Crofty update

male Fossombronia incurva

I spent about an hour on Christmas Eve exploring the abandoned Crofty building plot and recorded Cephaloziella integerrima on a total 12 of the post hole tumps, a few small patches on some of the adjacent banks, plus some reasonable patches on the abandoned footings themselves. The list of direct associates (i.e species within 10cm) below included Fossombronia incurva, this being just the second county record.

female plants of Fossombronia incurva with Ephemerum minutissimum

Direct associates of Cephaloziella integerrima:

Achillea millefolium

Agrostis capillaris

Aira praecox

Anthoxanthum odoratum

Archidium alternifolium

Bellis perennis

Brachytheciastrum velutinum

Brachythecium mildeanum
Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens

Bryum dichotomum

Bryum pallens

Calliergonella cuspidata

Carex flacca

Centaurium erythraea

Cephaloziella divaricata

Ceratodon purpureus

Cladonia fimbriata
Cladonia furcata

Cladonia humilis

Cladonia rangiformis

Cynosurus cristatus

Dactylis glomerata

Dicranella rufescens

Didymodon fallax

Didymodon insulanus

Ephemerum minutissimum

Ephemerum serratum

Festuca ovina

Fossombronia incurva

Holcus lanatus

Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum

Hypochaeris radicata

Leontodon saxatilis

Lotus corniculatus

Luzula campestris

Odontites vernus

Oxyrrhynchium hians

Pilosella officinarum

Plantago coronopus

Pleuridium subulatum
Plantago lanceolata

Prunella vulgaris

Pseudoscleropodium purum

Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus

Tortula truncata

Trifolium dubium

Trifolium repens

Vicia sativa subsp. segetalis

Viola riviniana

Weissia controversa var. controversa

Sychryd scramble

On the 20th a climb up through the complex of boulders and falls along the Glamorgan side of the Sychryd boosted the totals for SN90D from 90 to 159 and SN90E from 41 to 106. Highlights from the limestone section included scattered colonies of Cololejeunea calcarea (photo 1 below), Neckera crispa (just one small tuft noted), Oxyrrhynchium schleicheri (one small colony), Rhynchostegiella teneriffae (sheets of it above water line, photo 2), Seligeria acutifolia (small amounts at 2 locations, photo 3), S. donniana (only 1 fruiting patch seen,, photo 4), Taxiphyllum wissgrillii (1 patch noted on a small embedded rock) & a little Dermatocarpon miniatum (photo 5).

A couple of logs in the higher acid section of the gorge supported species including Barbilophozia attenuata, Blepharostoma trichophyllum, Cephalozia catenulata (photo 1 below), Dicranodontium denudatum & Riccardia palmata, plus there were a couple of nice patches of Hymenophyllum tunbridgense half way up the valley side.

Of note for the wrong reason was a single 10cm x 10cm patch of Lophocolea semiteres established on the track as you walk down the north side of Dinas Rock.

Earlier in the day on the way up the Neath Valley, three lay-by stops along the A465 all showed that the putative Didymodon australasiae is a well established component of the verge dirt zone along this road. A little Ephemerum minutissimum was also collected and checked under microscope at one of the stops.

Lower Clydach River above Craig-cefn-parc

I never found anything remarkable during a two hour search along a 1km stretch of the river today, which lacked any cascades greater than what are visible in the above photo. There was a nice colony of Jungermannia pumila (above) on one of only a couple of small cliffs, but probably the most interesting species were Ephemerum minutissimum and Bryum sauteri in an area of disturbed M23a.

One curiosity was Phlebia radiata which was enveloping entire shoots of Hypnum cupressiforme creating an interesting form (note the sample on the right in the image below has been turned upside-down). 

Glais horse pasture

A few indistinct (primarily acid) flush lines through this tightly grazed pasture provided some local interest, with species noted including Anagallis tenella, Dicranella rufescens, Entosthodon obtusus, Ephemerum serratum, Fossombronia wondraczekii, Pellia neesiana, Pohlia camptotrachela, Scapania irrigua & Wahlenbergia hederacea.

 P. camptotrachela & F. wondraczekii, with a little P. nitidum & E. serratum

 P. camptotrachela

 E. serratum

Ephemerum sessile new for VC34

I took Bea and Johnny to Beechenhurst in the Forest of Dean today for the 'Go Ape' and by good fortune found several of Bea's school friends there.  This meant I was atypically stationary in one area, chatting, and my eyes subconsciously scanned the ground.  They alighted on a dull-green patch of what looked like dense moss protonema, so I bent down and scraped up a bit of moss.  I explained to Bea's friends parents "it looks like a new moss for Gloucestershire", and sure enough it was: Ephemerum rutheanum subsp. sessile.  It was growing in gappy turf at SO61311232, just west of the Go Ape area, along with various other mosses that I didn't have time to check (a non-fertile Weissia looked interesting).

Thatch moss and a first for Glamorgan...

Today was a bitty sort of day, spent just west of Cardiff.  Most important was attending Roy Perry's funeral, as Roy launched me into bryology by lending me 'Watson' in 1996, and then steered me back on to the right path in 1999 when birding was proving too much of a distraction!  I'd probably be a full-time birder or moth'er if it hadn't been for Roy.

My main work of the day was helping Richard Lansdown with his survey of Thatch-moss (Leptodontium gemmascens) at Cosmeston Medieval Village.  Richard found this UKBAP moss new for Wales a couple of weeks ago, on two areas of low-hanging thatch, but today's ladder survey revealed patches on 5 of the site's 10 buildings and suggests there's a thriving Welsh population of this species.  I forgot my camera, but will post a couple of Richard's pics sooner or later.  If anyone wants to see Thatch Moss, look on the southern roof of the southernmost of the three linked buildings (the Reeve's Cottage, http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/Documents/Enjoying/Visit%20the%20Vale/Places%20To%20Go/Parks%20and%20Gardens/cosmeston/Medieval%20village%20Map.pdf): it's at head height above the door as well as on the SE corner, where shaded and kept damp by the roadside hedge.

 

I arrived slightly early at Cosmeston, so spent 20 minutes on the suburban clifftops north from Lavernock point (ST16Z).  Shaded tarmac was rather productive here, with Dialytrichia mucronata, Syntrichia latifolia and Didymodon nicholsonii, alongside a puzzling blunt-leaved, non-fruiting Orthotrichum that will remain unidentified.  A wander southwards revealed an arable field with its margins recently ploughed, where 3+ patches of Ephemerum recurvifolium made a nice addition to the Glamorgan list.  The sticky calcareous clay of this field also looked perfect for Microbryum floerkeanum, but I had little time to search and the ploughing had decimated the potential habitat.  George - finding this tiny Microbryum new to Glamorgan is your challenge for 2015...

After my visit to Cosmeston I spent 30 rain-soaked minutes bashing ST16P, getting ca. 40 species, including Syntrichia latifolia, S. laevipila, S. papillosa, S. montana and S. ruralis, more Dialytrichia, and not a lot else!