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). 

Festive Foel Fawr

A Christmas Day spin over Mynydd Du to take in a bit of fresh air included a brief stop by the ultra-basic flushes below Clogau Mawr SN725194. Species of interest included Palustriella falcata, which was dominant over large areas, with plenty cushions of Hymenostylium recurvirostrum hosting a range of other species such as Aneura pinguis, Jungermannia atrovirens and Anagallis tenella.

Parc Lodge Wood bryology

Graham and I needed to visit Parc Lodge Wood - in the Sugarloaf Woodlands SAC of NW Monmouthshire - to see whether water abstraction from a series of springs has been damaging the woodland.  This gave me a chance to look for bryophytes at a SSSI that I had last visited in August 2000, when I found 66 species.  This time I missed Trichocolea, Lophozia ventricosa and Thuidium delicatulum, but added 37 species to the site total: a useful visit!

The Old Sessile Oak woodland is rather impoverished compared with its analogues in the Nedd & Mellte valleys or Meirionnydd (!) but holds locally abundant Dicranum majus and occasional Rhytidiadelphus loreus and is therefore more western feeling than most woods in Monmouthshire.  The stream in the valley bottom supported some Lejeunea lamacerina, Heterocladium flaccidum and Jungermannia pumila, all of which are uncommon in the county, and a spring held Sphagnum fimbriatum and S. palustre.  I completely missed epiphytes in 2000 (or perhaps there weren't any), so 10 common species such as Metzgeria furcata and 3x Ulota were new.

As we left the woodland we passed a small spring with Anagallis tenella, Briza media, Ctenidium molluscum, Campylium protensum and Fissidens adianthoides, and then a stream with Marchantia polymorpha, Scapania irrigua, Dicranella staphylina and Bryum violaceum.  The tetrad needs another visit, to a churchyard and bridge in the east of the square, but today's visit has bumped it up above the 100 mark.

Puzzle Wood - things grabbed in passing

I took Bea and Johnny to Puzzle Wood in the Forest of Dean today.  It's an absolutely marvellous place - straight out of the movie sets (literally) - with deep 'scowles' left by ancient iron ore mining in limestone rocks.  I have been several times over the years, and I guess it's the first place I was ever aware of noticing moss (stringing some kind into Filmy Fern when I was about 10).  This was Bea's third visit, and I jotted down a list of 35 species when we last came to the wood in 1999.  These included the calcicoles Cololejeunea rossettiana (photo), Fissidens gracilifolius, Jungermannia atrovirens (photo), Leiocolea turbinata, Neckera crispa (photo) and Taxiphyllum wissgrillii, all of which I saw today as well.

There were a few additions: Dicranum montanum (photo) and Nowellia curvifolia on logs, Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans on sandstone and Plagiomnium rostratum on limestone.  I am sure that there's more to be found if one didn't have to keep rushing on at the pace of a 7 year old!

Probably the most notable thing, however, was the absence of Sematophyllum substrumulosum.  I looked at many, many conifer logs, Yew bases and fences made of Yew branches and couldn't find any at all.  Conditions seem perfect and it's less than 5km away in NE Monmouthshire.  I suspect that a return visit in 10 or 20 years time will show a different picture, as I'm sure that substrum will be well established by then.

Mynydd Ton (RCT)

Under testing weather conditions (poor doesn't come close) and frequently muttering to ourselves 'what are we doing here???', we spent yesterday afternoon  recording in the Sitka plantation on Mynydd Ton. On a fine day you could sit and admire the views of the Rhondda and Ogwr valleys, but yesterday the biting wind brought tears to your eyes. The plantation provided a welcome shelter.
 The target tetrad (SS99M) had only 22 bryophyte records before we set out, but we managed to bring it up to a modest 55 after a couple of hours. Surprisingly, we couldn't find any Colura but the Sitka plantation here is relatively young and a bit isolated from the nearest forests in the Rhondda and Gwynfi valleys which do. Highlights were a local patch of Loeskeobryum brevirostre and stretches of forest tracks with nice mixtures of liverworts that included Aneura pinguis, Leiocolea badensis, Jungermannia spp. and Preissia quadrata. We've not seen P. quadrata in forestry before, so this was a nice addition to the forest track list.
The most abundant Jungermannia species was dark green, pleasnatly scented and decked with abundant perianths.

  

 I couldn't find any male plants, so I hesitate in saying that these plants are dioecious. However, there aren't any obvious male structures on the leaves (or bracts) below the perianth, so they don't appear to be paroecious - the arrows in the two lower photos point to the upper pair of leaves/bracts below the female bracts. The perianths don't have an obvious beak at their apex like those of J. pumila, but resemble those of J. atrovirens, which is known to colonise forest tracks in Ireland and Wales. Please comment.
There was also a large population of Huperzia selago in the heathy verge along the track and in another RCT plantation to the north-east we recently recorded a massive population of Lycopodium clavatum. It's a joy to see these clubmosses doing so well in these forestry habitats.
This tetrad contains some nice rock outcrops and a bit of urban habitat that we haven't yet looked at, so there's more to be added.

Forestry etc in NE Carms

I spent a couple of hours in SN73D, which includes the village of Porthyrhyd, on 17th October.  The tetrad already had 75 species recorded, mostly by Jonathan Graham, but I am trying to visit all Carms tetrads myself and this one looked pretty diverse.  My visit revealed 129 species, most of them in the Banc-y-garreg Forestry, and took the tetrad total to 147 (Jon had several additional species including Bazzania trilobata from the inaccessible private rocks on Banc Bwlchdrebannau).

The forestry tracks were notably species-rich, with highlights including Archidium, Fossombronia wondraczekii, Riccia glauca, 1 fruiting rosette of Phaeoceros laevis, Campylopus subulatus, Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens, Pohlia drummondii and female Jungermannia hyalina.  In contrast, epiphytes were rather limited and I failed to find any Colura (!) although most of the other willow regulars were present.  As I continued deeper into the forestry I found a clearfell area with 3 or 4 very small rock outcrops (each <5x2m in extent), and to my surprise these held Barbilophozia attenuata, Plagiochila punctata, P. spinulosa and Sphagnum quinquefarium.  Riccardia palmata on damp conifer logs was new for the hectad.

The trackside habitat of Jungermannia hyalina and the Plagiochila punctata outcrop (iPod photos) 

This productive first hour was followed by a fairly fruitless session along the lanes approaching Olchfa Mill, with Ctenidium, Pellia endiviifolia and a few species by a rocky stream being the only additions.  The tracks along Banc Bwlchdrebannau were even worse, as all the good rocky habitat is set well back on private land.  Luckily, things ended on a good note with a visit to Porthyrhyd Chapel, which held a good range of typical churchyard mosses including Encalypta streptocarpa, Pseudocrossidium revolutum, Gyroweisia tenuis, Schistidium apocarpum and Ephemerum minutissimum.

 

There are still >80 tetrads I haven't visited, most of which are light blue on this coverage map

Radnorshire riches

A couple of years ago I stopped for a lunchtime walk on Aberedw Rocks SE of Builth Wells, and found a rock covered with Grimmia laevigata and another with abundant G. decipiens.  Both were new to the site, and they suggested that it could be a very rich area for saxicolous mosses.  Targionia hypophylla has been known there for several decades, and there is an intriguing 20th century record of Bartramia stricta from the site, which was purged at the same time as one from Pembrokeshire [so effectively that I couldn't find out where the Pembs claim was made].

Since then the site has been on my 'to do' list, and a sunny 27th April seemed ideal.  I didn't find B. stricta or any more of either Grimmia, but there were several other good species present, including Marchesinia mackaii (photo), Bartramia ithyphylla, Pohlia cruda, Frullania fragilifolia, Seligeria recurvata, Plagiochila bifaria, P punctata & P spinulosa, Porella arboris-vitae (photo) and Orthothecium intricatum.

The two rarest species were the Nationally Scarce Plagiopus oederianus (photo, with some Bartramia pomiformis for comparison), which is abundant on north-facing rock outcrops, and the Nationally Scarce Encalypta ciliata (photo), which was only present in one small area and was last recorded on the site in 1923.

Biggest surprise was a tuft of Orthotrichum rupestre (photo), which only has 3 previous Radnorshire records and remains unknown further SW in Wales.  Its very hairy calyptra, superficial stomata, upright exostome teeth and half-pliccate capsules were distinctive.

I thought that the highlight of the day was going to be a round-leaved liverwort in a flush, which clearly wasn't Odontoschisma and seemed sure to be my first ever Jamesoniella undulifolia.  To my shock and disappointment, I found under the microscope that it had violet rhizoids, making it Jungermannia hyalina very out of habitat.

Overall it was a wonderful day of mossing, and the site is clearly of SSSI quality for its bryophytes.

Jungermannia re-examined

I've now rechecked the Jungermannia from Merthyr Common which I posted a query about in an earlier blog (see here). I'm extremely glad that Sam flagged up that my specimen might be J. sphaerocarpa or J. obovata rather than J. pumila. As it turns out I made a complete howler and both specimens, fruiting and non-fruting, appear to be J. sphaerocarpa. Somehow I'd missed the fact that the perianths on the fruiting specimen were strongly winged. The non-fruiting specimen is identical vegetatively to the fruiting specimen (both have round leaves with a narrow insertion, colourless rhizoids and are non aromatic).

Jungermannia sphaerocarpa - winged perianths

The fruiting specimen was from a shale cliff just above the stream (SO076098), with associates including Gymnostomum aeruginosum, Hyocomium armoricum, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Amphidium mougeotii and Aneura pinguis, i.e. indicating some base enrichment.

J. sphaerocarpa habitat - wet shale bank above stream

The non fruiting specimen was from a wet rockface high above the stream (SO077098) with associates including Preissia quadrata, Palustriella commutata and A. mougeotii, again indicating base enrichment.

As far as I know there is just one confirmed previous VC41 record, made by Sam at Resolven in 2002. Barry's database also lists two records made by Albert Trow in 1898 (these are not listed in Flora of Glamorgan - not sure if they're reliable?).

Jungermannia?

I put the '?' in the title to cover myself in case it's not a Jungermannia.

This is another one from Merthyr Common last week. It was growing as a dense patch on a wet, shady  rock face (sandstone/shale, fairly base rich).

I thought this might be J. pumila. This size is about right (stems 1.5-2mm across) and it is not aromatic (verified by Liz who has a better sense of smell than me). However, I can't find any fertile material, so perhaps it is not possible to confirm it is this species and not J. atrovirens, or something else entirely.

Comments welcome, thanks.

Aberdulais Jungermannia query

Here are a couple of pics of the non-fruiting Jungermannia from the drippy cliff at Aberdualis – the assemblage included Tha.alo., Fis.osm., Pel.end., Cra.fil., Gym.aer., etc. so with some basic influence. I’m not expecting a definitive outcome but the purplish rhizoids and cell measurements [leaf cell width (n=10) 39.5µm & cortical cell width (n=10) 36.6µm] are suggestive of Solenostoma (J.) paroicum – any thoughts welcome.

Remotest north Glamorgan

It's a long slog across the Breconshire moorland to get to Llech Sychryd on the Nant Hir (SN991073), but this appeared from the OS map to be a potentially interesting waterfall (with HEP potential so needing bryological exploration) so it needed to be checked.  Was it worth it?...

No, not really.  I noted 78 species on the east bank, but most were commonplace bryophytes of wooded valleys.  Highlights were Jungermannia obovata on a seeping shale rockface at SN99190736 - initially misidentified as J. sphaerocarpa but upon checking found to have a perigynium - and Neckera crispa & Gymnostomum aeruginosum on a slightly base-enriched outcrop at SN99060728, but the area behind the dramatic waterfall was very base-poor.  Supporting cast included Heterocladium heteropterum, Saccogyna viticulosa, Fissidens celticus, Lejeunea lamacerina, Gymnocolea inflata, Jungermannia pumila, Bartramia pomiformis, Ditrichum heteromallum and Sphagnum squarrosum.  I mustn't grumble, but I'd hyped the place up in my mind and walked 3km to get there.  The massive rock slab through which the waterfall cuts was really spectacular, but sadly it was in VC42 and I didn't have time to make a list.

The tetrad list was bumped up by a few ruderal species on the Nant Hir Reservoir dam, including Bryum pallescens, Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum and extremely inland Syntrichia ruraliformis.  There appears to be just one previous VC41 record from the tetrad - Barry's Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus from Nant-hir viaduct - so my 99 species are almost all new.

Garnswllt (north)

Yesterday morning a few small patches of Jungermannia pumila growing on the reinforced banks of the Afon Cathan SN621102 were the highlight of the 62 species recorded during a brief sojourn into the small part of SN61F that belongs to Glamorgan.