By Tanya
Whether you are in pursuit of creatures of the Night Realm or not, the woods at night are filled with magic — you just need the right light to see it. When you look at the woods with a black light, it can appear that someone has gone through the woods marking trees with highlighter markers. (Don’t give Rebecca the idea of highlighting trees! She loves to highlight everything in different colors, everything perfectly color coded by subject.)
You may see a glow on trees and logs because many lichens will fluoresce when exposed to UV light (black light). Google image search “Ultraviolet lichen” to be wowed. Scientists have yet to figure out why certain lichens contain fluorescent chemicals. Maybe I’ll discover it someday. Maybe you will.
The very first creature we met from the Nightmare Realm was made up of decaying organic matter. (No, Maggie, not like zombies!) I am talking about rotting wood with… lichen. So when you are lichen hunting, watch out for lichen that is moving.
Check out this hack for turning your phone into a black light. I use this hack on my LED headlamp so that I can project black light onto trees hands-free.
