Fairwood airport

I made a brief stop-off on Tuesday to look at the section of concrete runway outside the perimeter fence SS573910 at Fairwood. This revealed small quantities of Plagiomnium cuspidatum (photos above) growing with more abundant associates that included Brachythecium albicans, Ceratodon purpureus, Climacium dendroides (photo 7), Didymodon insulanus, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, Syntrichia ruralis var. ruraliformis and some attractive tufts of Bryum dichotomum var. barnesii (photos 5 & 6). Campylium protensum and Ctenidium molluscum were frequent along the adjacent track.

Phascum cuspidatum (Cuspidate Earth-moss)

Compared to Gower and east Glamorgan, there's not much arable land in Neath Port Talbot. But there are some promising sites on the southern edge of the county between Margam and the Kenfig River, although unofficial access to most of them is not possible. However,H and I managed to look around 2 small patches near the east gate to Margam Park yesterday. Both support a nice mixture of common arable species such as  Dicranella staphylina, D. schreberiana, Oxyrrhynchium hians, Trichodon cylindricus, Tortula truncata and an assortment of common Bryum species e.g. argenteum, dichotomum, rubens). Sadly, we couldn't find any crystalworts or hornworts, but one of the fields had a substantial population of Phascum cuspidatum (= Tortula acaulon in Ron Porly's excellent field guide to Arable Bryophytes).

Phascum cuspidatum (Cuspidate Earth-moss) in arable field near Margam, 

Tortula truncata (Common Pottia) in arable field near Margam

Phascum cuspidatum is often described as a common arable species, but there are few records of it in VC41. Roy described it as rare in Glamorgan and Sam has commented on its scarcity in Carmarthenshire (compared to Pembrokeshire). However, there's lots of arable land in the Vale of Glamorgan that must be suitable for this predominantly lowland species. 

Penclawdd copperworks revisit 1

Plagiomnium cuspidatum with a few scraps of Lophozia excisa

I nipped down to Penclawdd to take Alfie for his constitutional walk today and spent 40 minutes on part of the ridge mentioned below. I was very pleased to relocate Sam's Plagiomnium cuspidatum, although P. affine/undulatum? [see below] was more frequent and I also found a few scraps of Lophozia excisa. In the process of producing a more complete list for the site I was struck by the Bryum below, which looks very kunzei-like to me. Whilst calcifuge species were more prominent, there were scattered patches of calcicoles; associates in the immediate vicinity of the Bryum included P. affine, B. capillare, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, H. jutlandicum, Ceratodon purpureus & Barbula convoluta. Under the microscope the leaf margins are very weakly bordered with a few tiny, but sharply pointed teeth distally. the margins are weakly recurved towards the leaf base which is pigmented red. The single unripe sporophyte may be a bit of a negative as I'm not sure if fruiting is known in Britain? As always any comments are welcome.

Bryum caespiticium and spot the Lophozia excisa!

Re: Plagiomniun aff/und - I often get muddled by these two as stunted undulatum looks very similar to affine to me - what is the best way to separate them in the field?

Arable at Overton

Despite dipping on 5 Woodlarks at Overton this morning and later finding out they appeared 10 minutes after I'd left, at least I was able to take the opportunity to look at a habitat I've hardy touched, which resulted in adding 21 taxa to SS48M taking it to 74 (perhaps this was the reason I dipped the Woodlarks!). The best of the arable species at SS458851 were Phascum cuspidatum var. cuspidatum, Microbryum davallianum and Totrtula modica. Species noted on the footpath running between the reserve and the fields SS454852 included Riccia sorocarpa, Scleropodium touretii, Scorpiurium circinatum and best of all a nice little patch of Tortula protobryoides.

Microbryum davallianum

Tortula protobryoides

Comparative sizes (L to R) of Tortula modica, Microbryum 
davallianum [6mm from roots to top of capsule] & T. protobryoides

Phascum cuspidatum var. cuspidatum