Yesterday I only had a little spare time so decided to give
SN60G (which was on 55 species) a boost to help take it over the 70 mark. Stupidly
I never checked what species had been recorded other than I knew I’d looked at
some coal spoil in the nw of the square, so I headed to Felindre and ended up
spending 15 minutes by the river and 30 minutes in the church (again in the
rain). I couldn’t believe it when I got back and found that Sam had already
done the church! Of the 400ha to choose from in SN60G, I had to choose the same
0.2 ha! However, it did give the opportunity to compare results. Needless to
say Sam recorded more, 15 more in fact, although I was pleased to find that I managed
to add a further 7, the best of these probably being Sciuro-hypnum populeum.
The tetrad total now stands at a respectable 83, the church total
of 50 accounting for a large part of this, 5m of river bank and 0.2 ha of coal
spoil the rest. As the squares get ticked off, it’s sobering to think
that three casual visits to less than 0.1% of a tetrad (yellow patches below) can constitute a ‘completed’
square (i.e. a nominal 60 spp exceeded).
Well as suggested I'm now venturing into SN60 when I get the odd opportunity and my target is to complete this hectad over the winter. Here are the tetrad totals as it stands...
Ah, that sinking feeling when you realise someone has already visited an area you've just done some recording in!
ReplyDeleteWell done on getting 7 additions to my churchyard list. From memory I was on a whistle-stop hectad bash that afternoon and spent most of my time on hillsides somewhere above Lliw reservoirs - Cwm Cellfen, Blaen nant-ddu road and Banc Myddfai. Cwm Clydach looks as though it should be very diverse indeed, and SN60 should be well up in the 100s by the time you've finished.
ReplyDeleteI guessed your visit was probably a smash-and-grab raid. I'm certainly looking forward to getting into the more juicy bits of the hectad, but as you can seen there's a building block method to my square-bashing - probably a childhood legacy!
ReplyDeleteI might have to act like a spiteful schoolchild and sneak into SN60S in the next few weeks ;-)
ReplyDeleteI've still got a few tetrads left in VC44 nearish to Cross Hands, so that'll be my winter lunchbreak task. It's the far north-west and mid north-east of VC44 that remain frustratingly tough.
That would ruin my pattern and I might end up hitting you with my squeaky hammer!
ReplyDelete