On Tuesday I saw a magnificent selection of Cladonia species lichen (mostly pixies cups) at Ambesham Common; I noted 12 species.
You can reach Ambersham by getting the train to Chichester from Brighton (55 minute, 2 trains an hour) and then the 60 bus from Chichester to Cocking, just south of Midhurst (35 minutes, 2 busses an hour) From Cocking, you can walked through the chalk planation of Hoe Copse to Heyshott Green and follow the Serpent Way through Heyshott Common to Ambersham Common 60 Bus Route & Timetable: Chichester - Midhurst | Stagecoach (stagecoachbus.com). Heyshott, Ambersham & Graffam Commons; Sussex Lowland Heath and Climate Change. 10.07.23
North West Sussex, just north of the South Downs, has an area of lowland Wealden heathlands (all called commons). Theses heaths are on the Folkestone Beds of the Lower Greensand; this is an area very different to the South Downs chalk downland and the High Weald ghyll woodland of Sussex; these heaths are geologically, biologically and historically fascinating. The Serpent Trail is a long distance path linking these heathlands, see South Downs Walks: The Serpent Trail. I walked part of this trail, going through Heyshott, Ambersham & Graffam Commons. Heathlands are now rarer than rainforest and one of our most threatened habitats, covering only 1% (1,595 hectares) of the South Downs National Park. ... 80% of {Lowland Heath] has been lost since the early 1800s, often through neglect and tree planting on previously open areas. Explore the Serpent Trail - South Downs National Park Authority
From the SSSI specification The Common has developed on leached podzolic soils over the Lower Greensand. The dry dwarf shrub heath which covers most of the site has been colonised in places by woodland, scrub or bracken Pteridium aquilinum. There is a small raised bog on Ambersham Common which grades into wet heath. The former bog in the south west of the site has degraded into acidic marshy grassland. Broadleaved woodland occupies the valleys of two small streams and also occurs along a disused railway in the north of the site.
The dry heath is dominated by heather Calluna vulgaris and bell heather Erica cinerea with dwarf gorse Ulex minor, petty whin Genista anglica and creeping willow Salix repens. A number of mosses and lichens are associated with the mature heather, including Dicranum spurium and Rhodobryum roseum (two mosses which are uncommon in the county) and the lichens Pycnobhelia papillaria and Cladonia strepsillis. In the areas of wet heath heather gives way to cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix and Sphagnum mosses, with deer-grass Trichophorum cespitosum and jointed rush Juncus articulatus
There is a very good field guide for Cladonia from Joint Nature Conservation Committee you can download free here: Cladonia: a field guide Cladonia is an extensive and difficult genus of lichens, but one that is extremely valuable in defining many plant communities, particularly heathlands. Cladonia: a field guide | JNCC Resource Hub Cladonia has a primary thallus which is crustose (and which soon disappears) or squamulose (and +/- persistent) and a secondary thallus consisting of hollow stalk-like podetia which bears the fruits.
I can't be sure that all these identifications are correct; if you notice an error please tell me: simeon{underscore}elliott[at]yahoo[dot]com I used the keys in Lichens: an Illustrated Guide to the British and Irish Species (7th edition) by Frank Dobson (2018) and the photos in Lichens of Ireland and Great Britain: a visual guide (vol. 1) by Paul Wheelan (2024)
Cladonia coccifera
Cladonia subulata
Cladonia ramulosa
Cladonia coniocraea
Cladonia floerkeana
Complex Cladonia chlorophaea
Cladonia furcata
Cladonia scabriuscula, Cladonia at the top with thin antlers/horns
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