender: Saving Scotland’s Rainforest impact reporting. We are looking for an experienced communications specialist to help us tell the story of the impact of the Saving Scotland’s Rainforest project. Apply now! savingscotlandsrainforest.org.uk/jobs/communi...
savingscotlandsrainforest.org.uk
Communications Specialist — Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest
Invitation to tender for an exciting project helping us show the impact of our work with Scotland's rainforest.
0229
Reposted by Di Napier
Peter Bisset @handle.invalid · 05/03/2025
The happy lichenologist at a community event. Photos courtesy of Tina Knowles Photography
0102
Reposted by Di Napier
Peter Bisset @handle.invalid · 05/03/2025
Even happier at finding something new for me in the Community Orchard, Nectriopsis physiicola
072
Reposted by Di Napier
Paul Foth @paulrfoth.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
State of the usnea 🌿
Extremely bristly pale green tufted lichen with lots of branches with dense isidia. Blurred background.
2294
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
#lichenGBI For comparison, something similar, but that doesn’t quite fit P. ucrainica, because it’s much too orange (but doesn’t quite fit anything else either, so recorded as P. candelaria s. lat.). From dog-wee zone, low down on calcareous ironstone. Found in 2 sites, same habitat. Warwickshire
Flat deep-orange lobes with blastidia/soredia Close-up of a single orange lichen lobe with soredia/blastidiaSame thing but with light shining through.  Flattened lobes about 150 um wide, covered with soredia/blastidia about 25 um
010
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
060
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
That is Phacothecium varium (in the alt text but missed out from the main text). Lichenicolous on Xanthoria parietina
050
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
#lichenGBI Another #lichenicolous fungus This one is supposedly mostly coastal, but was found 25 miles inland, on Xanthoria parietina, on a branch fallen from an Ash. Midsomer Norton, Somerset. Surprising spores with 3 septa in a black apothecium. britishlichensociety.org.uk/sites/defaul...
Poorly bit of Xanthoria with black lichenicolous apothecia of Phacothecium varium (previously called Opegrapha physicaria)Section through apothecium (upside down)4-celled spores8-spored asci
2295
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
#lichenGBI Second time I’ve found the #lichenicolous #fungifriends Lichenochora galligena on Physcia adscendens. This time from North Somerset. On a fallen Ash twig in Midsomer Norton.
White-speckled green thallus of Physcia adscendens, with a galled area showing black ostioles of the immersed perithecia of the lichenicolous fungus Thick section through two perithecia (about 200 um diameter) immersed in the  lichen thallus. Some asci have been squished out at bottom rightAsci stained with K/ink/vinegar. Spores are septate, fairly thick-walled, around 10 x 6-7.5 um
0211
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Lovely! Some starting points for possible ids: a Hypogymnia, a Cladonia, Bryum capillare (since renamed) and a Peltigera (dog-lichen)
010
Di Napier @larkinlichen.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/abo...
britishlichensociety.org.uk
About lichens | The British Lichen Society
010