We joined a docent for a “lichen walk” through our local county park this week. The children and I actually did a little moss-and-lichen hunt of our own a few weeks ago, but this was an opportunity to meet up with some other enthusiasts and hit parts of the trail system that we don’t usually travel down alone.
And once she heard from the kids that we go out weekly for nature walks, she told them that she was personally gifting them the loupes to carry along on future hikes. They were thrilled. 🙂 We had a similarly pleasant experience chatting with our fellow attendees, including another county parks docent who got into a lovely conversation with my son about nature journaling, a wildflower enthusiast who pointed out to me a couple along the path that I hadn’t seen before, an amateur butterfly photographer who didn’t mind at all when my five-year-old daughter used her loupe to examine the threads on the lady’s sweater (ha!), and a handful of newbies like us. They all seemed pleased to have my enthusiastic children along on the walk and were very friendly. Such a nice group!
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Our lichen wasn't as colourful. I wonder if a drier climate makes any difference? We found some unusual seed pods at a park one day & a council worker came over & told us all about the tree & gave us the Latin name for it – so good to find people willing to share their knowledge.
It really is so nice when people share, isn't it? And yes, the drier climate definitely makes a difference. We live in a very dry climate, but since it was spring, that week had gone from rainy to warm. The docent said that a few days prior, the lichen had been even more vibrant–and we could definitely see areas where the lichen looked dried up after just that couple sunny days in a row. That's actually one of the things I really like about lichen–it's a great wintertime study, when it's rainy and cold and not much else is out.
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