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| King Rock viewed from the south with Abercregan in distance |
A few days ago, on a dismal grey afternoon, we hiked up to King Rock (near Cymmer) to look for the Lanceolate Spleenwort (Asplenium obovatum) that Sharon Pilkington recorded there in 2016. This is a rather rare fern in the British Flora and is restricted mostly to coastal habitats - interestingly there is another inland site for it near Tonyrefail (RCT), which is not far away from Cymmer (NPT). Unfortunately, after a fairly diligent search we were unable to find it, although our attention was moderated by the poor light conditions. I doubt very much that it has disappeared from the site in the last 3 years, so we will definitely return to look for it again under better conditions. On the plus side it did force us to look carefully into the rock crevices on the north-facing side of this imposing sandstone outcrop where we found some nice patches of Isopterygiopsis pulchella growing on dark, sheltered, soil-capped ledges. Sam had already recorded this at Craig y Llyn and Graham and Sam have also found it in the vicinity of Scwd Gwladys in the Pyrddin Valley, although that location may be in Brecs. This thread-like species is pretty scarce in south Wales and it was nice to see so much of it growing in pure wefts.
Pure weft of Isopterygiopsis pulchella with typical thread-like shoots, King Rock, Cymmer
Narrow, nerveless, long-pointed leaves of Isopterygiopsis pulchella with very narrow cell structure
Other stuff that was fairly obvious included Barbilophozia attenuata, B. floerkei, Lophozia sudetica, Oreoweisia bruntonii and Ptilidium ciliare. It's not a very large outcrop but the distinctly upland bryoflora here is rather nice.
Barbilophozia attenuata, King Rock, Cymmer
Lophozia sudetica, King Rock, Cymmer
Ptilidium ciliare, King Rock, Cymmer
The smaller outcrops and boulders which are spread over the whole site are covered with fabulous lichen communities with lots of fruiting Xanthoparmelia conspersa.
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Some excellent records there Charles. I. pulchella has only previously been recorded in 3 tetrads in VC41.
ReplyDeleteThanks George. According to my MapMate it had been previously recorded only in SN8909 and SN9103, so I must be missing some data.
DeleteGreat find Charles and I love the bonus lichen. I have a nagging suspicion I may have overlooked that one in the past. Thanks to this post it's now on the radar...
ReplyDelete