North of Pontardawe

A job in Pontardawe yesterday gave me the opportunity to boost a couple of tetrads (SN70H & SN70I). The sandstone crags in Coedalltacham (SN723048) held small quantities of Amphidium mougeotii and Diphyscium foliosum, but despite looking promising held little else of note in this rather dry hanging oakwood dominated by Luzula sylvactica. The most interesting event at this location was when I took off my right welly to remove a stone, then watching it roll and bounce a couple of times before dropping over a 5m cliff. With plenty Holly and Bramble in the shrub layer, it was a very prickly descent to retrieve it!

The bryoflora along the banks of the nearby stream running through more humid, largely acid oak woodland in Cwm Sion (SN729053) was much more diverse, with frequent Amphidium mougeotii and Saccogyna viticulosa  [photo below] and occasional Fissidens pusillus, Jungermannia pumila, fruiting Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans [photos below] and a small quantity of Trichostomum tenuirostre [couple of small shoots in top photo below]. Wefts of Heterocladium heteropterum were a bit confusing as cell shape (4:1 ratio) fit var. heteropterum, but size was much better for var. flaccidum - any advice welcome. Also I'd be grateful if anyone could let me know what the spiky rudimentary leaves are, which to the naked eye looked like dark reddish fuzz growing on rock, under shaded overhangs [bottom two photos below]? [identified by Sam as Tetrodontium brownianum].

 

Finally a quick stop at a bog on Cefn Gwrhyd (SN725064), which looked interesting with frequent Hypericum elodes, Menyanthes trifoliata and nine species of Sphagnum, produced records of Cladopodiella fluitans and Warnstorfia fluitans [photos below]. A Cephalozia looked interesting but I couldn't make it anything other than bicuspidata.

Cefn Bryn revisted

I spent a few hours this afternoon looking for base-rich flushes on the south side of Cefn Bryn (route shown above), mostly withn SS4989 and into SS5089. Success was very limited in this respect, with most flushes being acid, and I found just 3 or 4 small basic flushes (yellow pins), the eastern-most of which proved to be a new site (and tetrad) for Scorpdium cossonii. However, my highlight was Cladopodiella fluitans which was growing in a wet acidic area as a dense mass with Cephalozia bicuspidata and a mix of Sphagnum (red pin). A small colony of Campylopus atrovirens was another unexpected bonus.