Hot Moss

I was walking around Hay-on-Wye yesterday and on approaching the Rose and Crown pub I noticed that the building has recently been re-pointed – I half expected the tuft of Hedwidgia ciliata that has sat on the edge of the porch for at least 15 years (and I think first reported by Jonathan Sleath), to have been cleaned off during the works, but it was good to see it is still present.

Unfortunately it is probably too late for any mosses on the building adjoining Hay Castle as during restoration work the roof tiles have been stripped and stacked and look like they have been brushed clean. 


Stone-tiled old buildings in this area of Wales and England have long been known to support interesting assemblage of uncommon mosses that thrive in the harsh conditions on sunny roof-tops.   Some years ago Plantlife produced a leaflet to help raise awareness of the importance of these roof-top gardens and it is still available on their web site: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/our-work/publications/rooftile-mosses - perhaps i’ll send one to the Hay Castle Trust as they are probably unaware of the biodiversity significance of their old tiled roof and I might send a refresher to Cadw as well.  


I remembered that last year I took some photos of roof-top mosses at the wonderful National Trust – owned Cwmmau Farmhouse, near Brilley, in that very Welsh part of Herefordshire.   I was going to make a post then, but the weather suddenly entered a very wet spell and it seemed less topical.  Anyway, the photos I took are still on my phone…..   I am not 100% about the Grimmias, but some may be G. laevigata and more rounded tufts G. ovalis – perhaps someone out there has more confidence.     

If you like 17C. buildings, then visiting this farmhouse is a must and the mosses are a bonus.  Unfortunately it is only open to the public one week each year, but for the rest of the time it is available as a holiday let (although you will need to dig deep into your pockets, unless you are able to share costs among the 10 people it can accommodate).  


I you want to see some of these mosses close-up, then best not to pick them off porches etc, but instead have a wander around buildings and look on the ground for small pieces that have dropped off the roof.   If you are lucky, you might find some H. ciliata var. leucophaea, which has been seen at Dore Abbey in Herefordshire and a couple of sites in Monmouthshire.  I haven’t knowingly seen var. leucophaea myself, but looking more closely at the Cwmmau photo, perhaps some of the Hedwiga there is approaching  var. leucophea?

another little look at Cefn Bryn

I spent an hour and a half on Cefn Bryn in the rain on Saturday and recorded 53 species in an area of flushed ground to the north of Arthur's Stone.  Kurzia pauciflora was more frequent here than I've seen elsewhere on Gower, typically growing through mounds of Sphagnum papillosum. Amongst eight Sphagnum, tenellum was the only species of any note.

Kurzia pauciflora

I only came across one base-enriched flush, where there were small quantities of Palustriella falcata and Sarmentypnum exannulatum mixed in the short turf, which held frequent Campylium stellatum and Scorpidium cossonii.

Scorpidium cossonii

Grimmia trichophylla & Racomitrium heterostichum were present on several of the rocks in the area, surprisingly this being the first time the latter has been recorded on the Gower peninsula.

Racomitrium heterostichum

Racomitrium heterostichum

Racomitrium heterostichum mid-leaf section

Grimmia trichophylla

Tâf Fechan [SO01K square bash]

Left vc42, right vc41

As I was in Merthyr on Friday and I had a spare hour, I made a quick sojourn into SO01K, which was on a paltry 10 species. Even within my limited time slot I was able to quickly add an additional 64 species to the list for what is undoubtedly a much richer partial tetrad. There was also interest before reaching my target the square, when crossing Pontsarn viaduct I noticed a nice colony of Grimmia orbicularis on the Brecon side, new for vc42 according to the blog county lists.

Once in the square a large decorticated log was found to hold a good colony of Riccardia palmata (below; photo 1) and the limestone outcrops & boulders supported abundant drapes of Neckera crispa on dry cliffs with sheets of Conocephalum salebrosum in damper sections. The most interesting species of the drier sections were Loeskeobryum brevirostre (photo 2), Scapania aspera (photo 3) and Platydictya jungermannioides (photos 4-7), the latter new for Glamorgan with 3 small colonies noted in crevices, but with plenty of the same habitat, it seems likely there will be a strong population at this site.

 

Interest on the wetter sections was provided by Cololejeunea calcarea, Eucladium verticillatum, Leiocolea bantriensis (below; photo 1) and Seligeria acutifolia (photos 2 & 3). Well worth a revist - park on the vc42 side of the bridge, cross over and drop down from the Glamorgan side - very easy access.

 

 

Surprising urban wall moss

My most surprising bryo find of the winter so far has been Ptychomitrium polyphyllum growing just a stone's throw from the Butterfly Conservation Wales office in Hafod, Swansea. I first noticed a cushion of this moss growing on the sandstone coping of a sloping wall back in November, but only remembered today to take my camera along to get a few photos. I must have walked past it countless times last year before I noticed it. The moss is in the foreground of the photos below. It is close to a busy road junction and must experience pretty high levels of nitrogen pollution.

I noticed today that as well as the large fruiting cushion there is a small non-fruiting cushion nearby (on the right-hand side in the photo below left).

The associates are all mundane species: mostly Grimmia pulvinata with some Bryum capillare and a tiny amount of Tortula muralis. The rest of the wall is almost devoid of moss apart from a few scraps of G. pulvinata here and there.

I've not seen this moss in an urban situation before, but perhaps it isn't so unusual. Sam's Pembrokeshire flora mentions its persistence on imported rocks at County Hall in Haverfordwest, shwoing it can survive some pollution.

Days in the Black Mountains - 2 Rhos Dirion & Nant Uchaf

A glorious Day 2 in the Black Mountains started and ended with low cloud, but there was bright sunshine in the middle of the day.  I started at Gospel Pass and walked westwards to the crags east of Lord Hereford's Knob.  These and the other north-facing crags have tempted me for ages, so it was exciting finally to visit them.  These first crags were relatively mundane ORS outcrops with base-enrichment: highlights included constant Seligeria recurvata, frequent Orthothecium intricatum, and scattered patches of Lophozia incisa, Bartramia ithyphylla, Pohlia cruda, Scapania aspera (dorsal branching) and Schistidium strictum.  Surprise find of the morning was an extensive colony of Zygodon viridissimus var. viridissimus on ORS at 550m altitude, which beats the Atlas altitude record.

Once the cloud had lifted, I headed over the top of the Knob to an area of base-rich flushes at SO223347, which held Philonotis calcarea, Plagiomnium ellipticum and some excellent female Riccardia incurvata.  My initial plan had been to stick to the ridges, but the unexplored headwaters of the Nant Bwch and Nant Uchaf drew me in.  A Short-eared Owl flew up from Molinia as I walked down into the valley, and I found myself in a wonderful area of scattered trees, tufaceous flushes, frozen waterfalls and ORS boulders.  The bryophyte flora didn't live up to my hopes (I cannot believe there was no Haplomitrium for example), but notable finds included Sphagnum quinquefarium, Leiocolea collaris, Preissia quadrata, Drepanocladus revolvens ss, Scapania scandica and Hyocomium armoricum.

Returning to the tops, I looked at dull blanket bog at 700m altitude on Twyn Talycefn - a single mound of Racomitrium lanuginosum was the highlight - and at the same altitude on Rhos Dirion.  The most remarkable find of the day was the nitrophilous Orthotrichum diaphanum on the Rhos Dirion trig point, at 713m altitude which beats the Atlas record by >150m {I don't want to think about its N source up there}.  For a brief moment the clouds were below me, and I looked west across a sea of cloud to the 'island' of Pen-y-fan.

Looking down from the top, it was obvious that the uppermost crags of Pen Rhos Dirion (700m altitude) hadn't thawed out for weeks.  They were surely the place for something rare... a relatively quick search of a few 10s of metres of the upper crag produced Grimmia torquata new for the Black Mountains, Brachydontium trichodes and Plagiobryum zieri, none of which had been seen on the morning's lower crags.  The big lower outcrops of the Pen Rhos Dirion crag await a return visit, and are likely to be base-rich and interesting.  Perhaps Graham will accompany me for that one...

A visit to Darren Fach SSSI

A week ago I visited Darren Fach and Darren Fawr - on the Carboniferous Limestone north of Merthyr Tydfil - with 4 NRW colleagues to remember the massive role that David Stevens played in Welsh nature conservation.  We paid our respects to Sorbus leyana and Dryopteris submontana, following in David's footsteps, and I made a search for one of David's favourite Welsh bryophytes, Tortella densa.  His initial discovery of this species, new for Wales, was on the limestone of Great Orme's Head, and the only other Welsh record comes from the Clwyd limestone near Llangollen, but I hoped that Darren Fawr might offer a good chance.  The Tortella hunt was disappointing, as were the bryophytes of the general area, which is very dry and exposed.  Final tally for the area (split between SO0110, SO0210 & SO0209) was less than 50 species, with a few additions to tetrads I hope.  Highlights were Seligeria acutifolia and Grimmia hartmannii in the woodland below Darren Fach.  My previous visit to the southern end of Darren Fawr in SO0209 was similarly bryo-poor.