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.

Thatch-moss revisted

A few photos from this morning's Thatch-moss twitch at Cosmeston. The thatch was saturated following the early morning rain, so the images are more shiny than I would have liked..

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!