Rocky stream

Last Sunday we went up to play in the last of the snow near Storey Arms, which gave me an opportunity for a quick forage in an unfamiliar habitat - an upland stream with plenty of Old Red Sandstone boulders.

I took small samples from a fair range of species for checking under the microscope. Some were unfamiliar so it's taken me a while to get through them all. As well as a few species I've only seen a few times - Blindia acuta, Amphidium mougeotii, Gymnostomum aeruginosum - were two which were new to me - Anomobryum julaceum (var. julaceum) and Tortella bambergeri (poor photos below). There is also a Grimmia which I'm not sure about (will blog separately about this).

Tortella bambergeri

Anomobryum julaceum

Graham has commented on this blog in the past that the area between Storey Arms and Craig Cerrig NNR is the best recorded part of Breconshire, so these records may not contribute anything new to the VC42 database, but on a personal level it was a useful exercise to familiarise myself with the typical species in a habitat not present in my local area.