Declining acidophiles

Just before Christmas I spotted three uncommon mosses at Dingestow: Plagiothecium latebricola was new for the area (bryophyte number 242), Bryum moravicum was the 2nd Dingestow record and the first in VC35 since 2008, and Aulacomnium androgynum used to be frequent at Dingestow in 1999/2000 but was last seen in VC35 in 2009.  The Plagiothecium is remarkably small and easily ignored/overlooked, but formed a dense cover over ca. 30 square cm of a huge log.

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.
 

Ton-up

Actually more like ton-down: I have fewer than 100 tetrads left unsurveyed for bryophytes in Monmouthshire (VC35)!  Bea had a birthday party just across the border yesterday, so I had nearly 4 hours to record 1.5 tetrads in the White Castle area.  Both were good examples of typical NE Monmouthshire - lovely rolling landscape with deep-cut streams and lane banks exposing neutral Old Red Sandstone.  Highlights among the 77 species recorded in SO31Y (Upper Cwm lanes) were (+indicates photo): +Eurhynchium schleicheri (abundant on one lane bank), +Plagiothecium curvifolium (fruiting on a large tree-stump), +Pylaisia polyantha (one large patch on a fallen canopy Ash branch), Platygyrium repens (a few patches on roadside Clematis), Rhynchostegiella teneriffae (frequent on ORS rocks in a stream gully) and Mnium stellare (large patches on stream bank), as well as the full suite of regular epiphytic Orthotrichum and some wall, track and tarmac 'grots'. 

I made a start on SO31Z in 2007 (Bont), so topped up that lanes list with a visit to a locality where a footpath crossed a deep-cut stream (Red Castle cwm), taking the tetrad total up to 79 spp.  Yesterday's highlights included +Plagiochila porelloides & +Scleropodium cespitans sharing sandstone outcrops, Rhynchostegiella teneriffae in the stream, and Mnium stellare on the stream bank.  It's really good to know what the background bryophyte flora of this part of the county is like.

Plagiothecium curvifolium in Swansea

I encountered some fruiting Plagiothecium curvifolium on a chunk of bark on the floor of young oak woodland in the north of Swansea yesterday. Not one I see too often, but the almost Hypnum-like appearance of the shoots was quite striking.

Selar square-bash

SN80W & SN80X needed a few extra records to get them over the 60 mark, so I took an afternoon stroll, wrongly thinking the frost would have largely gone. Unfortunately, the ground and vegetation was still solid, but I eventually managed to push up the totals to 81 and 103 respectively. Although hampered by the frost, the spoil bryos appeared to be pretty limited in the edge area I looked at, Lophocolea bispinosa the only thing of any note. The remnant broad-leaved woodland along the Nant Selar was quite ordinary, though the main water course looked/sounded quite promising from the path above. I haven't ventured into coniferous woodland too often in recent years, so it was nice to experience the luxuriance of the Larch plantations again.

L. bispinosa on spoil

 Sitka vs Larch field layers

 Lots of P. undulatum under Larch

There were a few small falls on the Nant Selar, 

the walls below mostly dominated by Saccogyna viticulosa

Ty-du Moors SSSI

I spent a fascinating and enjoyable day on this Cardiff fen with Julian Woodman, trying to work out why base-rich areas (with Eriophorum latifolium, Epipactis palustris, Gymnadenia sp. and Triglochin palustris) are becoming increasingly dominated by Sphagnum subnitens and Aulacomnium palustre.  We concluded that more work is needed, with input from Gareth Farr (what a shame you couldn't join us today, Gareth), but probing revealed over 2.5m of peat near the centre of the moor, whilst test coring showed that the base-rich areas and associated Juncus subnodulosus fen are on continuous peat, whereas the edges of the moor with Carex acutiformis fen has a layer of organic-rich clay-silt above the peat.

Campylium protensum is locally abundant in the remaining good, base-rich areas, along with Fissidens adianthoides, Plagiomnium ellipticum, P. undulatum and one stand of Dicranum bonjeanii.  Chiloscyphus pallescens and Cratoneuron filicinum were only in one area.  Poached damp grassland held Pseudephemerum nitidum and one patch of Ephemerum serratum. 

A check of surrounding Willow scrub was worthwhile, with a fruiting patch of Pylaisia polyantha on one Willow, as well as commoner epiphytes.  I think this is the 2nd Glamorgan record, following one on south Gower.  It's a pity that I found this epiphyte after George had left us, following his visit in the morning.  Nearby Alder carr held a peculiar tiny, narrow-leaved moss with gemmae on the leaf tips, forming an extensive patch on a well-rotted log.  I'm 99% certain this is Plagiothecium latebricola. {sorry about the bad iPod photos, I wish I knew how to rotate them in Blogger}.
 

Julian and I ended the day with a visit to some wonderful damp arable fields that Nick, the owner of Ty-du Moors, manages.  We relocated the Anthoceros that Julian and George saw last autumn, and I have a specimen to measure (though it's 99% certain to be A. agrestis).  Alongside were several thalli of Phaeoceros sp. (probably P. carolinianus but needing more study), and abundant Riccia glauca and Fossombronia sp.

All in all a good day, and I hope a boost for tetrad ST17E.

Mynydd Emroch/Cwm Dyffryn (SS79V)

A brief note, intended as much to save Charles and Hilary a duplicate visit, to say that yesterday afternoon a little bit of pit-stop recording in what were fairly typical hillside/valley habitats above the threatened Port Talbot Steelworks took the square onto 77 species. The photo below shows a section of bank of the Ffrwd Wyllt, characterised by sheets of Pellia endiviifolia and patches of Plagiothecium succulentum, though Hyocomium armoricum and Thamnobryum alopecurum were among the abundant species around the viaduct.