Photography exhibition “Limestone Pavement: Life Between the Cracks” completes its four-month long tour of libraries across Lancashire and Cumbria showcasing the importance of preserving these important habitats.

Curated by Professor Carly Stevens, lead investigator at Lancaster’s Limestone Pavement Partnership, the small exhibit consists of a series of photographs taken by Oana Baković on Hampsfell, a limestone pavement habitat situated near the town of Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria. Limestone pavements are a rare habitat formed of a series of limestone blocks (known as clints) and the cracks that run between them (called grikes), and were formed millions of years ago by glacial activity. Limestone pavements are home to a unique community of plants and insects, many of which are rarely found together – or at all – in other habitats across the UK.

The exhibition was funded by the British Ecological Society’s Outreach and Engagement Grant, and allowed Professor Stevens to engage Baković, a fine art photographer specialising in endangered flora, to undertake a shoot up on Hampsfell’s pavements last summer. The photographs feature a number of stunning landscapes of the site, as well as images of plant species found on limestone pavements, including harebells, broad-leaved helleborine, and hart’s tongue fern. The photos were then assembled into a series of displays and paired with audio clips recorded by Professor Stevens, her PhD student Ezra Tattersall, and Reserves Officer for the Cumbria Wildlife Trust Scott Petrek, speaking about their work protecting the ecology of the pavements.

“Limestone Pavements: Life Between the Cracks” has already been displayed at libraries in Kendal, Barrow-in-Furness, and Ulverston, before making its way to its final destination in the Lancaster University Library Exhibition area (located on the ground floor of the library), where it will remain until 23^rd January. The free exhibition has been well-received in its previous locations, and the team hopes that staff and students at the University will be able to enjoy it whilst it is situated at the campus library.

Speaking on the exhibition, Professor Stevens commented: "It was fantastic to work with Oana; limestone pavements are beautiful and I have felt for a long time that capturing photographs of their interesting rock forms and beautiful plants was a good way to help people learn about this rare and unusual habitat. Oana's images are stunning and it was fantastic to observe her process in taking the photographs."

You can find out more about limestone pavements and Professor Steven’s work on them, on the Limestone Pavement Partnership website.