I lichen the look of you: A rare lichen-covered fingerpost that's been frozen in time and donated to the Natural History Museum
A fingerpost, covered in 12 different species of lichen, has been donated to the Natural History Museum by Exmoor National Park — but they had some trouble getting it there.


No, the road to Trentishoe Manor does not pass through the Natural History Museum. However, you will see a sign to it at the London institution — a specimen covered in 12 different rare lichens and ‘frozen in time’ — donated by the Exmoor National Park Authority.
The fingerpost features in the first new permanent gallery to open there in a decade — Fixing Our Broken Planet, launched in April — and is a lovely example of a manmade item that has been reclaimed by Nature. ‘We are so proud to produce our own fingerposts on Exmoor — they are milled from oak or chestnut, which has grown in Exmoor woodlands and the timber is a byproduct of our own woodland management (such as from fallen wood through storm damage),’ explains ranger Charlotte Wray. ‘Some of the lichens growing on this fingerpost indicate the high air quality on Exmoor, which is made possible through the lack of pollution and the presence of these highly functioning woodland ecosystems.’
Exmoor National Park is home to more than 3,000 fingerposts.
However, donating a lichen-heavy fingerpost to the institution was not as simple as it ought to have been. The first sign to travel up to London absolutely hated leaving the wilds of Exmoor and its lichens ‘immediately perished’. The next one was stolen en route and is presumably now misdirecting someone, somewhere, somehow. Happily, the third attempt to transport and rehome a West Country fingerpost in South Kensington stuck.
‘There are currently over 3,000 wooden fingerposts on Exmoor and a considerable number of them are home to the many species of lichen to be found in this area,’ explains senior public rights of way and access officer Sue Applegate. ‘We managed to spare one that was reaching the end of its life, so we could share the lichen’s beauty and offer an example of nature-colonised manmade object… The Natural History Museum were very grateful and funded a new signpost, which hopefully will also attract more lichen species over years to come.’
Part-funded with a £1.64 million grant from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), among other support, the free gallery showcases ‘research from the brilliant scientists at the Natural History Museum, helping to educate, challenge and entertain the public on the natural world while demonstrating how we can all make a difference,’ adds Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant. Other exhibits include a Sumatran rhino, whale earwax and ancient cow skulls.
Visit the Natural History Museum website for further information
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.
-
'He unleashed a series of war cries, then intercepted the vole mid-air': There's nothing remotely common about the common kestrel
Known in Orkney as ‘moosie-haak’, kestrels are fierce hunters but have seriously declined and are now an amber-listed species.
-
101 gold rats, a 'self portrait as a horse' and a tribute to motherhood take home top prizes at this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Royal Academy has announced its 2025 prize winners, spanning talented sculptors, painters and print-makers, with works on display in London until August 19.
-
'He unleashed a series of war cries, then intercepted the vole mid-air': There's nothing remotely common about the common kestrel
Known in Orkney as ‘moosie-haak’, kestrels are fierce hunters but have seriously declined and are now an amber-listed species.
-
The truth about P.G. Wodehouse: Robert Daws on playing England's greatest comic writer
The actor Robert Daws starred alongside Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie in Jeeves and Wooster back in the 1990s, and the work of P.G. Wodehouse has been part of his decades-long career ever since. He joined the Country Life Podcast.
-
Don't judge a plant by its smell: Why 'the little stinkers of the natural world' are just doing their job
Reminiscent of love and with an unmistakable odour of death, the little stinkers of the natural world might incite repulsion, but they are only doing their job, pleads Ian Morton
-
Puffins and shearwaters, skuas and terns, gannets and gulls and guillemots and wings, these are a few of our favourite things (seabirds)
From a heroic long-distance swimmer to a producer of spectacularly eerie sound effects, the seabirds seen swooping and diving over British waters have all manner of singular skills.
-
The red kite is a soaraway success story, having escaped extinction to become a familiar sight in our skies again
Unhurried in flight and with a sideline in stolen goods, the handsome red kite is the gentleman thief of the raptor world, writes Mark Cocker.
-
‘This isn't just silver — it's a story of a man who fell in love with a woman who society deemed unworthy': The large silver sculpture of rutting stags that scandalised Victorian society
George Harry Grey, the 7th Earl of Stamford, was shunned when he married a circus performer. This sculpture was his way of showing the world that he was a fighter — and it's now been acquired by the National Trust.
-
The life that thrives among the dead: How wildlife finds a home in the graveyards and churchyards of Britain
Home to a veritable ‘Noah’s Ark of species’, thanks to never being ploughed, sprayed or fertilised, our churchyards offer a sacred haven for flora and fauna, says Laura Parker.
-
Peregrine falcons went to the edge of extinction in the 1960s — today, there are more of them than at any time since the Middle Ages
In the latest instalment of Mark Cocker's 'Winging it' column, he looks at the peregrine, a bird of prey with astonishing speed and super strength.