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.

 

 

Wern Ddu (again) and Rudry

I made a trip to Wern-ddu yesterday to have a look for that bluetail, but on arrival there was already quite a crowd of assembled birders - some of whom cheerfully told me that they'd been there for several hours without seeing it. I lack the patience for that kind of thing, so quickly left to check out the much more easily twitched Fissidens limbatus found by Barry a few days earlier (thanks Barry...and you weren't exaggerating when you said it was tiny).

Fissidens limbatus

On the way there was a tempting pile of limestone rubble and spoil from past quarrying at Cefn Onn, which held plenty of (putative!) Leiocolea badensis and some more tiny Fissidens which will probably prove to be limbatus. A rotten log was covered in Nowellia, which might be new for ST18. As Barry mentioned, this north-facing slope is very mossy indeed and will surely reward a more thorough survey.

Probable Leiocolea badensis

Nowellia curvifolia

My main aim of the day was to look for Leptodontium flexifolium at Rudry Common, found here by  Roy Perry in 1974. I'm pleased to report that it is still grows here 43 years on!

Leptodontium flexifolium

Leptodontium flexifolium with deciduous stubby leaves at shoot tips

Leptodontium flexifolium habitat

It proved to be quite frequent on thin peaty soil around sandstone outcrops, mostly growing under slight overhangs. The main associate was Ceratodon purpureus (the overwhemingly dominant bryophyte here) with smaller quantities of Polytrichum piliferum and Campylopus introflexus. It looks like the whole site gets burnt regularly, which perhaps aids the persistence of the Leptodontium. This tetrad (ST18Y) should now be over 60 species.

Wisley Wonderland

During a visit to Wisley Royal Horticultural Society Garden during a pre-Christmas family get-together, we came across a wall constructed from lumps of tufa outside the alpine greenhouses. The range of calcicoles (clearly long-established) was quite impressive and I was surprised to see a few species outside of their normal range, e.g. Preissia quadrata, Tortella tortuosa and Leicolea badensis which I guess will have been introduced with the rock. Several of the more interesting species of these aren't shown on the NBN and Preissia appears to be unrecorded in Surrey. Whilst this is a largely introduced community, those species that are thriving would seem worthy of documenting.

Watch House Point Cliff revisited

Southbya tophacea is now well documented on this blog, thanks largely to Gareth and Hannah's efforts. However, as we were at East Aberthaw on the weekend, homage was paid to the tufa cliff first shown to me by Julian Woodman five years ago. On my previous visit no associates were recorded, so after a little photography I noted the following direct associates, listed in decreasing levels of abundance: Eucladium verticillatum, Didymodon tophaceus, Leiocolea turbinata, Cratoneuron filicinum, Trichostomum crispulum & Gyroweisia tenuis. No doubt other species are present, but perhaps the most noteworthy species was the Gyroweisia, which I was fairly confident with in the field despite being lime-encrusted. However, a small sample was collected for checking and photos below show shoots in situ, then before and after clearing with vinegar).

male Leiocolea turbinata

Adiantum capillus-veneris looking good too

Tranch Pyle old lime works

The white substrate of this old lime works always glares and demands attention whenever browsing satellite images of this area. In recent years Paul Roberts has found species there such as Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea and Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima highlighting good potential and it's been on my hit list of places to look for bryophytes. As I had to abandon Kenfig yesterday due to the thunderstorms, I decided to pop in for an hour during which time the rain thankfully turned to sunshine. Obviously the orchids had long gone over, but the Pyrola was still flowering and other prominent vasculars included additional dune slack species such as Salix repens and Molinia, plus quite a lot of Succisa, so an interesting mix. The sward was largely open with expanses of sparsely vegetated ground (click for video) dominated by bryos and species noted (in decreasing levels of abundance) included:

Trichostomum crispulum

Leiocolea badensis

Preissia quadrata

Dicranella varia

Didymodon fallax

Bryum dichotomum

Pellia endiviifolia

Aneura pinguis

Barbula convoluta var. convoluta

Bryum pseudotriquetrum

Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus

Ctenidium molluscum var. molluscum

Homalothecium lutescens

Gymnostomum viridulum

Didymodon tophaceus

Funaria hygrometrica

Campylium protensum

The red line on the map shows the area that I looked at, so there's plenty more of the site worth exploring. For ref,. there's a public footpath running around the site, but when parking it's best to squeeze onto the verge where I've shown on the plan (SS85248127), rather than use the obvious pull in (marked x), unless you don't mind the attentions of the guys at this popular gay pick-up spot. Also wellies are essential to get through the very muddy gate.  

Preissia quadrata - Leiocolea badensis crust

Leiocolea badensis (Scarce Notchwort)

Not really that scarce, Leiocolea badensis is another calcicole that turns up occasionally at the edges of forestry tracks. Yesterday, in glorious sunshine, we came across a number of patches as we hiked along the high-line trail between Abergwynfi and Cymmer.

Leiocolea badensis, Tunnel Row Forestry, Abergwynfi

The calcicole community also included, among others, Calliergonella lindbergii, Ctenidium molluscum, Dicranella varia, Ditrichum gracile and Encalypta streptocarpa.

Leiocolea badensis resembles L. turbinata but differs in the very obvious broad attachment of the leaves. It is less easy to see that the leaves are also shortly-decurrent until you get a shoot under the microscope.

 Shortly decurrent leaves of L. badensis, on dorsal side

In Smith's key, leaf cell dimensions are used to differentiate badensis from turbinata, but Paton warns that the variation in cell size in both species makes this an unsatisfactory criterion. Better to look for the small, but rather obvious trigones in the leaf cell structure of L. badensis.

Trigones in leaf cell structure of L. badensis

Leiocolea turbinata is a more strict calcicole and unlikely along forestry tracks.

We also collected a round-leaved Jungermannia sp. (without perianths), which was locally abundant, but remains unidentified. 

Radyr Quarry

I only became aware of the existence of Radyr Quarry thanks to to three bryophyte records made by A.E.Wade in 1950. Despite being close to home the quarry is completely hidden in trees and scrub, and doesn't stand out on my Explorer OS Map. After a bit of online research I discovered it was quarried for Radyr Stone from the 1800s until around 1920, after which it was used as a refuse tip.

Yesterday lunchtime I visited the southern end of the quarry (ST139794) and was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of bryophytes on the very shady rock faces. Radyr Stone is a breccia, comprising Triassic red sandstone with embedded fragments of Carboniferous Limestone. Given this one would  expect the flora to be calcicolous, and this proved to be the case. A single large tufaceous patch was covered in Eucladium verticillatum (photo below).

Not far away there were several patches of Leiocolea turbinata on soil-capped ledges (photo below), a new species for me. I think both this species and the Eucladium are new for ST17.

The quarry extends a fair way to the north, where it can be accessed via a LNR in Radyr (probably easier than the scramble through brambles at the southern end). I'll certainly check out the rest of it at some stage.

Incidentally, the three species Wade recorded were Riccardia chamedryfolia, Tortula modica and Microbryum davallianum. There is probably no suitable habitat remaining for the latter two species, which shows how much the quarry has changed in the last 65 years.