The Beauty of Biofluorescence at Yorkshire's Dark Skies Fringe Festival
A magical multi-coloured world of glowing lights is bringing something new to Yorkshire's Dark Skies Fringe Festival this autumn
The Dark Skies Fringe Festival returns this October offering a chance to see both the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks in a different light. From Mad Alice’s ghost train to night photography, local businesses and dark sky experts will come together to share the beauty of the county’s dark skies in unique and interesting ways.
One of the many nighttime events taking place this October half term is the UV Fungi Walk, where Lucy Cuzzocrea from Wild Roots Foraging will be hosting an evening exploring biofluorescence in nature. Guisborough-based Lucy set up Wild Roots Foraging in 2020, and began with a few foraging walks. ‘The learning is endless and the more I learned, the more I just couldn’t wait to tell everybody else about it,’ she says. ‘That evolved into hosting wild gatherings. I’d use that as an opportunity to teach a little bit of British history, especially seasonally, in terms of how we would gather around the seasons and bring a bit of seasonal living back into people’s lives – helping them to slow down and reconnect with the natural world around them.
‘It then moved on to teaching other forgotten skills like wild medicine as well (I also teach how to create your own kind of wild medicines in the kitchen from what you can forage). Then, eventually, I discovered this amazing world that lights up at night that I had no idea existed and I found it absolutely mind-blowing. Again, I felt everybody should know about this! So I decided to start walks at night. I give everybody a UV torch and we head outside and hunt for biofluorescent and bioluminescent fungi.’
Biofluorescence (where living organisms radiate fluorescent colours) happens when organisms such as lichens, fungi, mosses and insects absorb light and re-emit it at different wavelengths when a UV or blue light is shone on them. Bioluminescence, meanwhile, is the emission of light by an organism through chemical reactions in their bodies. Truly dark skies in low light polluted areas, such as those in the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, are the ideal setting to experience these phenomenons.
‘It’s such a fascinating world,’ says Lucy. ‘Nobody ever taught me about it. Even scientists are still really learning about it. We’re still studying why the plants, fungi and bugs do this. We’re all learning about it together. We have all of these grand synthetic light displays going on everywhere, but actually nature puts on its own show without all of that. I just thought it’d be really nice to introduce people to it.’
The UV Fungi Walk will begin with a wild-spiced, mushroom hot chocolate and a wander around Crow Wood, Danby Lodge National Park Centre’s family-friendly woodland, to look at some of the wild edible and medicinal plants and fungi as the light fades. Then, as darkness falls, you’ll head on a UV hunt for biofluorescent fungi, plants, mosses, lichens and bugs with UV torches (which you can take home to continue your UV discoveries).
‘We are looking for fungi and we do find biofluorescent and bioluminescent fungi, but we find so much more as well, because it’s not just the fungi that emits its own light or reflects light with a UV torch, it’s the plants and the bugs too,’ says Lucy. ‘It’s completely surprising for me as well to find that some bugs will start giving off this light out of nowhere, and other bugs won’t. Everyone is absolutely amazed by what they can find.’
Lucy is looking forward to connecting people with nature, especially at nighttime. ‘These are things that our ancestors actually had a connection to, even Aristotle wrote about bioluminescence nearly 2,400 years ago,’ Lucy reveals, ‘so we’ve got this rich history with it and with the night sky as well. I think it’s just lovely that people get to connect with that again.’
This is just one example of what’s so special about Yorkshire’s dark skies. ‘I think it really puts you in your place as a human, and also on the planet,’ Lucy adds. ‘It really puts things into perspective, to see that we’re actually really tiny and there’s so much more out there. It can really take you away from the stresses of life for a minute. When we get outside at night and we see the bigger picture, I think there’s something really beautiful in that, and really useful too.’
Events such as this one, as part of the festival, also showcase the importance of protecting and caring for our dark skies. ’It’s a mixture of connection and knowledge,’ says Lucy. ‘Knowledge is power. I honestly think nobody means to damage anything intentionally. I suppose when we know better we do better, as the saying goes. What I aim to do on my walks is give people all the information that they might have been missing before. Once we understand what nature really needs and how much we need nature, we can build that responsibility for ourselves and look after it a bit better.’
Other events taking place during this year’s Fringe Festival include night walks where an expert guide will help guests navigate using the stars, a special Halloween night walk at Ash Dale Woods near Helmsley; and a 65km dark skies gravel cycling event. There’ll also be star parties and stargazing evenings at beauty spots such as the North York Moors National Park’s new Dark Skies Station at Danby Lodge, astro photography sessions, dark sky-themed crafting workshops, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s theatrical evenings aboard Mad Alice’s ghost train.
