Volunteers’ lichen finds give conservation boost to rare rainforest
6 Jul 2025
Citizen science volunteers have identified two rare lichens never before recorded in the north of England.
Neither one of the obscure duo has a colloquial name, being known only by their scientific titles: Dendrographa latebrarum and Lecanographa abscondita.
The pair were discovered in Cumbria’s Naddle Forest by volunteers from Cumbria Lichen and Bryophyte Group logging other lichens’ locations. Naddle is one of the UK’s few remaining temperate rainforest – a category increasingly uncommon worldwide.
“It’s very exciting to find these species in Naddle,” said group representative Chris Cant.
“These lichens, found on a sheltered rock face in old humid woodland, are obscure and easily overlooked – part of a mosaic of habitats within old woodland.
Lichens are a standard feature of many rainforests, especially in the Cumbria region. Although often referred to as fungi, they actually consist of a fungus with an algal or cyanobacterial partner capable of photosynthesis.
Discovery of the unexpected species is likely to reinforce the area’s ecological importance, says the group. Its work forms part of the #Species Survival Fund Rainforest Restoration Project funded by the Government's Species Survival Fund headed by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Plantlife, Cumbria Woodlands, Cumbria Connect and Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
“This discovery, although tiny in scale, is massive in importance,” said Cumbria Connect conservation manager Bill Kenmir.
“Finding these lichens here shows that Naddle is functioning as true temperate rainforest, with the clean air, constant humidity and high quality, ancient woodland habitat needed to sustain them and highlights how crucial it is we ensure its long-term protection.”
