Vibrant Twig

Inspired by Spring Watch, I decided to attempt a Bio-Blitz of the garden. Today I restricted myself to one of my favourite (and elusive as far as classification goes) forms of life - lichen. I have located about 12 different species in and around the garden, but at the moment my favourite is this one, Xanthoria parietina. [NB. I'm more than happy to be corrected by those who are further on in the identifying stakes...]

The twig, 1.5cm in diameter at this point, is on our Rowan Tree, but there others on the old Apple Tree in the corner, as well as on the coping of the Garden Wall, where it shows a clear circular shape. The mostly round little cups are the 'fruiting bodies', from where the spores come out for reproduction.

There'll be more lichen in my Entries from time to time - and more blethering about what they are...