D'Arcy Didymodon diversity

A 30-40 minute stop to check out a patch of 'wasteground' by D'Arcy Business Centre yesterday revealed a rich diversity of Didymodon spp., those recorded being fallax, ferrugineus, luridus, tophaceus, umbrosus (below, photos 1 & 2) plus what might be icmadophilus, which will be the first time I've seen it away from the Gorseinon area if confirmed. There was also some Pellia endiviifolia which was fruiting in patches denser than I recall seeing before (photo 3) and a little Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginescens. No Funaria was seen! Vascular plant interest was provided by a strong colony of 300+ seedlings of what could be Filago vulgaris (photos 5 & 6), though needs checking in Poland and/or by growing on my specimen - unless anyone knows this species at this age?

Misty Maerdy

On Monday I spent an enjoyable foggy day on the colliery spoil at Maerdy with a few other recorders. Emma Williams organised the outing and I was happy to explore a new area, especially as  Peter Sturgess and Karen Wilkinson were there to help with the bryos.

Part of the site had been looked at by Roy Perry in 2005, whose 64 bryophyte records were pretty much the only ones for tetrad SS99U. Peter Sturgess also did a botanical survey of the site in the same year, and was amazed how much the site has changed in the intervening 11 years. Peter remembered areas of sparsely-vegetated, flushed spoil with plety of Encalypta streptocarpa - a species we failed to find this time round. The flushes are now dominated by vascular plants and bulky pleurocarps. Willow scrub had established itself in some areas and Peter was surprised to see Rhytidiadelphus loreus - conspicuous on Monday but not recorded back in 2005.

We identified a good range of bryophyte species in the field, and I took quite a lot of samples home (which amounted to four evenings-worth of microscope work)...eventually the list for the day crept up to 96 bryophyte taxa. Roy recorded around 20 species which we didn't, and Peter has made a few records independently, so the tetrad total is now around 120.

The highlight for me was a nice cushion of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens on the side of a concrete drain (photo below - thanks to Barry for the recent field pointers on this one). There was nothing else of special note, but species I don't see very often included Hygrohypnum luridum (on concrete), H. ochraceum (in the Rhondda-fach), Schistidum platyphyllum (photo - abundant on rocks in the river, also recorded on Roy Perry's 2005 visit), Colura calyptrifolia (on young willow), Scapania gracilis (acidic crags), S. nemorea, Archidium alternifolium (photo - a couple of straggly patches on spoil), Calliergonella lindbergii (spoil), Straminergon stramineum (flush), Ptychomitrium polyphyllum and Racomitrium fasciculare (in an old quarry). To cap the day off nicely, Rei (Barbara) Brown found a nice specimen of Usnea articulata on larch.

Mynydd Lliw

SN599019, the search restricted to the yellow areas

At just over 40m a.s.l., Mynydd Lliw is hardy mountainous, nor is it very natural, most of the substrate comprising restored colliery spoil. I've done very little bryologising this week, so I took Alfie out for an hour this afternoon to a part of this site I've not been to before - an area that looked interesting on the aerial images. Following today's downpours, the mosses were luxuriant and it turned out that the brown areas on the aerials were concrete bases dominated by a deep cushion of Didymodon ferrugineus, with some patches of cf. D. rigidulus (both species shown together below).

Of the 26 species noted growing on a thin crust of detritus over the concrete, others of interest included - in decreasing abundance - Trichostumum crispulum, Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens, Calliergonella lindbergii, Riccia glauca, R. sorocarpa and Tortula modica.

Afon Afan, Pontrhydyfen

Yesterday a revisit to a site I'd looked at back in 2011 gave me the opportunity to check a short section of riverbank, which was largely modified by concrete and limestone blocks beneath the old bridge abutments. A small patch of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens was probably the highlight (photos above), growing alongside Weissia controversa var. densifolia, the latter visible in the second photo as a bright green strip running between the large metal pipe and the colony of B. ferruginascens.

Schistidium platyphyllum (two images below-left) was frequent on the concrete and rocks that get periodically inundated, associates including Hygroamblystegium tenax and Hygrohypnum luridum  (two images below-right).

Swansea Copper Quarter

this looks very much like the quay area we looked at today (looks rather different now!)
there are some remarkable photos on line showing how this area once looked - search 'Copperopolis'

Sam and myself carried out a unsuccessful search for Scopelophila cataractae at a selection of sites with some of the last metalliferous spoil remnants of the Copperopolis legacy. My optimism for rediscovering the species in Swansea has been dampened a little after today's blank, but there are still pockets of land where the species might be found, so the challenge continues...

Despite the apparent absence of Scopelophila, important metalliferous bryophyte and lichen communities are still present in Swansea, but these are under pressure from  natural succession as-well-as ongoing redevelopment of the Copper Quarter. Thankfully steps are being made to safeguard the best examples of these remnants.

One plus from today was learning a new species, with the discovery of a strong population of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens. Once the key characters were demonstrated to me by Sam, it immediately appeared so distinctive it was recognisable even at distance and we noted it in two tetrads. The dark red older leaves, with contrasting bright yellowy-green shoot tips create a distinctive hue on barren ground. This is one I suspect we will start seeing more frequently locally. First recorded by A.J.E. Smith at Craig-y-Llyn in 1961 and more recently Sharon Pilkington found it on the cliffs at Pennard, so it seems likely it can be found on suitable ground anywhere in the county.

B. ferruginascens showing up as
yellowy-speckled dark-bronze patches

location of photo above shown

Epiphytic Bryoerythrophyllum

No photos today, just a couple of snippets of minor interest to acknowledge that I have managed some recording effort in the last week or two, helped by the recent rains.

I guess it is not a common phenomenon to find Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum growing as an epiphyte, but there were a few fruiting tufts growing on a horizontal branch of Sambucus nigra alongside Bryum capillare at Parc Trostre today.

A couple of days back I chanced upon a nice colony of Bryum archangelicum at Whiteford, a new species for me (voucher retained).