Pycnidial

Today's new word.

Finally - a face to face lichens workshop. I know à lot of the UK had a glorious time today, but in our corner of Cumbria it remained cold, very windy and extremely wet. Fortunately people were so happy to be out and able to talk to each other that it didn't matter a jot.

This teeny tiny beauty is Cladonia diversa... In it's pycnidial stage. The best explanation I can offer of that is at this stage of development the lichen can reproduce sexually, at the next stage (apothecial) it moves on to asexual reproduction. Fascinating.

Thanks for all the lovely comments on yesterday's flooding. The waters were still overflowing at first light, but started to recede by breakfast. Accordingly to local reports our part of Cumbria recieved 8 inches of water in roughly 18hrs. Glad the next few days are forecast to be dry.