Llandogo Ravine

 

The rocky cascades of Cleddon Shoots/Llandogo Ravine near Tintern in the Wye Valley hold a remarkable array of bryophytes, including several that are disjunct from main populations further NW in Wales.  I haven't yet relocated the Platyhypnidium lusitanicum that was recorded there by Warburg in 1954, and it's possible that the water is now too base-rich for it, but most of the other notable species seen by previous generations of BBS members are still present, including Jungermannia paroica, Lejeunea patens, Plagiochila spinulosa, Fissidens rivularis and plenty of Jubula hutchinsiae.  I visited the site on Sunday with Bea & Johnny and photographed some Jubula, as well as taking some habitat shots for a putative VC35 Bryophyte Flora (in prep. in perpetuity?).  A couple of previously unrecorded species caught my eye in passing: a small patch of Plagiothecium latebricola on a huge log was the first VC35 record since 1995 and only the 6th ever, and some Oxystegus tenuirostris adjacent to a cascade was notable (although I've seen it in a couple of other Wye Valley woods).  This is a really special SSSI, and it was useful for me to see the clear link between cascades and the distribution of the Jubula.