Scottish Lichenology (Yahoo Group) - A recent and excellent informal group that sees plenty of thought-provoking activity. It's not just about Scotland, licheneers everywhere should join.
British Lichen Society Official BLS website. Full of information on people to contact, identification, publications etc. There is an invaluable checklist of the British species and list of synonyms. The site is in continuous development, so worth another look from time to time.
University of Oslo lichen herbarium . - A professionally crafted site. Lots of specialist lichen pages and an excellent photogallery.
Lichens of North America . - An excellent site relating to the book. If you like lichens and have £50 to spare (is that all!), do yourself a big favour and buy this book - it is one of the best natural history books on the planet. The photos are simply superb. The introduction is brilliant. And the common names are wonderful - each one a poem. When you escape (like Odesius from the Sirens) from the wonderful pictures you will notice another important thing; many of the species are also found in the UK so can help us with our ID (many more you wish you could find here because they look so fab).
Lief and Anita Stridvall's Website. - A 'Magnum Opus' containing many thousands of excellent photos of plants, fungi (their main interest) and over 600 lichen species mainly from Sweden but also throughout Europe.
The Natural History Museum website has a lichen section and a really useful guide to lichens on twigs, plus loads of other interesting information.
Interested in taking a course about lichens? The Field Studies Council run several courses on lichens which come highly recommended as a quick way in to this fascinating group. If the direct link to the lichen page doesn't work try this one for the FSC home page
Click the picture to open the link.
Opticron LED illuminated hand lenses - useful for searching dark crevices on cloudy days. 10x and 15x available.
Lens diameter is 26mm. Lens quality is excellent. Has one LED providing good illumination. Comes with a plastic belt pouch. Takes 3 AAA batteries (not included).
But no place to attach a neck string.
A beautifully crafted LED illuminated hand lens (image links to a PDF).
10x with two LEDs for excellent shadow-free viewing (batteries included) and a neck string.
Superior to the Opticron in illumination and design but much more expensive.
Acid free A4 paper for permanent storage of your specimens.
Available in packets of 25, 100 or 500 sheets (only £20) from this Family History website.
Permanent, acid free pens also available.
Scientific equipment such as dropper bottles and chemicals from Scientific & Chemical.
Getting hold of chemicals is not as straight-forward as it used to be.