It surprises me sometimes how many species you can find in the
most unlikely looking spots. Yesterday I stopped at the cattle grid at the entrance to
the village as there was a bit of tarmac and flushed gravel to look at before I
headed on to my target of the riparian woodland. In the end I spent nearly an
hour in this area where I found a base-rich seepage dominated by Pellia endiviifolia and Dicranella varia as well as a section
of verge with species such as Solenostoma
gracillimum under a mat of Wahlenbergia
hederacea. Plus there was some nice
wet heath adjacent to the road with all the commoner Sphagnum spp., etc. On a few
occasions recently I've found non-fruiting Fossombronia,
which is very frustrating! Hoping to take Alfie for a ‘walk’ in the next tetrad
today...
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| SN63660603 Wahlenbergia verge with 'understory' of Solenostoma gracillimum |
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| SN63680615 cattle grid seepage with abundant Pellia endiviifolia and Dicranella varia |
Those gravelly roadside habitats are fascinating Barry. It's the same with gravelled forestry roads, particularly when limestone has been used. In NPT, where there are no natural limestone outcrops, these forestry tracks support calciphiles like Trichostomum crispulum, Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus, Didymodon ferruginous and Jungermannia atrovirens, and of course (albeit very rarely) Distichium inclinatum. Some surprising flowering plants like Gentianella amarella and Euphorbia exigua also find a home there. It seems to me that looking at bryophytes allows you to see in another way, often transforming 'ordinary' places into something rather special.
ReplyDeleteNPT certainly has the most extensive network of such tracks locally, providing a wealth of opportunities for some interesting species. I guess this produce a confusing picture when trying to correlate distribution patterns with geology.
ReplyDeleteThese excellent little patches of habitat are potentially found almost throughout inland Glamorgan/S Wales, but most are inaccessible. It's great to have those which we stumble across properly documented. There are some super lane banks in N-central Carms with Anthoceros, Phaeoceros, Fossombronia spp etc - all in very 'ordinary' areas.
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