Baglan slag

Aloina ambigua was found to be occasional in an area of lichen-bryophyte dominated vegetation on basic slag at Baglan. The main associates were Didymodon fallax, Barbula convoluta var. convoluta, Dicranella varia & Bryum dichotomum. Among the less frequent species were Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens, Cladonia pocillum, Galium parisiense, plus an unfamiliar lichen, which I'd be grateful if anyone can suggest a name, or even genus?

Aloina ambigua in Singleton Park

There was an abundance of this species, which was fruiting prolifically, on paths of the herb garden wheel @ SS62899245. As can be seen in the top image the paths are made up of a different material (a fine reddish dirt) to the rest of the garden, so the species may be confined to his feature. The basal membrane of the peristome is just about visible on some capsules in the field, but is best confirmed under the microscope. I didn't note all associates, but they included Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum, Didymodon luridus and Marchantia polymorpha ssp ruderalis. These are generally scarce in a moss turf that was dominated by the ambigua.

Slade

View along the cliffs west of Slade, the arrowed spot showing a slope below an outcrop where I've
previously recorded Cephaloziella calyculata plus a similar range of species listed below.

It seems like an age since I last looked at the South Gower cliffs, but on the weekend I managed to steal an hour and a half so checked out a section of cliff with virtually no records. I spent the first hour scouring promising looking ground on some outcrops east of Slade but failed to find much of interest. The last 30 minutes thankfully proved to be more productive with species noted in the sward shown below (SS49188551) including Aloina aloides, Bryum donianum, B. kunzei, B. ruderale, Cephaloziella calyculata, Microbryum starckeanum, Pleurochaete squarrosa, Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Weissia controversa var. crispata, etc..

 Putative Bryum kunzei - I do worry about this one, even though it looks pretty distinct!

Didymodon fallax and the much larger Pleurochaete squarrosa 

Bryum ruderale was particularly common in cliff-top turf in this section

Non-bryological interest was provided by one of the bryoparasitic Pezizales, which keys out Octospora coccinea. This is said to be common in the UK although only 7 records are shown on the NBN. The host was in rather poor condition for identification, but I looked like Bryum dichotomum.

Aloina ambigua at Port Eynon

Sam, I know that I've run this one by you before, but just wanted to be absolutely sure of the id, as to me it is still somewhat ambiguous, suggestion not intended! The site is the Poa bulbosa site in the overspill car park, which is now growing well and is part of a luxuriant, if extremely short, Rabbit-grazed sward. Other bryophyte components noted in the vicinity of the Aloina at SS46768509 included Didymodon fallax, Barbula convoluta var. convoluta, Bryum dichotomum, Brachythecium albicans, Microbryum davallianum var. davallianum, Cratoneuron filicinum & Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum. Note that the peristome in the image below has been squashed, so is projecting further beyond the capsule mouth than is the case for intact capsules (which typically only show about half of the basal membrane). Spore measurements from ripe dehiscent capsules (n=10) µ=15.4µm are more indicative of ambigua than aloides, so any clarification would be welcome.

approximate extent of colony in the overspill car park

with scattered patches throughout