Golden

The spaniel and I had a very wet and gloomy walk on the South Downs this morning. The cloud was so low that it was impossible to see beyond the main ridge path. As a consequence I paid attention to the lichen-clad hawthorns as we walked along and so discovered the rare Golden-eye lichen (Teloschistes chrysophthalmus) which was believed to be extinct in Britain until 2005 when a single specimen was found in Herefordshire. About ten years ago it started appearing in Dorset. I found it (and blipped it) once before about a mile west of today's find (there were about three little groups of it) which was near Mount Harry above Lewes. If you look really close you will see that the rims are fringed with tiny hairs like little eyelashes. So, today's winter colour is golden.