The sun was shining on Mothering Sunday, and I was down in the watermeadow heaping dead foliage on Hard Knot Pass to make it less muddy to walk on and I was spotting and snapping in Vole County, which I will post about during the week. As I was going back up the steps under the sea buckthorns, I noticed this twig, which had fallen off the oldest tree. It is covered with lichens. Lichens are a curious mixture of algae and fungi living together – the algae provide the food source, and the fungi provides shelter. It’s a deal that works for both parties and is known as symbiosis.
I identified Oakmoss, which is neither limited to oaks, nor a moss. It is also known as Stag Lichen because of its antler shape and is found on twigs and small branches of both deciduous and coniferous trees all year round. It is a grey-green colour with paler powdery-looking shade on the underside. There were other textures of lichen on the twig as well – see picture below right.
