Date:
The BLS held it's 2018 AGM in Carlisle, at the Tullie House museum. It was well attended and followed by some excellent talks.
At the meeting Allan Pentecost stood down as President at the end of his two year term, to be replaced by Paul Cannon. Becky Yahr became the new Vice President, and Eluned Smith took on the role of Secretary.
Date:
The Plantlife Cymru Lichen Apprenticeship Scheme ‘CENNAD’ is open to all, through application in March 2016; with training events running April 2016- March 2018. The learning focus will be on epiphytic lichens, particularly species associated with Atlantic woodlands and way-side trees.
Date:
Some useful additions have recently been made to the Downloads section of this website, including a new set of Corrections to the "Flora" produced by Mark Powell, and the Identification Difficulties list used by iRecord and the NBN Record Cleaner. There are also now Lists of the Taxa recorded for England, Scotland and Wales, and for each vice county.
Date:
The Lichens of Jersey, by Simon and Amanda Davey, was published by the Société Jersiaise in November 2015 and can now be obtained from Tilia Publishing. More than a flora, this book looks at the habitats and history of the study of lichens on this beautiful island, as well as including a fully illu
Date:
The BLS has made available £10,000 to help its members attend IAL8. We envisage making 25-30 awards in the region of £300-£460 each. Applicants must be BLS members when the application is submitted.
Applications should be sent to Heidi Döring (on membership@britishlichensociety.org.uk ) before 15 March 2016. It is hoped that results will be announced by mid of April.
Date:
The 2016 winter meeting was held in Newcastle upon Tyne on 15-17th January. It started with a reception and dinner on the Friday evening, and the society joined with the Natural History Society of Northumbria for a lichen herbarium evening with a display of specimens and books from their collection.
Date:
Our membership management system now has an online portal through which members can manage their own contact details and renew their subscriptions. Payments can be made by credit or debit card, and direct debits are also available (as well as cheques for those who prefer). The day to day running of this system has been transferred to a service provider, the Royal Society of Biology.
Date:
Buellia asterella, the Starry Breck Lichen, has been accepted for inclusion in the IUCN Global Red List with a conservation status of Critically Endangered. This is the first British lichen to be included in the list.
Date:
Earlier this month the South Yorkshire Biodiversity Research Group held a conference, Oliver Gilbert: A Life in Ecology, in Sheffield. Oliver had many interests including lichens. He was an active member of the BLS and author of the classic New Naturalist book on Lichens, published in March 2000.
Date:
Erik Acharius (1757-1819) was Linnaeus's last student and the founder of modern systematic lichenology. Before his death in 2014, David Galloway found Acharius's personal, interleaved copy his book Lichenographiae suecicae Prodromus (1799) in the Manuscripts Department of the university library in Uppsala.