Wednesday 14 September 2016

Tranch Pyle old lime works

The white substrate of this old lime works always glares and demands attention whenever browsing satellite images of this area. In recent years Paul Roberts has found species there such as Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea and Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima highlighting good potential and it's been on my hit list of places to look for bryophytes. As I had to abandon Kenfig yesterday due to the thunderstorms, I decided to pop in for an hour during which time the rain thankfully turned to sunshine. Obviously the orchids had long gone over, but the Pyrola was still flowering and other prominent vasculars included additional dune slack species such as Salix repens and Molinia, plus quite a lot of Succisa, so an interesting mix. The sward was largely open with expanses of sparsely vegetated ground (click for video) dominated by bryos and species noted (in decreasing levels of abundance) included:
Trichostomum crispulum
Leiocolea badensis
Preissia quadrata
Dicranella varia
Didymodon fallax
Bryum dichotomum
Pellia endiviifolia
Aneura pinguis
Barbula convoluta var. convoluta
Bryum pseudotriquetrum
Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus
Ctenidium molluscum var. molluscum
Homalothecium lutescens
Gymnostomum viridulum
Didymodon tophaceus
Funaria hygrometrica
Campylium protensum

The red line on the map shows the area that I looked at, so there's plenty more of the site worth exploring. For ref,. there's a public footpath running around the site, but when parking it's best to squeeze onto the verge where I've shown on the plan (SS85248127), rather than use the obvious pull in (marked x), unless you don't mind the attentions of the guys at this popular gay pick-up spot. Also wellies are essential to get through the very muddy gate.  
Preissia quadrata - Leiocolea badensis crust

2 comments:

  1. Looks an interesting site, and thanks for the tip re parking!

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  2. Some excellent tips there. Your parking tip reminds me of the day Dave Reed and I carried out NVC survey of Pant-y-sais Fen, wearing the necessary thigh waders to allow access to this wetland. Several guys stared at us from their parked cars, but I'm glad to say nobody followed!

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