I treated myself to a seawatch at Port Eynon at first light on Sunday morning, but it was so drizzly when I arrived, that visibility did not extend beyond the surf. So a backup plan to add a few more records to SS48X was put in place and in the relative shelter of Slade Valley I managed to add a few species of interest; these included a mound of
Weissia controversa var.
densifolia growing under the hinge of a galvanized gate and some good patches of
Plasteurhynchium striatulum growing on an outcrop under the coastal scrub. After 30 minutes the rain started to ease so I took my scope onto the cliff, but with little passing I soon became distracted by the bryophytes growing around me. I spent 30 blustery minutes with a hand lens adding some good species to the square, the best of which were
Fossombronia caespitiformis (=
husnotii) [photos above] which was frequent but scattered over many square metres, a little
Bryum kunzei (
=funkii), occasional
Microbryum starckeanum and even smaller, what I'm pretty sure what is a new species for me,
Cephaloziella calyculata [photos below]. There is a however, however, as the material was non-fruiting. The key in Paton took me quickly to
calyculata/integerrima but the angular pale green gemmae and habitat seem to be the only distinctions between the two when non-fertile;
integerrima usually displays red pigments and is not typically associated with Limestone. Perhaps Sam can let me know if this is a safe id? Like the
Fossombronia, plants were scattered across a good area, so potentially quite a significant population if confirmed. I'm not sure what species the
Cephaloziella is in the photos above (rather sparse oval gemmae present on a few shoots and underleaves frequent so possibly
divaricata), but I initially thought the plants below might have been
Lophozia excisa until closer inspection revealed pale green gemmae.
