A walk out to the lighthouse on Barry's west breakwater in yesterday's murky conditions gave the opportunity to make a list of bryophytes on what must be a regularly storm-battered and salt-sprayed pier. Given the exposure, I was pleasantly surprised to record about 25 species, the most unexpected of which turned out to be
Didymodon umbrosus, found unusually well-grown near the end of the pier at ST124665. Assuming I have the identification right, this is only the 3rd Glamorgan (4th? Welsh) record, but at what would seem to be a most unlikely location, growing on gritty soil gaps in the stones as shown by the arrow above. Direct associates growing with
D. umbrosus, shown in the image below, include
D. tophaceus, D. insulanus, Bryum dichotomum plus
Amblystegium serpens var.
serpens and
Trichostomum crispulum were also noted with it in the field.
Note patent leaves bent out from hyaline sheaths with very narrow marginal cells. Also bistratose mid-leaf margins extending to a blunt, flat leaf tip
D. umbrosus &
Trichostomum crispulum at same magnification
Adjacent to the breakwater, the tufa cliffs in Jackson Bay ST120666, which extend almost all the way along the east cliff of Nell's Point, held abundant
Adiantum capillus-veneris and
Eucladium verticilatum. This area looks good for
Southbya, but my casual inspections during our walk failed to spot any. I'm not sure how well these cliffs have been searched by Gareth, George or others, but the cliffs would seem worthy of closer inspection should anyone find a bit spare time and they're down that way.
Interesting stuff. I've not been out onto the breakwater. I have walked around Jackson Bay, but that was in more innocent times (I've been meaning to go back and look at the bryos).
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are lots more goodies to find on the limestone coast around Barry.
A bit of doubt is creeping in over my putative D.u. and I was wondering if an environmental form of Trichostomum crispulum might look like this? Normal, big, cuculate, T.c. was frequent all along the wall and it was very different from this. Any thoughts welcome.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at D.u. & T.c. together under the microscope (see added pics of samples from the breakwater) it's clear the putative umbrosus isn't a form of T.c., though I'm still concerned it seems a bit big.
DeleteHi Barry, your right the cliffs are perfect habitat and I did have a very good search of them but no Southbya im afraid. best location is Porthkerry. Cheers gareth
ReplyDeleteI guessed you probably had Gareth. There's loads more really nice tufa habitat out of reach and less influenced by breaking waves which could be looked at with a long ladder if anyone should ever feel particularly adventurous!
Deleteyes I agree, theres lots of out of reach tufa across Glamorgan coastline, could be packed with goodies. One day we will have a drone with a marcro camera on it !
DeleteReading the Cornish website entry for umbrosus, it's apparent the species fares well on the coast. I'm much happier with the ID now, as the account of the Cornish material matches so well. Quite different from the cathedral site / material I collected, plus with Sam's recent roadside collection, it's clear this species can turn up in pretty ordinary places, so worth keeping it in mind if you spot a small, dark, patent leaved Didymodon. Interesting to read that umbrosus can show slightly hooded tips, evident in a few leaves in the image and hence my concerns about T.c. Glad that's all sorted!
ReplyDeleteGlad you managed to satisfy yourself that you had the corect ID. It's a species I need to get my eye in for - I should probably check out the cathedral site again (given it's in my home tetrad!). It does have quite a distinctive 'spidery' look in your photos, but perhaps not so obvious in the field?
ReplyDeleteI notice that it used to be called Trichostomopsis (meaning like Trichostoma) unbrosa.
ReplyDelete