Pointed Beard-moss at Merthyr Mawr

Compared to the scrappy little colonies of Didymodon acutus along the Gower coast, those at Merthyr Mawr are much larger and hence much easier to spot. The species was first noted here by Sam in 2012 and it was just good fortune, rather than forward planning, that I happened to walk over exactly the same area last week and recorded exactly the same strong colony. The habitat comprised patches of very short, rabbit-grazed dune grassland between swathes of Rosa spinosissima (photo below). Associates included Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum, Barbula convoluta var. convoluta, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, Ditrichum gracile, Ceratodon purpureus and Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum.

As hard as I try, autumn fungi are often too attractive to ignore, as was the case with what looks like Clavaria vermicularis fruiting in a rabbit excavation. I couldn't decide what the Hygrocybe was, which will be left unidentified unless someone can name it for me (neither the stipe or the cap seemed particularly viscous).