I made an early dash up Garth Hill this morning, before the rest of the family were awake. My target was the sandstone outcrops on the eastern side of the hill at ST112837. I had a poke around the outcrops slightly further south (ST112836) in August 2014, but wanted to complete the job in case I'd missed anything.
Most of the species were the same as those recorded that day: a lot of
Racomitrium heterostichum, quite a bit of
Ptilidium ciliare, plus numerous other common acidophiles. I did find a few extra taxa though, including
Pohlia nutans (fruiting frequently),
Lophozia ventricosa,
Calypogeia fissa and
Cephaloziella divaricata.
 |
| Lophozia ventricosa |
The heavens opened while I was on the hilltop and I got back to the car soaked to the skin, so I hope at least a few of these are new to the very well recorded ST18B (167 taxa on Barry's latest map - mostly from several visits by bryological luminaries to the woodland habitats at Coed-y-bedw).
Well done George. Your soggy efforts take ST18B over the 170 Mark, making this square stand out in the context of se Glamorgan.
ReplyDeleteThis zone you worked must be the fourth botanical division referred to by Roy in the Flora of Glamorgan as the 'Upland ridge'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking the records Barry. I didn't want to make any claims of species being new for the tetrad as I know my copy of the database in MapMate is incomplete.
ReplyDeleteYes, the famous 'Upland Ridge' - which I refer to as the North Cardiff ridgeway. Whatever it is called it's certainly good for bryos as the habitats are very varied.