Having recently been appointed County Lichen Recorder in Suffolk, I’ve been exploring existing data for lichens in the county. I’m keen to understand what sites and habitats are most significant both nationally and locally. I’m also keen to identify gaps in the records, whether because existing old records require a refresh, or because a site has never previously been surveyed.

So I passed some time this New Year’s Eve locating all the potential churchyards in Suffolk with lichen interest, and mapping which have been surveyed and which have not. Churchyards, including civic cemeteries, serve as vital lichen habitats in Suffolk, where there is precious little exposed bedrock to host the many lichen species that grow on stone. Gravestones, other memorials, boundary walls and the church itself are our local substitutes for rocky outcrops, boulders, cliffs and the like. And they offer a huge variety of niches all in one place.

The map above is the result: nearly 600 churches with known or potential lichen interest. At least one lichen record, and usually more, exist for well over 400 of these churches, thanks to a few decades of dogged work by Chris Hitch, my predecessor as County Lichen Recorder in Suffolk. My New Year’s resolution is to try as best as I can to follow in his giant footsteps!

Speaking of giant footsteps: it wouldn’t have been possible for me as a field lichenologist to identify all these churches, if I hadn’t also had the benefit of the many years of work of a dedicated ‘field ecclesiologist’. My thanks to Simon Knott for his extraordinarily valuable catalogue of Suffolk churches!