Southbya tophacea is now well documented on this blog, thanks largely to Gareth and Hannah's efforts. However, as we were at East Aberthaw on the weekend, homage was paid to the tufa cliff first shown to me by Julian Woodman five years ago. On my previous visit no associates were recorded, so after a little photography I noted the following direct associates, listed in decreasing levels of abundance:
Eucladium verticillatum, Didymodon tophaceus, Leiocolea turbinata, Cratoneuron filicinum, Trichostomum crispulum &
Gyroweisia tenuis. No doubt other species are present, but perhaps the most noteworthy species was the
Gyroweisia, which I was fairly confident with in the field despite being lime-encrusted. However, a small sample was collected for checking and photos below show shoots in situ, then before and after clearing with vinegar).
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| male Leiocolea turbinata |
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| Adiantum capillus-veneris looking good too |
A nice community of desirable calcicoles - great site.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely worth a visit, plus you can see the Sorbus domestica colony and, in summer, aggregations of the Mint Sauce Worm Symsagittifera roscoffensis.
ReplyDeleteYou can never see too many photos of Southbya...stunning.
ReplyDeleteNice tip re the vinegar too.
Definitely worth a visit, plus you can see the Sorbus domestica colony and, in summer, aggregations of the Mint Sauce Worm Symsagittifera roscoffensis.
ReplyDeleteBarry, we were at Pothkerry at the other Southbya site on sat, would have been ace if we had chosen same site and bumped into each other ! On the subject of more photos of Southbya, I dont think I can top yours Barry....but work have just bought me a Dino Lite microscope (which I can take into the field), so ill be down Porthkerry soon and try to get some real close up photos of Southbya intermingled with the tufa. Id quite like to get images of how it sort of 'hides' in amongst cracks in the tufa. Perhaps this provides some protection? The portable microscope will let me do this without any damage to the populations. Only problem is I am going to look quite strange with a laptop and microscope on a beach. ah well !
ReplyDeleteI'll be eagerly awaiting your results. Don't worry about looking like a wierdo, chances are you'll be doing something 100x more interesting than anyone who's likely to be watching.
ReplyDeletehaha thats a good way of thinking about it !
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