We departed from Mainz at half past nine. We went to Frankfurt Airport by train. Our plane took off in time by 12:30 local time and landed in London Heathrow at about one o'clock. It took a very long time to get the baggage so we missed our first bus to Reading. Because of that, we missed our three o'clock train at Reading and we arrived at Taunton one hour late. From Taunton, we were picked up by a taxi sent by the Field Centre in Nettlecombe where we arrived at quarter to six.
After dinner we had a short introduction by a warden of the Field Centre and after that by Peter James, Pat Wolseley and Bryan Edwards.
After breakfast at nine o'clock, we had our first lesson by Peter James. After that, at quarter past eleven, we went into the field going North to a few trees which turned out to be walnut trees and oaks. There was a really rich community of lichens on them. We spent the rest of the morning on that five trees. After it had started to rain, Bryan decided that we should get back to the centre and have our packed lunch there. After lunch he decided to stay indoors and do some lab work because of the weather.
We got off again after tea time heading South for ticking off the checklists for the trees there. We got back to the centre half an hour before dinner.
Note: Trees in this area are labelled with numbers. Photos of lichens on trees of this area come with the number of the tree under the photo.
After breakfast we had a lesson again. We left the centre at eleven and drove to the churchyard of All Saints' Church in Wootton Courtenay. We had lunch there at about one o'clock. After lunch time, we set off to Hurlstone Point. We had planned to split into two groups for inspecting the beach as well as the cliffs. But somehow, nobody went down to the beach. We looked out for Heterodermia japonica which we found on our way back.
We arrived back at the centre at quarter past six. In the evening, everybody did some lab work.
© 2003, 2004 by Richard Burghause, Germany. All rights reserved.