SERVICES
Lichens are all around you, but it takes a bit of help to see them clearly.
Aspen Ecology is dedicated to helping people understand, record, conserve and enjoy lichens.
Whether you’re restoring nature, looking after land, planning a new development, or teaching or learning about biodiversity, it’s vital to appreciate the beauty of lichens and to value the important ecological role they play.
Lichen Surveys
Lichens are neglected and under-recorded biodiversity. Let Aspen Ecology help you examine your site for lichens, whether to update old data, monitor significant species or – perhaps more likely – conduct your first lichen survey.
Lichen Consultancy
Lichens are an ecologically fundamental species group. From nature-recovery work and biodiversity conservation, to land management and development planning, let Aspen Ecology help you take the value of lichens into account.
Lichen Training
Lichens are unusual organisms that demand specialist study. Whether devoted amateur naturalists or professional ecologists, let Aspen Ecology guide you and your group towards a fuller understanding of lichens and their habits.
Lichen Education
Lichens are curiously beautiful, and quite simply unique on Earth. Let Aspen Ecology lead a lichen talk, walk, webinar, workshop or course for your organisation or school, and your participants won’t look at lichens the same way again.
THE ASPEN
Lichens have a special love of aspen trees.
Aspen Ecology honours the aspen, Populus tremula, one of the first trees to colonise Britain after the Ice Age. Its mild and multi-textured bark offers varied micro-habitats for lichens, and it hosts more species than perhaps any other British tree. Aspen can still be found across Britain, but it’s an uncommon tree in a country of lost forests. Like the lichens that love it, aspen is neglected biodiversity.
Our logo reproduces the distinctive diamond-shaped lenticels that characterise aspen bark.
Image: Øyvind Holmstad, CC-BY-SA 4.0
OUTREACH
Take advantage of our public lichen outreach.
Aspen Ecology’s lichen education is often available to the public through nature charities, or through our own workshops and courses. Upcoming opportunities include:
LICHEN TALK
Not yet extinct in Suffolk! Anaptychia ciliaris
SUFFOLK NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY
The lichen Anaptychia ciliaris has been in freefall in Britain for decades due to air pollution and tree loss. Last recorded in Suffolk in 1985, it was presumed extinct in the county — but in fact it wasn’t! In this talk, Dr Anthony Speca, the County Lichen Recorder for Suffolk, will recount his recent find of A. ciliaris at a new location near Halesworth, and he’ll consider the current prospects for this endangered species. Part of the SNS Spring Member Evening.
22 APRIL 2026 : 18.30 – 22.00
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, Suffolk
LICHEN WALK
An ‘enlichening’ walk in the Great Churchyard
BURY WILDLIFE FESTIVAL
Ancient churchyards are some of the most important lichen habitats in England. But for most people, lichens are just ‘smudges of colour’ on gravestones, or even ‘mouldy dirt’ that should be scrubbed clean. Get a more ‘enlichened’ perspective on this walk though the Great Churchyard of St Edmundsbury Cathedral. You’ll be astounded by the beautiful, curious and spectacular lichen biodiversity hidden around our beloved old churches!
16 MAY 2026 : 14.00 – 15.30
Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
LICHEN WORKSHOP
Discovering the secret world of lichens
WALDRINGFIELD WILDLIFE GROUP
Lichens are probably the most fascinating yet overlooked life-forms in the natural world. Few people even notice them, but they don’t know what they’re missing. Lichens are curiously beautiful, ecologically vital, and unique on Earth! This half-day workshop, we’ll discover their secret world. After a stimulating introduction, we’ll head outside to observe lichens ‘in the wild’!
13 JUNE 2026 : 11.00 – 14.00
Waldringfield Village Hall, Waldringfield, Suffolk
FIELD NOTES AND NEWS
Follow our work and learn about the lichens we see.
Lichens are symbiotic organisms, and lichenology is a community activity. We believe in sharing our field notes about lichens we see. Keep up with our news and socials, and learn lichens with us.
TESTIMONIALS
Discover lichens with Aspen Ecology.
We do our best to make the hidden, complex and remarkable world of lichens visible, manageable and enjoyable. Here’s what others say about our work.
Very many thanks for [the lichen microscopy workshop] yesterday. I’ve had lots of feedback from folk who were there, all very positive and many saying it was the best meeting we have ever had.
Gordon Brown, Anglian Microscopy Group
It was a pleasure working with Anthony for our Help Nature Thrive citizen science project. His knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for lichens was infectious: our citizen scientists left with smiles on their faces, inspired to spread the word about incredible lichens! Our biodiversity team also will benefit from the new species records collected on the surveys, with some species previously unrecorded in our central parks.
Gemma Hindi, The Royal Parks
Thank you very much for all your generous work and your very thorough report on the lichens of Gallows Field. It is really appreciated and helpful.
Jane Hamilton, Dunwich Town Trust
Anthony’s expertise, and knowledge of teaching, meant that our students were fully engaged and inquisitive throughout the whole of the ‘lichenology day’ that he delivered for us. The knowledge they gained went far beyond what they would learn as part of their curriculum, and I hope that some may even consider a career involving lichens! A massive thank you for a brilliant, engaging and informative day.
Dr Natalia Wharton, Hobart High School
