First Pembrokeshire Lichen Group Meeting held on the 23rd November at Scolton Manor Park.
The meeting was kindly hosted by Scolton Manor Country Park (managed and operated by Pembrokeshire County Council) on the 23rd November 2025.
Over 30 people attended with a range of knowledge and skills, including budding and seasoned lichenologists, artists, writers and photographers all united by an interest in and love of lichens.
We spent the morning getting to know one another and discovering our interests and what people wanted from the group. This was followed by a walk around the park looking at and discussing all thing lichen.
We were very lucky to be joined by Steve Chambers, whose knowledge and skills kept a large part of the group engaged, whilst Trevor Theobold and I spent time with another group. Needless to say, Steve's keen eye spotted Physcia triabaciodes (a schedule 8 and Welsh Priority Taxon) on a Lime tree (the first Pembrokeshire and 5th Welsh record for this very rare, "Mediterranean" lichen).
The group aims to be a self-learning group where we all support each other in our lichenological explorations. Members were keen for an outing to be arranged to begin some hands-on experience identifying lichens in the field, so it looks like the theme of our next gathering has been decided. In the meantime, members were provided with links to the Learning sections of the BLS website and to some simple keys to lichens on trees in readiness.
We hope to bring the science and art of lichenology together to help inform and educate the public about these fascinating organisms. If you would like to get involved, please get in touch with Jon Hudson: https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/get-touch/local-contacts