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petravergunst.bsky.social
Ecologist with an interest in lichens and bryophytes and their ecology. Training, guided walks, talks, writing, surveys. Also birds, butterflies, botany and more. https://scottishlichens.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/746046762602
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Nice t have a good news story from Mar Lodge Estate! #biodiversity #noticing

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

I've been following #CemeteryWildlifeWatch for years and even though I have been recording lichens and mosses in churchyards I would never find any ladybirds. @persmiseth.bsky.social suggested to look under under overhangs and I found these two in my local graveyard. #scottishlichens #biodiversity

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

Metzgeria fruticulosa on a beech nearby. Note the gemmae at the leaf tips. This #liverwort seems to spread into NE Scotland as I am finding it more and more. #scottishlichens #scottishbryophytes #biodiversity #epiphytes #noticing

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

The #liverwort Metzgeria furcata on a tree near Banchory. Abundant male reproductive feature (the globose features on the lobes) that I never noticed before. Have the environmental conditions changed and are new genetic makeups required? #scottishlichens #scottishbryophytes #biodiversity #epiphytes

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Did you know that #ScotlandsRainforest is particularly important for bryophytes? This is an umbrella term for mosses, liverworts and hornworts, simple plants that are studied together because they have a lot in common. 📖 more ➡️ savingscotlandsrainforest.org.uk/wildlife/bry...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Today I'm showcasing the beauty of Moths for #MacroMonday with this gorgeous Buff Ermine; Butterflies don't tend to be furry, but some moths are, just look at its fluffy cape!🤍 Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful new week🕊️ 📷 🌿 #Photography #Inverts #MothMonday #MothsMatter #UKWildlife #wildlife

submitted 5 days ago • 14 comments

There's always a wow moment when arriving on the west coast of Scotland as there's usually lots of Lobaria pulmonaria and Ricasolia virens to be found on trees, rocks and walls. #LichenGBI

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Lochside trees at Loch Insh NNR. Intrigued by hawthorn scrub in which the branches are a cloud of #lichens, while the trunks have a thick cover of #bryophytes. The loch provides humidity, with the trunks being most humid and the domain of mosses. #scottishlichens #riverwoods #lichenGBI #biodiversity

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Creag Meagaidh NNR, Scottish Highlands. Alnus glutinosa - Fraxinus excelsior - Lysimachia nemorum alderwood. Both the burn and the root nodules of #alder generate a degree of natural eutrophication that is reflected in the #bryophyte flora. #scottishlichens #riverwoods #biodiversity #bryophytes

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

It is nice to look back sometimes. This quartet of images come from 2014 & the launch year of our exclusive butterfly tour of the Eastern French Pyrenees. We can't wait to get back there with our guests again! 🦋 Names on photos, other than the first, which is the unmistakable Violet Copper.

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

Baeomyces rufus is common beside our moorland streams here in VC62.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

An interesting online talk by Becky Yahr, former president of the British Lichen Society and research scientist at the RBGE. #scottishlichens #lichenGBI #lichen #fungi #biodiversity

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Within birch and pine woodland, aspen provides welcome #lichen diversity as its bark is basic rather than acidic. Ramalina species are common, but there was also some nice Physconia and a crustose Lecanora species covered in the black dots of a lichenicolous lichen. #scottishlichens #lichenGBI

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

This group in Cumbria is among the most active lichen and bryophyte groups in Britain. I am deeply impressed by the amount of species they're recording and the number of less common species they find. #lichenGBI #scottishlichens #biodiversity

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

This is the recording of the talk on the importance of archaeological and historical monuments for #lichens and #bryophytes I did for the #ScottishWildlifeTrust. Always happy to collaborate on this theme. #scottishlichens #lichenGBI #archaeology #geology #scottishbryophytes #historicscotland

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

This is inspiring work by Craig and the BLS Strathclyde Lichen Group. Depending on the habitat 30 lichen species for a monad can be quite a challenge. Reedbeds and grassland are usually not where one would look for lichens first.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Pinhead #lichens on a conifer snag in Maryculter Woods - most likely Chaenotheca brunneola (pale) and Calicium viride (greenish). These tend to be dead wood specialists that are more commonly found in central and eastern Scotland. #scottishlichens #lichenGBI #deadwood #biodiversity

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Over the last five years the team at WildLand Cairngorms has tracked the movements of raptors in this landscape. They can see that these birds have travelled extensively – with some Golden Eagles being tracked as far as the Inner Hebrides! bit.ly/TreasureAndC... @cairngormsnews.bsky.social

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

The Cetraria sepincola in Maryculter Woods is still hanging on. Quite literally, as this #lichen species prefers to grow on the most brittle of birch twigs that often snap when you try to have a look at it. Not finding the species that often. #scottishlichens #lichenGBI #biodiversity

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

The rock marking the boundary of the #Cairngorms close to Dinnet sums up the geological and lichen story of upper Deeside pretty well as it contain indicators of upland conditions, acidic and metal-rich rock, and nutrient-rich conditions. #scottishlichens #lichensGBI #lichens #biodiversity #geology

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Finding Water Rails anywhere in Aberdeenshire 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿can be quite challenging. However, out with the RSPB Aberdeen & District Local Group today at Girdleness, we popped over to St. Fittick’s Park where two birds put on a real show for the group #UKBirding #RSPB #BirdingScotland

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

In several parts of Muir of Dinnet NNR there are areas with aspen and each of these has less common lichen and bryophyte species on them. Last year Oliver Moore found the very rare Nyholmiella gymnostoma on one of these aspen. #scottishlichens #scottishbryophytes #mosses #lichens #biodiversity

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

The slightly overhanging rock faces along the Vat Burn at Muir of Dinnet NNR are host to some characteristic lichen and moss species that I have not (or hardly ever) found further down Deeside. #scottishlichens #lichens #biodiveristy #scottishbryophytes #nature #geology

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

🦋 A new study by JNCC & @ukceh.bsky.social reveals how atmospheric #NitrogenPollution is affecting butterfly & moth populations across the UK 🔗 bit.ly/JNCCreport775 The data underpinning the study was taken from long-term monitoring schemes such as @ukbms.bsky.social, highlighting their importance.

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

A stocky brown bird rockets up from just in front of your feet, but is it a Common Snipe, or its rarer relative Jack Snipe? Let us help you tell the two apart with our ID video ➡️ https://bit.ly/Snipe_ID #Winterwatch #UKBirding #Birds

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Look, I'm not the only one caught out by frosty conditions!

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

I really love listening to the hooting of tawny owls at night. They were quiet most of January, but started again two nights ago. #birds #biodiversity

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

Due to weather, this moss walk at Muir of Dinnet NNR has been postponed until Saturday 1 February, 11 am to 1 pm. A few places have become available. Please contact the reserve manager directly (see email below) if you fancy coming. #scottishlichens #scottishbryophytes #biodiversity #mosses

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

When you visit Muir of Dinnet NNR to prepare a guided walk and the mosses you're meant to talk about look like this ... An absolutely stunning landscape, bitterly cold, but the weather may need to change before that guided walk. #scottishlichens #scottishbryophytes #biodiversity #bryophytes #mosses

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

Epiphytic lichens play an important role in stemming the flow of water and nutrients from riparian ecosystems. They capture stemflow before it can be absorbed by tree roots . Water absorption by lichens is immediate, but release is much slower (hours or days). #scottishlichens #riverwoods #lichens

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

Thinking about riparian habitat today, and how lucky I am to be surrounded by upland rivers, smaller streams, wet woodland and fen. Realizing how little I actually know about the ecological dynamics of riparian habitat and how these affect lichens and bryophytes. #scottishlichens #riverwoods

submitted 41 days ago • 2 comments

What intrigues me is that lichens and mosses are not just tiny (composite) organisms, but they are their own ecosystem with tiny fungi living on them, often parasitically.

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments