#Isle-of-Rona
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zimmermanv66.bsky.social
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In 1992, a Danish couple bought a roadless Scottish island to preserve its wilderness: Two custodians then lived there for more than 20 years
Danish couple Dorte and Arne Jensen bought the Isle of Rona in 1992, when they acquired a remote island in Scotland's Inner Hebrides with no roads, no shops, and very few permanent residents. The isla...
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August 19, 2026 at 1:37 PM
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
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
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
cdnviolets.bsky.social
Glengorm Castle, Isle of Mull, UK is actually a mansion built in 1860. Fairly close to my cousin Rona who snapped the photo recently.
February 15, 2026 at 4:23 AM
hallaig5.bsky.social
2 hearts left behind on the wild, magical Isle of Rona. One, a little piece of Lewisian gneiss lying on the track near to the ‘turn off’ for Church Cave and the other a slice of birch on the mantle piece in “our” house at Dry Harbour. Precious ❤️❤️
#IsleofRona #ChurchCave #DryHarbour #AcarsaidThioram
October 20, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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
dailyrecord.co.uk.web.brid.gy
Hedge fund tycoon buys Isle of Rona as last two inhabitants set to leave
Daniel Luhde-Thompson, along with his wife Cressida Pollock, former CEO of English National Opera, have taken over the Isle of Rona, near Skye, with its two remaining inhabitants set to leave.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
August 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
marigarcar.bsky.social
I am not Scottish but hurts to read this!!!

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...
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM
smulford.bsky.social
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...
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 7, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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
yesgvandwk.bsky.social
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...
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 6, 2025 at 9:03 AM
jhd1591.bsky.social
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...
www.scotlanddecides.org
August 6, 2025 at 9:03 AM
ellyblom.bsky.social
Great Britain has sold off a lot of its greatness to the highest bidder.
This country is defined by greed more than patriotism.
And whilst the elite is asset stripping the nation it tells the proles it's the brown people who are the bad guys.

www.facebook.com/100064700977...
Three Acres And A Cow
The 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...
www.facebook.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:14 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
scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
The Isle of Rona is blanketed in scrub and covered in peat bogs, with roaming deer and marine life from minke whales to sea eagles... and it has been home to Bill Cowie and Lorraine Shill for 25 years
We will miss the views! Last two residents to leave picturesque Scottish island
www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
July 31, 2025 at 6:27 PM
thescottishsun.co.uk
Investment tycoon who bought tiny Scots island revealed
Investment tycoon who bought tiny Scots island revealed
A MEGA-rich investment tycoon has bought a tiny Scottish island. The Isle of Rona is nestled among the islands in the Hebrides. It boasts stunning views and plenty of wildlife but only two resident…
www.thescottishsun.co.uk
July 31, 2025 at 6:26 AM
scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
The Isle of Rona is blanketed in scrub and covered in peat bogs, with roaming deer and marine life from minke whales to sea eagles... and it has been home to Bill Cowie and Lorraine Shill for 25 years
We will miss the views! Last two residents to leave picturesque Scottish island
www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
July 30, 2025 at 1:20 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

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#lichenGBI #FungiFriends #nature
June 24, 2025 at 2:33 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!

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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
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?

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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
geoffrey311.bsky.social
#Lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, #Hebrides, #Scotland

“Primrose Alley” led to the ruins of an abandoned township. The houses were becoming covered with mosses and lichens. Today we focus on one special lichen, Sticta Sylvatica.

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The Sticta genus (or family of lichens) is related to the Peltigera genus. We looked at two Peltigeras over the last two days. I was excited to find several places where Sticta sylvatica was growing quite profusely, on rocks at the top of "Primrose Alley" and on the stones in the walls of the ruined blackhouses in the township. Sticta lichens are rather special because they are usually associated with old woodlands. They are members of the Lobarion community of lichens, which includes the four former Lobaria species, and other unusual lichens associated with ancient woodland. Like Peltigera species, Stictas have large foliose lobes. The upper surface is usually dark brown, from the cyanobacteria which is its photobiont. On the underside you can see a pale brown tomentum here. The really distinctive feature of Stictas is the presence of scattered cyphellae on the underside. Cyphellae are breaks in the lower cortex of a lichen thallus, forming a small round hole about 1 mm wide, through to the medulla. These breaks enable air and water vapour to enter the medulla. The small white shapes you can see here are these cyphellae. You may have heard of pseudo-cyphellae in Parmelia species. These are similar opening to the medulla, but they are called pseudo- ("false") because they occur in the upper cortex, not the lower cortex as here. This photo shows the upper surfaces of a few lobes of Sticta sylvatica. This is a multi-lobed Sticta; some species have only a single lobe per thallus. These lobes are a grey-brown colour. They become a darker brown when wet. These structures are about 5 cm long and up to 1 cm wide. On some of these lobes there is a faint network of ridges, made more obvious by the lines of isidia growing on them. Isidia are a darker brown and form on the margins and ridges of the lobes. This is its only method of reproduction since apothecia and pycnidia are never produced. Some species, including this one, Sticta sylvatica, have been called "stinky Sticta". One of the chemicals that the lichen produces is trimethylamine, which has a strong smell of fish. Some people can smell a Stictus as they walk up the the tree it's on. I can't, but if I handle a lobe when it's wet, my fingers then smell of fish.
June 22, 2025 at 6:07 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
#Isle-of-Rona, #Hebrides, #Scotland

The trees in “Primrose Alley” also had plenty of interesting #lichens on them. Some we’ve seen before, but new people “like” these posts each day. Welcome! Come and enjoy the little things in #nature.

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#lichenGBI #FungiFriends
Growing on a horizontal branch of a tree was this distinctive lichen. It's quite abundant in some parts of Britain, but is also quite beautiful. This is Parmotrema perlatum. If you enlarge the image you'll see what's distinctive about it, in case you find it in the woods on a broad-leaved tree. It's a foliose or leaf-like lichen which may be pale grey to pale green, depending on how hydrated it is. The underside of the lobes is dark, brown near the margins and black in the centre. The lobes are attached to the bark by rhizines in their centres. See how the margins of some lobes are covered with a thick pale substance. This causes them to fold into short, tight bends. The substance is fine soredia. It's composed of very small clusters of both the fungal cells and the algal cells of the lichen. When they become detached, if any of these clusters ends up in the right sort of place, they can grow into a new lichen. Yesterday we met one of the "dog-lichens", Peltigera membranacea. Here it is again, with another Peltigera. This new one is quite common on soil, moss, rocks and tree stumps. The P. membranacea is just right of centre. Like yesterday's example, these lobes are completely covered with a white tomentum. You can see too that the surface of the lobes is uneven, with some raised areas. And see how the margins turn downwards at the very edge. Then there are some lobes of Peltigera hymeninum. They are a bit old and somewhat broken, but you can still see their main features. These are the brown lobes. They have no tomentum, nor do they have the distinctive raised areas of the P. membranacea (better seen in yesterday's example) These lobes are much thinner than the P. membranacea, which may be why these ones have become rather broken. Notice too that the very edge of the lobes curls upwards rather than bends downwards – that is, where the lobes still have their original margin left. When looking at a Peltigera, you always need to look at the underside to pick up more characteristics that help identify it. These lobes are showing their undersides very clearly. They may look rather bland and nondescript, but there are some important features here. They have veins as all Peltigeras do. These ones are rather indistinct. They are shallow and broad, and their colour is pale and subtle. But they are not white like the very distinct veins of P. membranacea. They form a network, and in the gaps between them you can see the undersurface of the lobes is distinctly white. A few rhizines can be seen in the lower part of two of the lobes. They come from the veins, they're pale, thin and occasionally splitting. Their job is simply to anchor the lobe to the moss it's growing over. And finally for today, if you missed this lichen before, here is some Lobaria pulmonaria growing exuberantly over the low branches of an old willow tree. The weather was dry; when it's wet these lobes are a much brighter green. Lobaria grows in damp, humid woodlands, but it doesn't cope with atmospheric pollution. These conditions are just what we find on the west coast of Scotland, where it grows very happily. These lobes are big. Some may be 12 inches or even more long, and several inches wide. Some of these lobes are turning their undersides towards us. There are some very big lobes in the upper part of the picture, left of centre. There is another one hanging off that branch at the bottom of the picture. These lobes are only attached to the tree at one end, the rest is free. See how the undersides have some white islands within a pale orange-brown network. Those islands are raised, and they correspond to depressions on the upper side of the lobes. The pale brown parts are covered with a brown tomentum. Looking at the green or brown upper sides you can see the depressions, outlined by raised ridges. In some cases the ridges stand out because they are picked out in white. This species produces isidia along the ridges and margins of the lobes – though occasionally a few specimens produce soredia in place of isidia. When the isidia break off they leave white scars behind.
June 21, 2025 at 8:45 PM
geoffrey311.bsky.social
Exploring #lichens on the #Isle-of-Rona, in #Scotland

In the next few posts I’m going to retrace a walk across the island, and show the lichens I found on the way. We start today with a boulder in “Primrose Alley”.

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#lichenGBI #FungiFriends
Here's a large rock lying beside a grassy path and beneath a number of large old birch and willow trees. You can see why I nicknamed the path as "Primrose alley". The rock is a piece of Lewisian gneiss, an ancient metamorphic rock. There are some bare patches on the rock, but much of it is covered with moss and lichens. Look closely and you'll see three different lichens here. All three often grow on trees, but are sometimes found beneath the trees on rocks in humid environments. The one to the left is Lobaria pulmonaria, which we've looked at in previous posts. The pale grey lichen to the right is a large, foliose species. It's a species of Peltigera, and it's one of the most common Peltigeras, at least in the north and west of Britain. Peltigera membranacea is a woodland species and grows among moss on the ground, on rocks and at the bottom of tree trunks. The upper surface of the lobes is usually grey or brown-grey, but may be covered with a thick, white tomentum, usually just towards the margins. This is a layer of short interwoven or coiled fungal hyphae with a texture similar to velvet. These lobes are completely covered with tomentum. Each lobe may be about 2 or even up to 4 cm broad. The lobes turn down a little at their margins. Notice also the raised areas of this upper surface, looking a bit like blisters. Such lobe surfaces are described as "bullate". If you find a Peltigera and wonder whether it may be P. membranacea check for large lobes, grey or grey-brown, with a bullate surface and white tomentum on at least part of the surface. But if you find lobes that answer to this description, but have some flattened isidia on their margins and beside any damage to the lobe, this will not be P. membranacea, but a similar species, P. praetextata. But then turn a lobe over to look at the underside. It isn't always easy to see the underside of a lobe, especially if those long dangling rhizines are doing their job and anchoring it firmly to the moss. But this lobe was largely loose, so it was easy to lift it up and look. There is a series of radiating raised white veins on the underside, and from those veins a series of rhizines grow downwards. These are simply a way of anchoring the lobe to the moss it's growing over. They are not roots. Lichens are not able to move water around their bodies. They absorb the water they need from water vapour in the atmosphere. The underside of Peltigera membranacea is completely white. It doesn't have coloured veins like some species. And the rhizines are quite thin and simple. They are not bushy. These two features confirm that the Peltigera you're looking at is this one, P. membranacea. The underside of Peltigera lobes do not have a surface layer. Most foliose lichens have a "skin" or cortex on both the upper and lower surfaces. In this case there is no cortex over the lower side of the white fungal medulla that makes up most of the thallus or "body" of this lichen. As a result, air and water vapour can be absorbed easily. They will be used by the cyanobacteria just below the upper surface as they photosynthesise. Here's a third lichen growing on this boulder, a darker grey one. At the bottom you see some small lobes of the Peltigera growing over it. Then there are some more grey-brown lobes, but these are smooth and very thin. The area in this photo is only 3 cm wide (see mm scale at the top). The plain edge-lobes of this lichen are only 5–6 mm wide. More mature lobes away from the edges are largely covered with some small grey-brown "balls". These are globular isidia, an outgrowth from the lobes containing both fungal cells and cyanobacterial cells, ready to grow into a new lichen if they are detached and end up in a suitable place. This lichen fooled me for a while. The weather was so dry and sunny every day, so it had dried up and looked an opaque grey. But I couldn't think what it could be. It was only when I brought a sample home, and sprayed it with a little water to rehydrate it, and then put it under a microscope that I began to realise. The microscope lights were shining through the lobes which had become translucent. It's a "jelly lichen" I realised. Then I ran it through a key and discovered it is Collema subflaccidum, a reasonably common woodland species, but the first time I had come across it.
June 20, 2025 at 5:34 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.

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#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