Wednesday 8 July 2015

Hirwaun old ironworks

Yesterday I had a quick look at the old iron works site at SN955058 as it was close to a site I was working at. There was a baffling mix of calcicole and califuge species (list below), all growing together side-by-side on the same lumps of slag, so I assume this material has highly varied chemical properties? Probably worth a closer inspection, although the total of 122 taxa in SN90M is pretty respectable.
Amblystegium serpens var. serpens (capsules)
Atrichum undulatum var. undulatum (capsules)
Bryum capillare (capsules)
Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus
Campylopus introflexus (capsules)
Ceratodon purpureus (capsules)
Ctenidium molluscum var. molluscum
Dicranum scoparium (capsules)
Didymodon fallax
Didymodon insulanus
Didymodon rigidulus
Encalypta streptocarpa
Fissidens dubius
Grimmia pulvinata (capsules)
Gymnostomum aeruginosum
Homalothecium sericeum
Hypnum cupressiforme var. cupressiforme
Lophozia excisa (perianths & gemmae)
Plagiochila porelloides
Polytrichum piliferum
Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum
Pseudocrossidium revolutum (capsules)
Ptychomitrium polyphyllum (capsules)
Racomitrium ericoides
Rhynchostegium confertum (capsules)
Scapania aspera
Scapania compacta
Schistidium crassipilum (capsules)
Tortula muralis (capsules)
Zygodon viridissimus var. viridissimus

Friday 3 July 2015

Ptilidium ciliare on coal tips

The distribution of this attractive liverwort in Glamorgan is slowly unravelling. Its appearance in natural and semi-natural habitats is rather sporadic, but it seems to be an almost constant component of broken swards on older coal tips. Yesterday I made a pit stop and Ffos y Fran to add some records to SO00S & SO00T and found it in both, though P.c. was only new for the latter. Other typical species of these pseudo-CG1 tip communities [have you ever NVC'd these communities Sam?] noted included Filago minima, Festuca ovina, Carlina vulgaris, Thymus polytrichus, Cladonia spp., Pilosella officinarum, Racomitrium lanuginosum, R. ericoides, Polytrichum piliferum, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, etc. Good to see a couple of pairs of Lapwings with well-grown chicks there too.