Lichens Glenduckie Hill North Fife

Today, Though overcast I visited Glenduckie Hill, the weather was warm with nil wind and it was really good to stretch my legs, get out and enjoy my local environment. The walk up a track displayed on either side wild strawberry blossoms, celandine, the odd cluster of bluebells and in places uncoiling fronds of bracken through last years bleached foliage. Around the summit outcrops of rock are covered with lichens and bilberry plants already profuse in immature fruits, as with the wild strawberries easier to see now than when ripe. Above a panoramic video of North Fife, the Tay river and Dunbog.

The Environment

The Lichen Hunters is an enthusiastic account of the early years of a burgeoning ecological movement - The British Lichen Society. Formed in 1958 the society created a complete listing of all British lichens. Lichens are like a multitude of small watchmen recording the progress of pollution across the countryside. They are indicators of air-quality, traffic pollution, fertilisers and acid rain. They are also, as far as Oliver Gilbert and his fellow lichenologists are concerned, things of incredible beauty and mystery. His enthusiasm is infectious. Lichenologists bear comparison with the original Victorian plant hunters in their willingness to travel widely, and endure extreme weather in their pursuit of a rare specimen. Part travelogue and part social history of the British Lichen Society, The Lichen Hunters will charm readers and be a valuable addition to the ecological canon.The Lichen Hunters