Blue Sky, Feathers. Yellow Lichen, Feathers

Not much time for togging today. Lovely to see a bit of blue sky. I love blue and yellow together so have chosen to post this blue tit against the blue sky.

It is sitting on a branch covered with Xanthoria lichen. They were talking about lichen on Winterwatch. The lichens in the Caledonian forest are markers for clean air. Xanthoria is a marker for nitrogen pollution. Lichen is actually a fungus and an alga working together. The yellow colour in Xanthoria is a sun block for the alga.

Xanthos is ancient Greek for yellow. (They didn't classify blue as a single colour.) We sailed to the ancient city of Xanthos in Turkey, so named because the river that meets the sea near the gorgeous Patara beach is stained yellow by the local soil.