Summer by Melissa Harrison

Author:Melissa Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783962457
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson

‘Daddy, look!’ he calls from the top of the slope. ‘Sausage lichen!’

It is a rare cloudless blue sky in the middle of the summer, and we are visiting a favourite spot on Dartmoor. Holding a small branch as if it is the most fragile of porcelain sculptures, he runs carefully towards me. There is a subconscious skill in the way he runs down the slope, aware of everything around him: his precious cargo remains safe as he effortlessly dodges the most delicate purple violets, and zig-zags through young ferns unravelling their bright green new fronds, cautious not to trample anything. Perhaps his senses are so astute not because he has super powers, but because he is aware of the natural world all around. He is four and a half years old, but he has an innate respect for nature. And it shines.

He approaches, holding out his prize. The small rugged-looking branch is about as long as my forearm, but this is no ordinary piece of wood. And he knows it. Dangling down, is a soft looking, light green clump; as if an oddly coloured sheep has snagged its wool on the branch.

‘And look Daddy, there. Lettuce lichen,’ he says excitedly. His subtly creased brow lines reveal his familiar seriousness when he has discovered something he is proud of.

We talk about the wind-broken stick and the lichen that have made their home there. He is hungry and his curiosity needs feeding. His enquiring mind is churning out many questions so he can make sense of this odd thing he has discovered. This clump of an otherwise obscure growth on a broken twig gets us talking about Peter Rabbit and the beasts of the last Ice Age in the South West. And why shouldn’t it? Lichen is bizarrely wonderful. What makes it so funky is that it is not just one species but two, and sometimes three! In passing, some lichen may seem like a flat, dull, lifeless, crusty thing on a surface, but it is in fact an incredibly complex system of two (or more) organisms living together for mutual gain. Lichen is the Han Solo and Chewbacca of the natural world (with Luke Skywalker occasionally hanging around). This incredible relationship is between single celled algae or cyanobacteria (or sometimes both) and filaments of fungus. It is a truly symbiotic relationship: the algae get the protection from the fungus, and the fungus feeds from algae’s photosynthetic food. With no need for roots to take up food, the fungus can grow almost anywhere, from the tops of delicate leaves to in between paving stones beneath your feet. Lichen can grow in some of the most extreme environments on the planet, from the hellishly hot conditions at Yellowstone Park to the freezing, Hoth-like temperatures on Antarctica.

And Peter Rabbit? Well, this is a nice little link. Peter Rabbit and friends were brought to life through the wonderful imagination and glorious illustrations of Beatrix Potter. Her fascination with wildlife didn’t stop with anthropomorphising rabbits, frogs and foxes.

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