I have just seen a post on Twitter, in which SEWBReC say there are 'only' 5-600 bryophyte taxa in south Wales and "the challenge is to find them all". George amends the total to 737 taxa, which I assume comes from http://southwalesbryos.blogspot.co.uk/p/county-lists.html. Well, after 18 years of bryology in South Wales (taken to comprise VCC 35, 41, 42, 44 & 45) I believe I have seen all but 25 of the listed species in the region, and I have seen most of those 25 further north in Wales. The species which have eluded me (so far) are:
Aloina rigida - historic record from VC35 but extant at only 2 sites in Wales and on S7 of Env(Wales) Act
Anthelia julacea - not really in 'south' Wales as the only records are from northernmost VC42
Antitrichia curtipendula - I haven't yet twitched the extant sites in the Black Mountains, as I'm hoping to find my own colony one day
Barbilophozia hatcheri - a great find by Graham on Craig Cerrig Gleisiad
Bazzania tricrenata - probably lost from the region, with the only recent record being from northern VC42
Bryum creberrimum - an elusive ephemeral species
Bryum tenuisetum - one which has eluded me full-stop, goodness knows why
Campylopstelium saxicola - there are a couple of VC42 records, but it's very rare in the region
Dicranum leioneuron - questionable ID in the region/GB
Entodon concinnus - a twitchable colony in the S Wales dunes would be nice
Eremonotus myriocarpos - another Craig Cerrig Gleisiad special that has eluded me
Gymnomitrion obtusum - not listed on the Blog county lists, but a recent Beacons addition by Graham
Harpanthus scutatus - goodness knows why this oceanic liverwort is so rare in south Wales!
Plagiothecium laetum - confused with P. curvifolium and perhaps never present in south Wales
Pterigynandrum filiforme - a single, causal record from the early 20th century
Rhynchostegiella curviseta - early 20th century record from Tintern Abbey, not refound
Ricciocarpos natans - recorded from Magor Marsh, but not for 30+ years
Schistidium papillosum - a Craig Cerrig Gleisiad record is almost certainly an error for S. strictum
Solenostoma confertissima - several searches on Mynydd Du have failed to reveal Jean Paton's sole Welsh population
Sphagnum warnstorfii - regular pore checks have not (yet) proved rewarding
Tortula canescens - long-gone from Pembrokeshire
Tortula cuneifolia - very long-gone from Pembrokeshire
Ulota drumondii - only recorded from northernmost VC42
Ulota hutchinsiae - only the early 20th century record from VC44 is believable
The '500-600' figure was what I came up with off the top of my head during the walk on Saturday - I was way out!
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to have seen two of Sam's missing species in South Wales...the reciprocal list would be 300+.
Couldnt resist tallying up my records which shows my South Wales list comes to 501, with 460 of these from Glamorgan. This means I've not seen 236 and 108 respectively, so still plenty to seatch for...
ReplyDeletePS Sam, Didymodon icmadophilus is another one you might need to add to your target list?
I'll have to work out my total, but it will be nowhere near Sam's
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