A rare lichen has been reintroduced to its historical habitat of East Anglia – with the help of some bookbinding glue.
Scrambled egg lichen, so named for its bright yellow, crumbly appearance, was once common in the Breckland region of Norfolk and Suffolk but was last seen there in 1994.
It is thought to have become extinct due to habitat loss resulting from changes in farming, an increase in tree cover and a drop in the number of rabbits.
The charity Plantlife has now launched a conservation effort to transfer the rare lichen back to the area from the north of Cornwall, more than 350 miles away.
The technique used to move the species, known as translocation, involves carefully removing small patches of the lichen and using either water or bookbinding glue to reattach them to their new habitat.
Dave Lamacraft, Plantlife’s lichen and bryophyte specialist, said he had to investigate different types of glue to find one that would not damage the lichen.
He said: “There’s a study from work in Spain with ecologically similar lichen species and similar habitat, clay calcareous soils. They found water and glue were the two most effective. Scrambled egg lichen grows on soils that are pH7 or higher, really alkaline soils. A lot of the waterproof glues are quite acidic, I discovered, and also they have biocides in them.”
Through trial and error using different types of glue, bookbinding glue was found to have the correct pH for the lichen and was also waterproof.
Two hundred small pieces of the lichen were removed from Penhale in Cornwall, of which 160 have been transplanted into the chalky Breckland landscape.
Lamacraft said: “It’s a nature reserve owned by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust: they created this habitat a few years ago which is perfect for the lichen. The main issue for the loss of all three of the lichen species is loss of habitat – a really particular need for not much vegetation, open soil dominating habitat – and that’s what has been lost in a lot of the Breckland area.
“If this works then we can replicate that habitat management elsewhere on other sites.”
