Thursday 3 November 2016

Humid dune slack at Kenfig NNR

dune slack vegetation supporting Drepanocladus sendtneri, overtopped by Salix repens and Carex nigra tussocks
The small slack south of the bird hide floods quite deep (~80cm) during the winter, although yesterday it was bone dry. The composition and structure of higher and lower plants in this slack is very different to that found in the scraped slacks across the reserve, in fact I have been surprised by the range of vegetation variation there is between slacks at Kenfig. Interestingly, the most abundant bryophyte species in the western half of the slack I was looking at yesterday (in compartment 4a) was Fontinalis antipyretica (four photos below). In places it replaced Calliergonella cuspidata as the dominant underscrub species, forming thick wefts beneath Salix repens scrub, as-well-as carpeting areas of open ground and growing as pendant drapes off the lower limbs and trunks of Salix cinerea. I can see Sam noted similar growths in nearby slacks too, but it's the first time that I have encountered it as a major component of slack vegetation.
 

More significant vegetation in the slack included some good patches of Drepanocladus sendtneri (at SS79628103 - top photo - and SS79568102), which are to be safeguarded from proposals to rejuvenate parts of the slack. A robust form of D. aduncus was also frequent in the slack and some some material seemed indeterminate to my eye, even after examining it under the microscope.
D. sendtneri
Miscellaneous observations of less the familiar taxa included Puccinia cancellata on Juncus acutus and Tuberolachnus salignus (Large Grey Willow Aphid) noted crawling around the lower limbs of Salix cinerea.

11 comments:

  1. Well done Barry, and thanks for stepping into the breech with the D sendtneri. I'm glad you saw some things of interest as well as the confusing Dreps!

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  2. P. cancellata is a nice record Barry, I'll keep an eye open for that. Have you seen any rusts on the Kenfig Pyrolas? There are 2 to look out for. Pucciniastrum pyrolae (small reddish spots on upper surface and spiny spores) is nationally rare, but I've seen it on Wintergreens at two sites in NPT and now is a good time to look. Chrysomyxa pirolata (orange spots on lower surface and warty spores) is even rarer, in fact I'm not even sure whether there are any recent records for it at all, anywhere.

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  3. No problem Sam, it was interesting to scrutinise a mature slack for a change.
    Re: Pyrola rusts - I do usually have a quick poke around for them whenever I encounter a patch, but I've never carried out a thorough search and consequently I've never recorded any...but I'll keep trying

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  4. Good record of P. cancellata Barry - not common - can you send ngr or are your records logged in SEWBRec? I can get them from there.
    Nigel

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  5. I've done a lot of searching for Chrysomyxa pirolata at Kenfig, Merthyr Mawr and other sites including old colliery sites as part of the Kew Lost and Found Fungi project. No success finding it! It has been re found at 2 sites in North East England though.
    Mark

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  6. Thanks for that information Mark, I'll keep looking for C. pirolata - there's quite a bit of Pyrola minor and P. rotundifolia in NPT forests.
    Another fungus to look for in Kenfig slacks is Russula persicina, which is mycorrhizal with Salix repens. There was a lot of it in the Hedghog Slack last autumn. The Kenfig population is quite pale coloured. NBN gateway indicates Kenfig as the only site for Wales, but it is probably overlooked. Merthyr Mawr and Whiteford have lots of suitable habitat.

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  7. Oh wrong with geograhy should have read North West England for Pyrola Rust see: https://fusiontables.googleusercontent.com/embedviz?q=select+col17+from+163sStL35b1Pt-p5zTvpGzEkwfdPiBMkp2GhOexfM+where+col0+%3D+%27Chrysomyxa++pyrolata%27&viz=MAP&h=false&lat=54.73828325116999&lng=-4.27780479135663&t=1&z=6&l=col17&y=2&tmplt=2&hml=ONE_COL_LAT_LNG

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  8. Nigel, all my records go direct to SEWBREC, but to save you waiting, it was at SS79518104.

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    Replies
    1. We are out on Kenfig with the 'Kew Crew' on Saturday 12th November so I will have a look for P.cancellata if we are in areas where host is

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    2. Good luck - you'll have now problem finding the host...

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    3. Yes at least that's one host I can easily identify and seen in a few locations at Kenfig

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