Veteran Goat Willow, Beech, Pedunculate Oak and Hornbeam at Marstakes Common 26.04. Low Weald

Goat Willow 

Marstakes Common has a very large number of notable and veteran trees listed in the Woodlands Trust Ancient Tree Inventory. I wrote a post about the flowers (ancient woodland vascular plant indicators) of Marstakes Common and Grantham's Rough, the neighbouring wood, in my general nature blog Sim's Nature Notes,  A Pin-Head lichen, ancient trees, and spring flowers at Marstakes Common, South Chailey. 22.04.25

See the online Ancient Tree inventory map and click on the flag for details of these trees. 

Marstakes Common would originally have been wood pasture on lowland heath, used for pannage (pig grazing of acorns, beach nuts, fungi etc.) in Autumn. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the majority of Sussex commons were eradicated. Since grazing stopped at Marstakes the density of trees has increased greatly. At the north of the common (wood pasture still) you can get an impression of what the original common was like. Lichens need light to photosynthesise carbon from the air and water (via their algal/cyanobacterial photobionts). Lichen's do well on trees when there is light; pasture woodland is tone of the best habitats for epiphytic lichens; the more dense and shaped woods become the less lichen abundance and diversity 

Goat Willow, Salix caprea, 

On the trunk

Lepraria finkii, a "fluffy dust" lichen

Parmotrema perlatum, Black Stone Flower

Pyrrhospora quernea  

Lecidella eleachroma

On branches

Evernia prunastri, Oak Moss (not a moss!)

Punctelia subrudecta, Powdered Speckled Shield Lichen

Beech, Fagus sylvatica

On Trunk

Graphis scripta sensu lato (in a loose sense, may be a related lichen), a Writing Lichen

Enterographa crassa 

"A distinctive species often dominating large areas of trunk in pure mosaics of small interlocking waxy brown thalli, spotted with small dot like apothecia, which often line up in dendritic patterns". Very common in south. BLS Enterographa Crassa

A photo from: British Lichen Society showing the interlocking thalli the dendritic patterns of lined-up apothecia

Pertusaria hymenea

(Could be confused with Lecanora chlarotera when the wart holes look greenish/brownish as they do in this specimen)

Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus 

Pertusaria pertusa, Pepper-Pot Lichen

Many Hornbeams have little lichen diversity; their epiphytic lichens often consist just of wart lichens (Pertusaria genus spp.) and script lichens (Graphidiciea family spp.)

Oak, Quercus robur

In a field on the other side of the wall (south) boundarying Marstakes common

On Trunk

Calicium viride, a Pin Lichen

Flavoparmelia caperata, Common Greenshield Lichen, and Ramalina farinacea (looks like thin straps)

Pyrrhospora quernia

Green lichen with brown apothecia in middle

Oak, Field Maple and Beech in West Sussex ancient wood SSSI. 25.03.25. South Downs

This ancient woodland site lies on Upper Chalk and Clay-With-Flints and is dominated by a nationally uncommon woodland type: dry Ash-Field Maple wood. The majority of the woodland is managed under the coppice-with-standards system, with coppiced Hazel and Oak standards. Oak us not typically a tree which is seen on chalk; the Quercus robur in this wood grown on the clay-with-flints.

There were many common lichens, such as Common Greenshield Lichen, Flavoparmelia caperata, Black Stone Flower, Parmotrema perlatum, Lecanora chlarotera etc, but I have not included these in this post, as they are illustrated in other posts

Oak, Quercus Robur 

Schizotrema quercicola (Schismatomma quercicola)

Greyish or brownish-grey thallus (scratching orange). Scattered, punctiform soralia, initially pinkish-grey, fading white. 

Can be widespread in ancient woodland on the trunks of Oak and Beech.

New Index of Ecological Continuity lichen: 'Old woodland' indicator.

Pachyphiale caneola aka Gyalecta carneola

"A small but distinctive ancient woodland lichen, nicknamed Raspberry Winegums by Francis Rose from the small concave red- or orange-brown apothecia. These are set on a white thallus and found on base rich bark on older trees. In the south this is one of the earlier old woodland species colonising into older young growth stands" British Lichen Society Pachyphiale caneola

This is not a good photo; here is a photo that I took elsewhere:

Field Maple, Acer campestre

Thelotrema lepadinum, Bark Barnacle

Usually on sheltered, smooth-barked, deciduous trees.

A New Index of Ecological Continuity lichens: 'Old woodland' indicator species

Greyish-cream thallus smooth or uneven with numerous barnacle-like raised apothecia with large central openings. Discs usually visible, +/- white-pruinose. 

Beech, Fagus sylvatica

Pertusaria coccodes

Occurs on well-lit, nutrient-rich bark of deciduous trees, often wayside trees. This was at the base of an ancient beech at the edge of the wood, facing open fieldland. Most frequently occurs in South East England

Greyish thallus often with pale brown or whitish prothallus. Thallus +/- covered by conspicuous coarse, smooth, globose or ovoid-elongate isidia, often brown-tipped. Apothecia very rare, punctiform discs in smooth warts.

Six Veteran Penduclate Oaks, Quercus robur, Alboure, West Sussex. 19.04.25. Low Weald

There are a significant number of veteran Pedunculate Oaks in relict hedgerows around Albourne in West Sussex. I examined the lichens on six oaks. I identified the trees using the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) map filtered for Ancient and Veteran Pedunculate Oak. The hedgerows are a mix of Hawthorn, Midland Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel, Ash and Oak

Oak 6

The trees I examined on this indicated on this map are numbered 1-6; all the ATI pins on this map are veteran Pedunculate oaks.

Oak 1

On trunk:

Diploicia canescens 

Lecanora chlarotera, White Rim Lichen

Oak 2

For each subsequent oak I have listed only the lichens that I hadn't seen already on previous Oaks; so with Oaks 2-6 the lichens listed are not the only lichens on those trees.

On Trunk:

Pyrrhospora quernea

Ochre-yellow thallus with granular  Either infertile or with irregularly shaped reddish-brown apothecia, darkening with age. Spores simple, colourless, browner with age

When infertile (no apothecia) can be confused with Lecanorate expallens which has finer soredia

"Apothecia" - cup-shaped, disc-shaped or structures that are the main sexual reproductive structures of lichens 

"Soredia" - Soredia are small, asexual reproductive units, looking like fluffy balls, composed of a cluster of algal cells enclosed in fungal hyphae.

Dendrographa decolorans 

Dendrographa decolorans is the most widespread of a series of lichens with a grey-brown to whitish thallus, covered in soredia, that grown on dry bark in the south and west. When you scratch the thallus the scratch marks turn yellow.

"Thallus" - body of the lichen 

Evernia prunastri, Oak Moss

On fallen twig. Evernia prunastri is extremely common on oaks and other broad-leaved trees; it is not a moss!

Tree 3

On branches and twigs:

Xanthoria parietina, Common Orange Lichen

Arthonia radiata, Asterisk Lichen

Ramalina fastigiata

Phaeophyscia orbicularis, Shadow Lichen

Punctelia subrudecta,Powdered Speckled Shield Lichen

On Trunk

Melanelixia glabratula, Polished Camouflage Lichen

This is one of the "camouflage" lichens; two are particularly common in Sussex. This one and  Melanelixia subaurifera, Abraded Camouflage Lichen. These are difficult to differentiate between.

Melanelixia subaurifera

Lepra amara Bitter Wart Lichen

Bitter wart lichen is one of the wart lichens (Pertusaria and Lepra genera)

Two of these are very common on Oak Pertusaria pertusa (Pepper Pot Lichen) and Pertusaria hymenia  

Pertusaria pertusa 

Pertusaria hymena 

Oak 4

                       

Lecanora expellans. Yellow-green to yellow-grey thallus with pale yellow, farinose soredia. Small apothecia, pale discs with crenulate margins, are infrequent, 

The crusty green on this trunk, is one of three lecanoras that grow on Oaks (and other broad-leaved trees) that can only be separated by chemical reagent spot tests

Lecanora expellans: K (Potassium hypochlorite) + yellow (turns yellow); C (Sodium hypochlorite) + deep yellow or orange-red,(turns yellow or orange-red), UV (ultraviolet light) + orange (turns orange)

Only use chemical tests if you are confident that you can use them safely. Potassium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite are harmful if swallowed and can irritate/burn skin and cause eye damage; but at the concentration used in lichen tests can be used safely with care. Chemical tests kill the parts of the lichen they are applied to, so use sparingly. see https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/chemical-tests

Lecanora barkmaniana K+ yellow, C-. 

Lecanora compallens K-, C-

Lepraria finkii Fluffy Dust Lichen

Lepraria finkii is one of two dust lichens frequently found on old Oaks, the other is Lepraria incana; L. finkii sometimes has a fringe of white medulla around its edge

Medulla. "The majority of the lichen thallus is comprised of fungal filaments called the medulla. It is made of fungal cells that are loosely packed in the middle of the lichen thallus, have thin cell walls, and are threadlike. The result is a cotton-like substance underneath the outer cortex". US Forestry Service: Lichen Biology

Oak 5

Lepraria pertusa 

Oak 6

Oak 6 did not have any new lichens on it; but had several of those detailed above.

Next to Oak 6 was a Midland Hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata

Midland Hawthorn is an indicator plant of ancient woodlands and hedgerows. It is only found on heavy soils, so is not on the Downs, of the South East. It is a characteristic tree of the Low Weald 

Common Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna has only one style per flower (which is what monogyna mean) Midland Hawthorn has two (and tow seeds in its fruit (berry))