Wye Valley

Earlier this week I visited a replanted woodland in the lower Wye valley. Apart from a small area with natural rock outcrops, it had a rather dull bryo flora and I only managed to record 45 species.  The most interesting part, with the rocks, had lots of Anomodon viticulosa, some fruiting,

sheets of Porella platyphylla and a small patch of Porella arboris-vitae,

but strangely no Neckera crispa, which is usually common in this sort of habitat in this part of the world.   As I hadn’t seen the rather rare moss Seligeria campylopoda for a while, I had a good look at scattered pieces of limestone on the woodland floor, but no joy.  

On my way back to the office I made a lunchtime stop at Wyndcliff to see if the Seligeria was showing there.  I looked in the area I saw some with a BBS excursion back in 2001, but still no luck and as the path quickly became horribly muddy, I turned around to find a drier route.  Walking back towards the car park I spotted a rock with a bonus patch of Amblystegium confervoides.  

Across the road the path was much drier and I quickly found a small rock with three or four young sporophytes of S. campylopoda, but I couldn’t get a good pic due to the dark conditions under the yew trees.   I didn’t have much time left, so I quickly walked on towards the base of the cliffs where there were abundant patches of Marchesinia mackaii – a reasonably common species on shaded limestone in Wye valley woods.  

On the return walk to the car I managed to spot a nice fruiting patch of S. campylopoda on a small rock wedged between two large mossy boulders and managed to get some reasonable pics.

Back at the office I came across a file note from the 1950s, which mentioned that the first area of wood I had visited had been recently clear-felled and replanted and had little botanical interest.  Judging by the age of the trees today, I suspect it must have been clear-felled again about 30 years ago, so not surprising it was poor in woodland bryophyte species.     

Swamp Feather-moss near Merthyr

At 340m asl, a population of Amblystegium radicale to the north-west of Merthyr was found to be well established at more than twice the maximum elevation given in the new bryophyte atlas. Whether or not the species is extending it's range eastwards, upwards, or just that it is now better understood is debatable. Direct associates around the margins of this very small reservoir included Drepanocladus aduncus and Marchantia polymorpha subsp. polymorpha. 

104 taxa were recorded at this rural industrial site with a good mix of calcicoles and calcifuges represented taking the totals for SN90Y and SO00D onto 156 and 65 respectively. Other species of interest noted, which give a flavour of the site, included Aneura pinguis, Aulacomnium palustre, Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus, Campylium protensum, Carex arenaria, C. divulsa d., C. hostiana, C. pilulifera, C. pulicaris, Climacium dendroides, Didymodon ferrugineus, Ditrichum gracile, Homalothecium lutescens, Loeskeobryum brevirostre (photos 1 & 2 below), Pyrola rotundifolia (photo below), Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, Sanionia uncinata, Scapania irrigua, Syntrichia ruralis var. ruraliformis, Tortella tortuosa & Weissia controversa var. densifolia.

Margam sidings

Also known as 'Kenfig marshalling yards', this area is now a stunning brown-field slack full of  goodies.

The 'railway fen' always seems to provide something new each time I visit and a small patch of Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides at SS7913483514 provided the highlight of yesterday's visit. Whilst Calliergonella cuspidata was largely dominant, there's also a lot of Drepanocladus polygamus and D. aduncus in the flooded areas along with a wide range of interesting vascular plants and charophytes; those noted yesterday included Chara virgata, Equisetum variegatum (a), Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima (lf), Cladium mariscus (o-lf) Juncus acutus (lf), J. subnodulosus (la), and Scirpoides holoschoenus. Not too shabby for an area of abandoned industrial land!

L: P. lycopodioides, R: Location shown by plastic box

 L: Equisetum variegatum, R: Scirpoides holoschoenus

L: Chara virgata, R: Cladium mariscus

Leaves of P. lycopodioides, D. aduncus & D polygamus

The drier gravelly sidings also provided a little interest with some nice carpets of Amblystegium serpens var. salinum growing alongside species such as Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum and rather oddly Neckera complanata on open flat ground. A 'golden road' of Schistidium crasspilum was a fine spectacle as the sun started to break through.

 L: Neckera complanata, R: Location shown by knife

 L: Schistidium crassipilum, R: Amblystegium serpens var. salinum

My route

Nedd-fechan in pictures 2

Sam introduced Charles and myself to the very easily overlooked Platydictya jungermannioides (photos 1-2), growing in much the same habitat as Orthothecium intricatum (photo 3), both characteristically occupy humid, shady crevices on limestone. Further downstream there was a small colony of another equally unobtrusive pleurocarp, Amblystegium confervoides (photos 4-5), found growing on a stone embedded in the woodland floor.

All the above were found in what was a reasonably open section of ravine, but with damp vertical cliffs on both sides proving to be productive, the cliff on the right hand bank being higher up the slope. I think Charles is photographing Rhynchostegiella teneriffae in the first pic, the lower photo shows Sam inspecting an emergence hole on the r.h.b. with a decent flow of water surfacing.

Amblystegium confervoides

While we are on the subject of very slender pleurocarps - e.g. Heterocladium flaccidum - it is worth remembering to look closely at patches of slender moss on limestone in case of Amblystegium confervoides.  It is narrower leaved than H. flaccidum and is exceedingly slender.  There are scattered colonies on the south Wales limestone.

Mumbles car park revisited - and a lesson learned

Mnium stellare centre-slightly left showing up as a
pale greyish patch with twiggy bits sticking out

Just before getting back in the car after a welcome tea break at the Seaside Cafe by Mumbles Pier, I noticed a nice patch of what I thought was Mnium marginatum and I collected a small sample to double check at home. The main associate was M. stellare and what looked like scattered shoots of Amblystegium serpens, though under the microscope I was struck by the prominent dentate margins on many leaves and I was excited to read that Smith states dentate margins at the widest part of the leaf is the best way to separate Conardia compacta from A. serpens! Unfortunately there were no gemmae on the scrappy material in my small sample and the only rhizoids were arising from just below the leaf insertion point (none found on leaf backs, a Conardia feature). I'm suspecting this is probably just toothy A.s. rather than C.c. but any opinions welcome. I'll take a closer look next time we call in for a cuppa...

What I initially thought was Mnium marginatum, when later examined under the microscope, proved to be just the older shoots of M. stellare. The reddish shoots with elongate leaves and apparent borders (in fact just stained marginal cells) contrasted with the fresh pale green egg-shaped leaves of the new growth - lesson learned.

old M. stellare leaves with darkened marginal cells

Gwendraeth Fawr

An area of M23b-S5 transition on the floodplain of the Gwendraeth Fawr had a strong population of Amblystegium radicale in an otherwise bryo-poor marsh community. I've only seen this species a few times before and never growing as well or as erect as this, and with the largest leaves up to 1.7mm long (Smith gives max. as 1.4mm), confirmation or otherwise would be appreciated. The narrow, but long decurrent leaf bases seem to be key.

Willows along the adjacent disused canal/railway (now mostly wet woodland) supported locally frequent patches of fruiting Homalia trichomanoides, with occasional curly shoots of Sanionia uncinata intermixed.

Finally, an area of tightly grazed turf on what appears to be the remnant of an old tip was largely dominated by a Weissia  (photo below right) that had a few clusters of young sporophytes. The presence of frequent Bryum pallescens (with old and develping sporophytes), perhaps suggests this might be W. controversa var. densifolia, but the expanse of Weissia was more of a crust than the dense cushions I've seen at other sites. Again opinion would be welcome, but I suspect it will simply have to be logged as Weissia sp. A non-fruiting and indeterminate Cephaloziella (photo below left) was the only other frequent bryo at this interesting little area.

Pont-lliw breakers yard

Part of yesterday was spent in the lorry breakers yard in Pont-lliw doing a walkover inspection to check for signs of Otters and bats! This gave me the opportunity to do some less rushed bryo-recording than of late and I managed to log 66 taxa at the site. 17 were new to SN60A taking its total to 113. There was nothing to get particularly excited about, the most prominent species being both Barbula convoluta vars, Didymodon fallax and Cratoneuron filicinum. The slightly more interesting records included:  

Two small patches of Climacium dendroides in the yard area and Amblystegium serpens found this engine block to it's liking:

Cryphaea heteromalla was growing luxuriantly on some concrete pipe sections:

Leptodictyum riparium was growing well and fruiting on old tyres in a ditch:

However, this Archidium-sized moss defeated me and I wonder if anyone has any suggestions? It was growing on almost clay-like duff. I’m suspecting it’s young growth of something familiar, but I can’t place it. The strong nerve extends to just below the leaf tip.