Eagle's Claws Lichen
Anaptychia ciliaris subsp. ciliaris
About
A shrubby lichen which looks like the talons of an eagle. It is found on well lit, mature, broad-leaved tree trunks in parklands, pastures and along roadsides. Found well above ground level. Pale grey in colour and forms long, strap-like flat branches (lobes) which become brown at the tips, whilst the bottom is white. The top has a velvety texture. Long curved structures on the edges of the lobes give it the appearance of eagle’s claws. The fruiting bodies are black discs frequently covered with white powder, about 5mm in diameter and on short stalks.
It was once common across the UK, but decreased in many areas with the loss of elms from Dutch Elm Disease, as well as through pollution and the use of inorganic fertilisers. Now it is threatened by the loss of its other suitable habitat to ash dieback, leaving it with few remaining options.
Conservation status
Declining in many areas (50-80% decline since the 1980s) and largely extinct in Scotland and NE England. Endangered in the GB Red List (Woods & Coppins 2012).
EAGLE’S CLAW LICHEN
Its hunting grounds
are not the sky’s wild streets
but the old tree’s quiet scarp
where the bark is split and scarred.
There it spins sugar from sunlight
and stretches grey fingers to test the air.
Under the lens they are sharp as talons
but to the touch they’re velvet –
strange claws that catch nothing
but rain and thistledown.
The house of elm and the house of ash
have fallen. Still if the air is clean
it puts out its dark fruits:
at first like eyes screwed shut
then opening into little dishes
like cupped ears listening for news.
Length: 62 seconds
Poem: Jean Sprackland
Read by: Jean Sprackland
Sculpture
This sculpture was inspired by the microscopic cross-section of lichen and how it is made up of a fungus surrounding algal cells. This is shown on the first panel of the tryptic and the poem included in the work, with background images of the lichen's 'claws' and fruiting bodies on the other two panels.
Eagle's Claws
??cm
Bronze and acrylic painting on wood panel??
Work in progress
Images and videos of various stages of the sculpture's production: