[2] At the instigation of Dougal Swinscow, the first meeting of the society was held at the British Museum on 1 February 1958; there were 24 attendees.
[5] Lichenologist Oliver Gilbert, former president of the BLS and editor of the organisation’s publications, wrote the book The Lichen Hunters in 2004; according to the blurb on the dust jacket, it is "part travelogue and part social history of the British Lichen Society from ... 1958 to the present".
These courses helped increase awareness and interest in field lichenology in the British Isles.
In 1964, the BLS undertook the Society Distribution Maps Scheme, a major citizen science project led by Mark Seaward.
The Society publishes a scientific journal, The Lichenologist, that focusses on the taxonomy of lichens as well as their ecology and physiology.