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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology

@aspenecology.com

730 followers 420 following 680 posts

Lichen surveying, consultancy, training and education. County Lichen Recorder for Suffolk. Posts mainly about lichens, but occasionally other life-forms, especially if they're overlooked. Rocks now and then, too. Founder @anthonyspeca.bsky.social.

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Announcing another chance to learn #lichens online! My next 'Lichens for Beginners' course starts in January. Perfect for anyone just discovering these unique and beautiful life-forms. All you need to know to understand lichens and identify common species. Join me! aspenecology.com/lichens-for-...

Variospora (Caloplaca) flavescens : England : VC25 East Suffolk : TM3389 : September 2022 : On limestone gravestone

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Seashore #springtail (Anurida maritima): rather unusual #rockpool creature. Tiny insect-like animal living on surface film, scavenging at low tide, and migrating upshore with high tide to hide in huge groups for safety and probably reproduction. Port nam Murrach near Arisaig, Highland, Scotland.

Seashore springtail : Anurida maritima : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Tagging into thread above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

3/3 …sequencing research to determine. In meantime, L sinuosa is recorded as separate species. Distinguished by apothecial anatomy above, by thallus composed almost entirely of densely crowded and contorted apothecial initials, and by K+ and K/UV(dry)+ yellow reaction from atranorin. Lucky find!

Lecanora sinuosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7292 : August 2025 : On Quercus twig

Lecanora sinuosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7292 : August 2025 : On Quercus twig : K+ yellow

Lecanora sinuosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7292 : August 2025 : On Quercus twig : K/UV(dry)+ yellow

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

2/3 …Netherlands, so in truth it's probably greatly under-recorded. What's more, it may be genetically same lichen as common L hybocarpa auct br, from which its apothecia are indistinguishable internally (including coarse POL+ epithecial crystals descending into hymenium). Awaits careful DNA…

Lecanora sinuosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7292 : August 2025 : On Quercus twig : In water

Lecanora sinuosa : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM7292 : August 2025 : On Quercus twig : In water : POL+

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

1/3 While on holiday in Scotland this summer, my young daughter collected random twig from fallen oak because she likes to share #lichens with me. I'll be damned if it didn't have Lecanora sinuosa on it! Not even three dozen records in all of Britain. Only described as new to science in 1999 in…

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 1d

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 4d

Many thanks, Roger! Apologies, but your photo doesn't seem to have been included in your post. Would love to see your P rufescens!

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 6d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 6d

Honoured to announce my appointment as the new County #Lichen Recorder for Suffolk! Grateful to @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social for the opportunity to serve, as well as to my predecessor and now 'Emeritus Recorder' Dr Chris Hitch, a lichenological giant of East Anglia. aspenecology.com/suffolk-coun...

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

Thanks, Peter. Regarding the 'black flakes', I had epiphytic cyanobacteria in mind (i.e. just growing on the thallus), not a cyanolichen. As for apothecia: if they sit partly in pits, then C metzleri does seem a reasonable conclusion.

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

Thanks, Peter. I'm unsure. Much does seem to fit C metzleri, but apothecia of that species should be at least half-immersed, not slightly so. On another note, might your 'black flakes' be little epiphytic colonies of cyanobacteria?

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

Another #rockpool #seaweed that belongs taxonomically plants, but which looks like coral, is this coralline red #alga. Like pink forms below, needs microscopy to identify to species. I find variety of these algal life-forms astonishing, and often strikingly beautiful. Port nam Murrach, near Arisaig.

Corallinaceae : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 Port nam Murrach : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

Tagging into thread above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

2/2 …lobes of L confinis rounded (top left) but those of L pygmaea flattened (top right). Second, L confinis tolerates immersion less well: it grows at or above mean high tide in black Hydropunctaria maura zone (bottom left), whereas L pygmaea found among barnacles in intertidal zone (bottom right).

Lichina confinis : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6138 Port nam Murrach : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

Lichina pygmaea : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6591 Camusdarach : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

Lichina confinis : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6692 Achaidh Mhoir : August 2025 : On siliceous outcrop

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 7d

1/2 Another #lichen I see in Scotland but not East Anglia is Lichina confinis. Filamentous cyanolichen like Ephebe lanata (see post series below), but it's found on coasts rather than in or near freshwater. Can be confused with L pygmaea, but there are sure ways to separate them in field. First…

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 8d

2/2 …P serratus. Identified by number and position of spines or teeth on rostrum ('horn' emerging from carapace between eyes). I can't say to which species these specimens belong: not wholly clear from my photos, and I didn't capture any shrimp to count! Port nam Murrach, near Arisaig, Highland.

Palaemon : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 8d

1/2 Circling back to Scottish #rockpool shrimp as promised below. Curious little creatures: they'll manicure your hand by removing dead skin with tiny claws if you keep still! Feels like nothing more than barely perceptible tickle. Principle genus is Palaemon, with two common species: P elegans and…

Palaemon (with beadlet anemone, Actinia equina) : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 : August 2025

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 8d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 8d

New factsheet and specimen galleries available: Xanthoria parietina. Probably Britain's most common #lichen. Originally adapted to coastal, dropping-enriched bird-perches. But now all-conquering thanks to huge burden of nitrogen pollution in today's environment. See aspenecology.com/xanthoria-pa...

Xanthoria parietina : England : VC25 East Suffolk : TM3389 : April 2023 : On Tilia twig

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 9d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 9d

Thank you UKCEH for relaunching this app to measure nitrogen air-pollution using #lichens! Outstanding tool for citizen scientists! Essentially same method used by professional field lichenologists, too (applying useful modifications in Hope [2019]: cdn.naturalresources.wales/689206/nrw-e...).

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 9d

2/2 …explored on summer holidays. If pools were polluted by e.g. agricultural runoff, they'd fill with quicker-growing green algae. But clean and nutrient-poor though they are, they're congenial to Rivularia colonies, whose filaments (see right) scavenge essential nitrogen and phosphorus from water.

Rivularia : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6692 Achaidh Mhoir : August 2025

Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 9d

1/2 #Seaweeds aren't only sort of #alga in Scottish #rockpools. This is Rivularia: colonial photosynthesising #bacteria once known as 'blue-green algae' but now as #cyanobacteria. It's adapted to nutrient-poor conditions, and grows slowly, which attests to general cleanliness of rockpools that I…

Rivularia : Scotland : VC97 West Inverness-shire : NM6183 Port nam Murrach : August 2025

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Anthony Speca | Aspen Ecology @aspenecology.com · 9d

Tagging into post above ⬆️ @britishlichensociety.org.uk #lichenGBI