It's a well-known fact that lichens are useful environmental indicators. Lichens are much more plentiful in the western woodlands of the British Isles, for example, because they are very sensitive to sulphur dioxide pollution, and so the clean air blowing off the Atlantic is better for them.

However it's not the case that all lichens are slow growing, sensitive organisms. Some are quite rapid colonisers, and grow in the most unpromising of situations, as The Ranger noticed when parking his car next to a blue Ford in a town-centre car park recently.

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Ranger reader Dave Larkin has been to Slovenia again - and once more he's brought back some remarkable images of traditional Slovenian bee houses.

Above is a typical traditional bee house in use - the coloured boards by each entrance can be clearly seen. It's customary to decorate these boards with interesting images.
Dave writes:

I went back to Slovenia skiing this winter, the hotel we stayed in had loads of bee boards in the corridors as decoration, I have photographed a few of the more interesting ones!

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Round about now kettle-cases start popping up on the Isle of Wight. That's the local name for early-purple orchids, which, as the name suggests, start flowering relatively early, in spring. If you live in England it won't be long before it's the same round your way, if it isn't already.

Orchids are mysterious things, appearing apparently from nowhere, flowering spectacularly, and then disappearing sometimes for years. No wonder they have a certain mystique.

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The Guardian irritatingly brays:

Fossil hunters warned off as landslide destroys Jurassic coastline
Fossil hunters were warned to keep away today after a landslide described as the "biggest in 100 years" destroyed 400 metres of world heritage coastline.

Experts were assessing the damage along the Jurassic coast between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset after the rock fall yesterday evening.

They really have missed the point here.

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An insect has been identified that just might prove to be the holy grail of biological control: a safe predator for Japanese Knotweed.

The Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International has announced plans to begin consultation on the use of a Japanese psyllid to attack knotweed in the UK. If approved, this will be the first time an exotic species has been used in Britain to control a plant.

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