FULLY BOOKED! Introducing Lichens with Lindsay Mahon, Devon Wildlife Trust.
Advance booking via Eventbrite was essential due to limited capacity: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/introducing-lichens-tickets-1010613441007
Meet in the nearby Knowle car park Station Road Sidmouth EX10 8HL where you will be met by the event leader. Wear sturdy shoes and clothing suitable for walking on the rough ground.
Lichens are amazing! They are such beautiful, complex organisms that are so often overlooked. Their curious combination of different life forms, fungal species with photosynthesising algal cells, gives them an air of mystery.
Thanks to our clean sea air, the fruit trees in The Knapp Orchard are encrusted with several different lichens and they are at eye level to make them easily accessible. This event is aimed at complete beginners, and will give a brief introduction to lichens, their roles in nature, and their different forms, and start to look at the types of features on lichens that enable them to be identified as species. Prepare to be amazed as you peer at lichens on trees through a x10 hand lens – it’s a whole new world!
Lindsay works for Devon Wildlife Trust and is the Citizen Science Officer for the Saving Devon’s Treescapes project. She had a career in something completely different before moving to Devon in 2015, since when she has re-trained, and is now enjoying working in the conservation sector. Her current role means she works with Devon residents across the county monitoring different species at different times of year. All species monitored under the Saving Devon’s Treescapes project have the potential to be impacted by the loss of ash trees as a result of ash dieback disease, and monitoring will help assess this impact. Lindsay coordinates the Devon Bat Survey, which is one of the largest citizen science projects in the county and helps train and coordinate citizen scientists conducting Brown Hairstreak Butterfly surveys and recording Notable Trees. Lichens have become a particular interest of Lindsay’s as she has learned more about them through her work, and she loves introducing people to this fascinating world in miniature.