#Isle-of-Rona
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hallaig5.bsky.social
Acarsaid Mhor (Big Harbour), Isle of Rona.
#isleofrona
November 14, 2024 at 3:04 AM
annieworsley.bsky.social
Cascades of light, sharp showers, lively gusts. Threaded through them all, geese, flying south to find the sun.

View across the Inner Sound to Isle Rona and Skye.
September 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
alisondunlop.bsky.social
As I returned home from the village and reached the top of the hill above home, this is the sight which greeted me, out there over the Inner Sound. Isle of Rona and Skye beyond.
February 27, 2025 at 9:21 PM
williamduguid1.bsky.social
'This is how it happens: slowly, silently, legally. One island at a time. One estate at a time. One shell company at a time. Until Scotland becomes a patchwork of private retreats, corporate playgrounds, and sealed-off havens for the rich.'
Kyle Renton, via Scotland Decides
www.scotlanddecides....
SCOTLAND - OUR LAND?
A guest post by Kyle RentonThe Isle of Rona has been sold.The last two people living on the island - off the coast of Skye - are preparing to leave. The new owners? Daniel Luhde-Thompson, a hedge fund manager, based in England, and Cressida Pollock, a high-level financial consultant and former CEO of the English National Opera. The deal was done quietly, through a company called Fior Rona Ltd. The old owners? A Danish couple by the names of Dorte and Arne Jensen.Another island gone. Another comm
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
idrellegames.itch.io
Anselma Malley, the Viridian Lady, is an aeda crime lord in Rona. Based in the South Isle, she remains one of the most powerful of the Seven, contending only with the Crimson Count.

#wayfarerif #wayfarergame #interactivefiction #interactivenovel #indiegame
March 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on #Isle-of-Rona, #Hebrides, #Scotland

I said once I had found 2 of the 4 former Lobaria species on Rona. Well, here’s no 3, Lobarina scrobiculata. I found this photo yesterday, I must have overlooked it before!

Tap/click the captions to expand.
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends #nature
A foliose lichen growing on a tree trunk. The upper sides of the lobes is a yellowish green, the undersides are very pale with a tinge of brown. This lichen was growing at a point I could barely see or reach on a mature birch tree, obscured from view by a big branch, and if I moved round the tree the ground fell away. I suspected it was Lobarina scrobiculata but wasn't sure. It was at the highest point I could touch, and pushed my camera up to it. Here's the photo. This species can be a blue-grey colour when it's hydrated, but in the hot dry weather while I was on Rona it had dried out to this pale green. These lobes are quite young – a good sign because it means it is growing – because there is no soredia on them. It usually produces grey soredia on the margins and the ridges. The upper surface is described as "scrobiculate" which means it has shallow depression separated by shallow, rounded ridges, and hence the name. The underside is pale with a pale brown tomentum. This brown tomentum on the lower surface is a key distinguishing feature from other Lobaria species. If you enlarge the upper left corner of the image, you can just see it. This means I've now found three of the four former Lobaria species that were recorded on Rona in 1990.
June 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
asls.org.uk
“An outflung peninsula on an abandoned island whose birds are in crisis and whose people are long gone, ‘Fianuis’ means ‘testimony’, or ‘witness’.”

—Kathleen Jamie, “Island at the edge of the world”
www.theguardian.com/books/2006/a...
Kathleen Jamie visits the uninhabited isle of Rona
Abandoned more than 150 years ago, the tiny isle of Rona now only echoes to the siren songs of salt-winds and sea-birds. In this bleak place, the acclaimed Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie found not just ...
www.theguardian.com
April 22, 2026 at 2:54 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, #Hebrides, #Scotland

No further posts until next week. I'm going into hospital tomorrow for two or three days. Hope to keep posting lichen images after that

Tap/click the captions to expand.
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends #nature
June 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social
Can we move on to discussing the deeply contentious debate about whether the author of the headline should be incarcerated on North Rona or the Isle of Man?
drjennings.bsky.social Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · Jun 5
But is it deeply contentious? Really?
June 5, 2026 at 12:47 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, in the #Hebrides, in #Scotland

One image today, showing the interactions between three lichens on the sunny side of the large boulder I was exploring.

Tap/click the ALT text to expand it.
#lichenGBI #fungi-friends
Here are three lichens jostling for position one one part of the boulder. At the bottom, perhaps the oldest one, is Rhizocarpon geographicum, the Map lichen. "Geographicum" is formed from two Greek words meaning "to draw" and "the earth", i.e. to draw a map. Its greenish-yellow (or yellowish-green) colour is familiar to many people in the hills. Looking closer, the crust is broken into small areas called areoles, and the black hypothallus (the very lowest layer, attached to the rock) is visible as black lines between the areoles. This lichen does not look healthy. Parts of it have turned black where they have died. I've searched the image for its apothecia, but I don't think I can find any. And two other lichens are growing over it - the large pale one at the top, and some pieces of a brown one in places. The large pale lichen is also divided into small pieces separated by black lines. It's quite a thick crust, and from this angle we can't quite see to the bottom of some of the cracks, but where we can, it also has a black hypothallus. Look also at its apothecia. They are sitting on top of the areoles. See how contorted the margins of some of them have become. This was a very common lichen which I found on nearly every rock on Rona. It's Fuscidea cyathoides, and sometimes it forms large mosaics. Then there's the brown lichen. It's formed of small separate pieces, like separate plates. These are almost crustose, but not quite. Look at the top right especially, and then back at the other ones. They are not fully attached to the rock but have free edges lifting from it. These are separate squamules. It's a squamulose lichen. Its apothecia are very small, and they don't stand on top, but are immersed in the squamules. The discs are darker than the squamules, and usually slightly depressed in it. This is Acarospora fuscata. In some places it looks like it's holding its own against the Fuscidea. In the middle it seems to have grown over the Rhizocarpon.
June 7, 2025 at 7:11 PM
alisondunlop.bsky.social
Looking along the headlands this afternoon towards a moody Isle of Rona and Skye, across the Inner Sound. Not much in the way of light today, but this view always takes my breath away as I wend my way down into our little bay.
February 4, 2024 at 5:07 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
I've just spent the last two weeks on the #Isle-of-Rona, a small privately-owned island in the #Hebrides. I'll be posting some #lichen photos over the next few weeks from Rona. To get started, here are the two British/Irish species of Sphaerophorus. See ALT text for details. #lichenGBI #Scotland
Sphaerophorus fragilis – a many-branched pale grey fruticose (or bush-like) lichen, growing in a mound over a nearly-black foliose (leaf-like) lichen. S. fragilis is very rarely found with apothecia. As it grows and keeps forming new branches, those that don't bare apothecia are all roughly the same diameter. There are no main branches with thinner side branches. This is the main identification feature for this species. It grows on mountain rocks, often at a higher altitude than S. globosus. This specimen was on the highest hill on Rona at 125m altitude. It is growing over Parmelia omphalodes. On the same hill, and growing over the same Parmelia omphalodes, this is Sphaerophorus globosus – a pale brown-coloured, many-branched fruticose or bushy lichen, growing over a nearly-black foliose or leafy lichen. Notice that not all branches are of equal thickness. In this case the main branches are thicker, and side branches are thinner. This, rather than the colour, is the main identification feature of this species. However, it often is a pale brown colour, as here. Here is another example of Sphaerophorus globosus – a richly-branched pale brown fruticose or bushy lichen, growing over a pale grey foliose lichen, of which only a few lobes can be seen emerging from the heap of the brown lichen. Notice the small brown globular structures at the end of some of the stems of this lichen They are up to 3mm in diameter. These are the apothecia, and they explain the name both of this species and of the genus. Globosus in Latin means spherical or globular. Sphaerophorus is formed from two Greek words meaning bearing balls, globes or spheres, σφαιρα. A further picture of Sphaerophorus globosus as I found it on Rona. This one shows the nature of the ball-like apothecia. The fungal spores develop within the little globes, and when they are ripe the globe splits open to reveal the black mass of the spores. This type of spore-bearing body is called a mazaedium. It is a characteristic of Sphaerophorus lichens, and of related genera. Fertile specimens of S. globosus are not frequent, though not as rare as those of S. fragilis. However, this is not the first time I have seen these apothecia in Scotland. Notice again the varying thickness of the branches of this species, with thicker main stems and thinner side branches
May 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
sydrumlin.bsky.social
The perfectly sheltered natural harbour at Acarsaid Mhor - Rona.
Lying between the east coast of Skye and the west coast Scottish mainland.
You can just see Drumlin at anchor on the RHS, hiding from very brisk northerlies with the Isle of Skye in the distance.
Acarsaid Mhor - Rona Perfect natural harbour surrounded by steep sided, tree covered hills and the narrowest of entrances from the open sea. A white cottage sits tucked away above the shore in the foreground.
November 23, 2024 at 6:53 AM
cdnviolets.bsky.social
Sometimes one of my family or friend's photos inspires a painting. Rona posted this picture of Benmore Estate on the Isle Of Mull on the other side of the world from me. Looked idyllic.
June 22, 2026 at 3:16 AM
maureenpickering.bsky.social
Scotland is being sold off. The island of Rona being the latest. We need independence before we are owned by off by billionaires with shore accounts. Thank you D Younger. www.scotlanddecides.org/post/scotlan...
SCOTLAND - OUR LAND?
A guest post by Kyle RentonThe Isle of Rona has been sold.The last two people living on the island - off the coast of Skye - are preparing to leave. The new owners? Daniel Luhde-Thompson, a hedge fund manager, based in England, and Cressida Pollock, a high-level financial consultant and former CEO of the English National Opera. The deal was done quietly, through a company called Fior Rona Ltd. The old owners? A Danish couple by the names of Dorte and Arne Jensen.Another island gone. Another comm
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, in #Scotland

Further up the #coast, the black zone is overlapped by the orange zone, which also extends into the grey zone. These lichens experience less splashing but still plenty of sea spray.

Tap/click the caption to expand it.
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends
Coastal rock covered by a mixture of lichens. Much of it is black, this is the Hydropunctaria maura we've seen before. On top of the black there are pieces of two bright yellow-orange species, one foliose and one crustose. There are also small pieces of a much more orange species scattered about. Pale grey and white lichens are also represented. This is quite a mixture. One of the most prolific lichens to be found in the orange zone is this one. It's a foliose lichen, often with thin, narrow, strap-like lobes, though as they age they do widen and become more rounded, as in the previous photo. This is Xanthoria aureola, a relative of the very common Xanthoria parietina that many of us will be familiar with in urban and agricultural settings. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the two species apart. X. parietina usually has lots of round orange apothecia while X. aureola has them much more sparingly. Any coastal lichen with narrow strap-like lobes like these will be X. aureola. Even when these lobes grow fuller and wider, they rarely overlap each other, while the lobes of X. parietina usually overlap densely. Here is a bright yellow-orange crustose lichen growing over the black H. maura near the top of the black zone where it overlaps with the bottom of the orange zone. See the very long marginal lobes. This is a placodioid lichen, that is a crustose lichen with marginal lobes. Unlike the lobes of foliose lichens, these cannot be separated from the rock beneath them. As a crustose lichen, it has no lower surface; its fungal hyphae penetrate into the rock. This is Flavoplaca thallincola. It often prefers the shade or north-facing rocks. It usually produces plenty of apothecia on the central area, but they seem to be absent here. The distinctive reddish-orange colour of the small, scattered lichens in the first photo is often enough to identify it as Flavoplaca marina. I've only found this photo of a rather poorly-developed specimen from Rona. Here many parts of the thallus are separated from each other; small patches of a continuous areolate crust are found in only a couple of places. Quite a number of small, young apothecia can be seen. These grow to about 0.8 mm wide, but compare these ones with the mm scale. The discs can already be seen to be a deeper orange colour.
June 16, 2025 at 8:42 PM
nuddsy.bsky.social
The Isle of Rona, between Isle of Skye and mainland Scotland. X
September 24, 2023 at 8:12 AM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Lobaria pulmonaria Is still flourishing on the #Isle-of-Rona and on much of the west coast of #Scotland, though it is in decline over much of Europe. At home we mourn the loss of any tree that bears it.

See more details in the ALT text, and click/tap that text to expand. #lichenGBI
A luxuriant growth of Lobaria pulmonaria on branches of a willow tree. I found this on my first day on Rona, and it boded well for my visit to the island. A tangle of brown tree branches, some several inches thick can be seen, but many parts of them are covered with what look like large pale brownish-green leaves. These are the lobes of the lichen. The weather was warm and dry and so the lichen had dried out, turning this pale colour. Below the branches green grass and other ground vegetation fill the image. Part of the lichen on the same tree a couple of days later. A sea-mist had rolled in, and in the damp atmosphere the lichens had absorbed water and were back to their green colours. A thick horizontal bough of the willow tree nearly fills the photo, running from side to side. The bark is a pale brownish-white colour where it is visible. Growing on it is a small patch of darker brown liverwort, and two lichens The Lobaria pulmonaria grows on the top of the bough, and its lobes are hanging down over the sides. Underneath it, on the bottom of the bough, smaller lobes of another, very green lichen, can be seen. This is Ricasolia virens, which often grows in close association with L. pulmonaria. Lichens must absorb what water they need directly from the atmosphere. They have no roots or vessels to transport water around their 'body' or thallus. During dry weather they dry out, but they go into a dormant state, but quickly revive as soon as water becomes available again. The reason why some lichens change colour between wet and dry conditions is that the upper surface, the upper cortex becomes opaque when dry, and transparent when wet. As a result the green algal cells which live immediately below the upper cortex are seen much more clearly in wet or damp conditions. The infamous Scottish midges also come out in great numbers in damp conditions. Although it was a good day for the lichens, the midges rapidly drove me away that day! The upper and undersides of the lobes of Lobaria pulmonaria. This image moves in closer to the lobes seen in the last image to look at the details. The upper surface of a fairly young lobe, coloured bright green in the damp air, may be seen at the middle bottom of the picture. Above it another lobe which had overlapped the one at the bottom, has been turned back to reveal its underside. It has a pale brown colour, with a network of darker lines. Both lobes show a very indented margin, with rounded indentations. The upper side of one lobe shows a network of ridges, separating a series of depressions. As the lobe ages coarse soredia or isidia develop on these ridges. This may be seen on the of the lobes at the top left and top right of the image. On the underside a series of pale raised areas correspond to the depressions on the upper surface. A dark brown tomentum, a felt-like mat of fungal hyphae, develops on the centre of the underside, but not on the raised areas. Hence, the tomentose network corresponds to the network of ridges on the upper side. Lobaria pulmonaria will sometimes grow on rock as well as on bark, usually on rocks beneath a tree where it has become established. This specimen was found on a drier day, and so the green of the upper side is paler. Here a series of lobes straggle untidily over a blue-grey rock, the ancient Lewisian gneiss of which the whole of Rona is formed. Some lobes on the left show their pale green upper surfaces; those on the right show their pale brown undersides. Holes seem to have developed in the lobe depressions on the right. If you enlarge the image you can see the thin green branching isidia on some of the ridges, as well as pale areas where isidia have broken off. Brown apothecia are also growing on the ridges. Apothecia are only found occasionally, on the ridges toward the margins of lobes. The apothecia are 2–4 mm across, with a red-brown disc and a thin pale thalline margin. I read today that it may take about 35 years before a thallus develops these spore-bearing apothecia, and so becomes fertile.
May 29, 2025 at 7:42 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona in #Scotland

Umbilicaria species grow on hard exposed rock in mountain environments. They are unusual foliose lichens since they are attached by a single, often central holdfast. I found two on Rona

Tap/click the caption to expand it
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends
A small reddish-brown multilobed thallus just over 2 cm wide (scale in mm). There were many of these small thalli dotted over the rocks at the top of Meall Acairseid ("Anchorage Hill") which at 125 m was the highest hill on Rona, overlooking the main harbour. This is Umbilicaria polyrhiza. The upper surface is smooth and plain. Black rhizines can be seen poking out around the margins and where there is any damage to the lobes. What are rhizines doing on a lichen which has a central holdfast? Well, they play no part in attaching the lichen to the rock, and so technically they are called "rhizinomorphs", structures in the form of rhizines. What role they may play in the life of this lichen, I have never heard. A larger example of Umbilicaria polyrhiza at 4 cm wide. The same plain, smooth upper surface to the lobes, but more of the black undersides with their black rhizinomorphs can be seen. A rather different Umbilicaria. This one was less frequently found, but it was again on the rocks of Meall Acairseid. This is Umbilicaria torrefacta. Its name come from the Latin word meaning to parch or roast, and refers to its very dark colour. This is a single-lobed lichen, though as you can see it is much crumpled. It can be identified from its torn margins and from a series of holes close to the margins. This gives the margins rather a lace-like appearance. Here are the two species growing next to each other on top of Meall Acairseid. Umbilicaria torrefacta is on the right, Umbilicaria polyrhiza on the left, with a further U. torrefacta on the far left. Notice on the U. torrefacta not only the crumpled nature of the lobe and the lace-like margin, but also the many apothecia growing on its upper surface. And notice the very complicated structure of the apothecia. Rather than a plain circular margin surrounding a disc, these apothecia have what's called a "gyrose" structure. The margin is folded back and forth several times across the disc, which is barely visible between the folds. See too how these Umbilicarias are able to grow over the crustose lichens coating the rock unopposed. As foliose lichens they can simply grow over the top of the crustose species. The one with yellow areoles is Rhizocarpon geographicum. The very pale brown one is Fuscidea cyathoides, both common crusose species on silicious rocks.
June 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
victoriaredfern.bsky.social
Alt text because Bluesky won't let me do alt text with my phone: Photo of my Mum on the Isle of Skye. My mum Rona with the Isle of Rona behind her in the distance. Two lovely Ronas. Stop calling the virus 'Rona'!!
October 3, 2024 at 9:27 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, #Hebrides, #Scotland

Walking east past the old houses I came to a small rocky summit, on the island’s N–S ridge (at 48 m). Here were saxicolous lichens we’ve met before. Do you remember them?

Tap/click the captions to expand
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends #nature
A dark brown foliose lichen with white pseudo-cyphellae on the lobes (remember yesterday's cyphellae?), with a number of apothecia down the left edge of the photo. Apothecia are the structures which produce the fungal spores by which this lichen reproduces. There is one small apothecium, closed up around the disc, and three much older, fully open discs, red-brown in colour. We saw this on rocks up near the summit of Meall Acairseid. On that occasion I did a K-test to check it was not another species I keep looking for. I did the same here. Having scraped away some of the upper cortex from one of the lobes I put a drop of KOH (potassium hydroxide) onto the white medulla of the lichen. It immediately turned yellow, then after a short time it turned red. If you're still scratching your head trying to remember this one, here is one clue. Foliose lichens with white pseudocyphellae along the margins and on the upper surface, many of them linear, usually belong to the genus Parmelia. This glossy dark brown species is Parmelia omphalodes. In NW Scotland it frequently covers the top of large boulders or rock outcrops. A pale brown fruticose lichen with some thick main stems and lots of much thinner side branches. This is a Sphaerophorus, but there are no fruiting bodies on this one (there often aren't) which give it both the name of the genus (Sphaer - ophorus = bearing spheres) and the name of this species (globosus). S. globosus is the one which has branches of varying thickness; S. fragilis has branches which all tend to be similar in thickness. I'm not sure we've met this one before on Rona. Here is a foliose lichen with quite narrow lobes, closely attached to the rock. Near the edge, at the bottom of the photo, are the younger lobes, the very youngest of which are a plain, pale yellow-green colour. There are no pseudo-cyphellae, but it is a similar and related genus to Parmelia. This is a Xanthoparmelia. The first part of that name comes from the Greek word xanthos, meaning "yellow". It is a very distinctive colour, which helps you start to identify it at first sight. Slightly older lobes, just away from the edge, have lots of dark dots on them. These are very small, thin, isidia. You need a 10x lens to see them properly. The oldest lobes, in the centre of the thallus (higher up in the photo) are simply crowded with isidia, so the surfaces of these lobes can no longer be seen. Scattered over these older lobes there are a lot of apothecia. The discs are again a red-brown colour, and are surrounded by a pale margin. Isidia are starting to grow from some of the margins of older apothecia, and some of the very oldest apothecia are being taken over by more isidia, where the disc once was. This is Xanthoparmelia conspersa. Conspersus is a Latin word meaning "sprinkled" – sprinkled with isidia. This lichen is common on well-lit siliceous rocks, both on the coast and inland. A number of Cladonias were growing on among moss on the edge of the rock. Cladonias with red apothecia always catch the eye, and often make for a striking photo. There are other Cladonias here. The narrow brown pointed spikes are one species, but I'm going to focus on that red-topped one. The stalks which bear the fruiting bodies (podetia) of some Cladonias end in a cup, but neither of these species do. The brown one ends in points, and the pale yellow-green one ends bluntly, with the red apothecia growing straight on the end. I think one short stalk branches into two just before the top, and each of those two branches has a red apothecium on top of it. The apothecia, remember, are where the lichen produces the fungal spores that are released into the atmosphere. There are four Cladonias in Britain that grow in the form of sticks and have red apothecia. To distinguish them from each other it is helpful to look at what the surface of the 'stick' (the podetium) is covered with. Two of the four have fine soredia on the podetia, so we can rule those out here. On the ground here there are a lot of small irregular bits of lichen. These are squamules, and it is from such squamules that the podetia have grown. To the right of the photo is another podetium, but with no red top. You can see how that one is attached to a number of squamules. You can also see much smaller squamules on the surface of the podetia. You might have to enlarge the photo to see them clearly. Apart from those little squamules, nothing else seems to be present on the surface of the podetia. Of the other two red-topped stick-like Cladonias, one (Cladonia bellidiflora) often has only dense squamules, the other (Cladonia floerkeana) can have quite a mixture of surface types, but it often has coarse granules. While it can sometimes be a bit tricky to tell the two apart, this all makes me fairly happy that this is Cladonia bellidiflora.
June 23, 2025 at 8:07 PM
idrellegames.itch.io
Hera Ambrose is an elven inventor and researcher living in Rona. The daughter of Rona's former magistrate and the wife of the Viridian Lady, she enjoys a comfortable lifestyle in her coastal villa on the South Isle.

#wayfarerif #wayfarergame #interactivefiction #interactivenovel #indiegame
January 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
There were 4 species of Lobaria in Britain, but after genetic studies some 10 years ago 3 of these have been reclassified into other genera.
All 4 former Lobaria were recorded as present on the #Isle-of-Rona in 1990, so I was keen to see if I could refind them. In the end, I found only 2. #lichenGBI
Ricasolia virens (formerly known as Lobaria virens) in a semi-dry state on a tree trunk. This was the second of the four former Lobarias I found, and it is commonly found wherever Lobaria pulmonaria is found (the first of my Lobarias, featured yesterday) Nothing can be seen of the tree trunk itself. It is completely covered with moss and lichens. On the left of the image is a large patch of R. virens in shades of pale green and brown. Its many small lobes are up to 1 cm wide. Some of these are smooth with the edges turned up a little. Older lobes are wrinkled. Lots of apothecia can be seen. Mature apothecia are up to 3 mm wide with a red-brown disc and a pale margin, and many of these are turned up at the margins. More immature apothecia are seen growing on the surface of the lobes, smaller and with thicker margins. This lichen appears to be growing over the mosses and other lichens on the tree. A green moss is trying to reassert itself, growing up between lobes of the lichen. Small podetia from a species of Cladonia are also pushing through between some of the lobes. Ricasolia virens in its fully hydrated state, unmistakeable with its bright green lobes. "Virens", the name of this species, is a Latin word meaning green. The new genus, Ricasolia, is named after Simone Ricasoli, a 19th-century Italian botanist. Notice again the apothecia, mainly on older parts of the thallus. And notice the large, loose lobes of Lobaria pulmonaria growing just to the right of the R. virens. A very dry and brown specimen of Ricasolia virens, spreading from a dead and fallen tree onto an outcrop of rock. Here the R. virens is growing over existing lichen species on the rock. The wrinkled lobes and upturned apothecia, as well as immature apothecia on newer lobes can all be seen here. This lichen may be dormant now, but as soon as it rains and the lichen becomes re-hydrated it will be bright green once more, alive and flourishing. Here are the records of lichens on Rona prior to my own visit this May. The four former Lobaria species are highlighted in yellow. I looked keenly for the other two species, Lobarina scrobiculata and Ricasolia amplissima. There was one piece of deciduous woodland which we passed on our way into the Big Harbour (Acairseid Mhòr) on Rona, which I would like to have examined. But the difficult nature of the only track, and the absence of other paths, made that too difficult for me (I've recently become somewhat disabled). My lichen expeditions had to be restricted to the two 1 km grid squares nearest to the house we stayed in. So all I can say is that although these squares contained a representative collection of habitats, I failed to find the other two species in them. Whether they still exist elsewhere on Rona I cannot say.
May 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, in #Scotland

Above the black and orange zones of coastal lichens is a grey zone of lichens with muted colours. This gradually gives way to the normal inland lichens.

Tap/click the caption to expand it.
#lichenGBI #FungiFriends
There are two species of Ramalina that are found on coastal rocks. This one is Ramalina cuspidata. If you enlarge the right-hand branches of the lichen in the foreground you'll see a lot of black dots along the branches, all at the tip of small white swellings. These are pycnidia, one type of spore-producing structure. In the centre of the photo a circular structure is attached to another of the branches. This is an apothecium, a second type of spore-producing structure. A number of features help to identify Ramalina cuspidata and separate it from Ramalina siliquosa (which will be in the next photo). 1. Its branches are narrow and either flattened or ±rounded in cross-section. 2. The branches are blackened right at the base, as they arise from the holdfast on the rock. 3. The conspicuous black pycnidia we've already seen. Ramalina cuspidata also tends to occur lower down on the shore than R. siliquosa. Here are the flattened branches of Ramalina siliquosa, which are quite stiff and sturdy. Usually flattened, they may be between 2 and 9 mm wide. Both Ramalinas are very common on coastal siliceous rocks, as well as exposed sites further inland such as wind-exposed outcrops of rock, hilltops and tall buildings where salt-laden winds may encourage their growth at the expense of more salt-averse species. Ramalina siliquosa may be distinguished from R. cuspidata by several features. 1. Branches stiff and tough, usually flattened except at their base, up to 9 mm broad. 2. No blackening at their base (though beware of dirt!) 3. Pycnidia are frequent and may be clustered into small nodules, but they have white tips. There are some black specks of dirt on this specimen, but most of them are found on the flat surfaces of the branches, not on the white pycnidia. More of this black dirt is found on the base of the branches, but it does not look like a general blackening of the stem. If in doubt, spray or pour some water over the lichen to wash away any dirt. The grey zone can include quite a number of different species, and I can only illustrate four in this post. Here, some very long, thin, branching brown lobes of a foliose lichen spread out across the rock surface. When wet it undergoes a startling colour-change. It loses the brown colour and appears as dark green instead, as the algal cells become visible beneath the transparent surface layer, the cortex. This is Anaptychia runcinata. The generic name means that it occurs on (ana) the Greek island of Ptychia near Corfu, now known as Vido. This lichen can be abundant on hard coastal rocks, and also on turf and soil. The lobes are up to 2.5 mm wide, slightly wider at their tips, fairly thick, flat to concave. Thick white crustose lichens with round black apothecia but white margins are common on coastal rocks, and may belong to one of two species. These two look almost identical and distinguishing one from the other calls for a little investigation. The best way to distinguish them is to cut one of the apothecia vertically into two pieces. It's easy to cut as it has the consistency of a mushroom (it is a fungus after all). The difficulty is that the apothecia are very small, only 1 or 2 mm wide. Use a (single-sided) razor blade or a sharp pen-knife, don't lose sight of the cut apothecium, and then use a lens to view the cut surface. If the layer just below the black disc is also dark (it may have a purplish sheen), the lichen is this one pictured, Tephromela atra. If that layer is pale (it may have a greenish colour), the lichen is the very similar looking Lecanora gangaleoides. Sometimes the two will grow together.
June 18, 2025 at 7:51 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, in the #Hebrides, in #Scotland

I found two Stereocaulon lichens while on Rona. One was on the large boulder, the other on an adjacent outcrop. Come and take a closer look at them.

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Stereocaulon lichens are mostly found in upland areas growing on siliceous rock. The name means a stiff or solid stalk, and it refers to the podetia which grow out from the rock. This lichen is similar to Cladonias in having two thallus forms. First a crustose or squamulose primary thallus develops, but that usually disappears early. Then a fruticose secondary thallus develops, of stalked and richly-branched, usually erect, podetia – or, pseudo-podetia as we ought to call them, for unlike podetia on Cladonia species, which are hollow, these ones are solid. These pseudo-podetia are a little like the branches of shrubs which are covered in leaves – or in this case, with tiny phyllocladia. To identify the species we need to study these phyllocladia. Use a 10x lens, a microscope, or (in this case) take a high-resolution close-up photo. This one is Stereocaulon vesuvianum. I've heard two explanations for the name. One, rather fanciful, is that the pseudo-podetia resemble a column of steam or ash rising from Mt. Vesuvius. But I don't think they do. The other, more mundane, is that the species was first found and described on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. S. vesuvianum is the most common species in the UK. If you find one, it may well be this species. Now you have to make sure it is. To do this take a close look at the little phyllocladia on the long stalks. Some of them at least, more likely those growing in the shade, have thick white margins and a darker, grey-green "window" in the centre. In this photo you can see that in the phyllocladia in the shadows at the top right, and in the middle right. The algal cells are found in these phyllocladia, and the "window" allows the light to reach them. Another feature here is on the illuminated stalk just below and right of the centre. See how the end of it is bare, without phyllocladia, but right on the tip is a ball of soredia. This Stereocaulon looks a bit different. The most obvious difference from this distance is the presence of lots of dark brown apothecia. Try enlarging this photo to take a close look at the phyllocladia. They are white and round; there are no "windows" to be found here. There is one brown apothecium in this photo. These phyllocladia grow into cylindrical forms, sometimes branching like very little fingers. They are only 1 mm long though. You might think of them as very tiny "hands". This is Stereocaulon dactylophyllum. It can often be recognised by the abundance of dark brown apothecia. But even if those are not present, the colour and shape of the phyllocladia still enable it to be recognised.
June 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM