Tylorstown & Llanwonno

A belated post from an outing on 23 March -

My first full day of bryophyte recording in I don't know how long took me to ST09, one of the more under-recorded hectads in Rhondda Cynon Taf with only 4 of the 25 constituent tetrads having 60+ bryo species recorded.

I started at Tylorstown Tip (aka Old Smokey), which despite being such a prominent Rhondda landmark didn't appear to have any previous bryophyte records.

The north side of the tip (split between ST09C and ST09H) produced a list of 63 species, the best of those on the colliery spoil being Barbilophozia floerkei, Ptilidium ciliare, Riccardia multifida, Climacium dendroides and Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus. The scattered young larches proved good for epiphytes including a single weft of Sanionia uncinata (photo below) and a large(ish) cushion of Colura calyptrifolia in an exposed location near the top of the tip (at 430m, with just some scattered young spruce for shelter).

After lunch I moved on to the southern end of the Llanwonno forestry plantation, where ST09G was a blank canvas as far as bryophyte recording goes. Rotting conifer logs among the Sitka held plenty of Nowellia curvifolia, Calypogeia muelleriana was found on a ditchside, Colura was recorded on birch and rowan and Ulota calvescens on willow (but no Daltonia was forthcoming despite actively searching for it). A puzzling Metzgeria with very narrow thalli was also found on willow (see photo below - note the Frullania which gives a sense of scale). This might be the male shoots of M. furcata mentioned in Paton but if anyone has any other ideas please let me know.

All in all it was a productive day but lacking anything to live long in the memory. 103 species were recorded, spread across four tetrads, with 135 new tetrad records being made.

Odd Orthotrichum

The above tuft was noted in a young Ash plantation near Pont-Henri, where many of the trees looked to be in very poor health. Essentially it is O. pulchellum but with capsules on very short setae, resulting in them being hidden among the shoots. I couldn't make it anything rarer unfortunately, but would be interested to know if this appearance is unusual?

The trees may be sickly, but the extra light seems to have allowed the bryophytes to do well ...

... with abundant Frullania dilatata, 3 Metzgeria spp. & Radula complanata  

Magical Mellte

A small selection of hepatics from yesterday:

Metzgeria conjugata (Rock Veilwort)
growing in tiers on vertical face of large boulder

Barbilophozia attenuata (Trunk Pawwort)
at the base of a Larch trunk

Cephalozia catenulata (Chain Pincerwort)
noted on several decorticated logs

Jamesoniella autumnalis (Autumn Flapwort) &
Blepharostoma trichophyllum (Hairy Threadwort)
on a fallen oak

Leiocolea bantriensis (Bantry Notchwort)
on the vertical face of a flushed river side outctop

Commonest bryophyte species

Julita Klusa has just put a link to her list of Latvia's top 20 commonest bryophytes on Twitter.  It is fascinatingly different to the top 20 in south Wales!

Rank	Pembrokeshire (SW Wales)	Latvia	UK notes
1	Kindbergia praelonga	Hypnum cupressiforme	Abundant (No. 2 in Pembrokeshire)
2	Hypnum cupressiforme	Leucodon sciuroides	Uncommon and very local
3	Brachythecium rutabulum	Hylocomium splendens	Locally abundant but habitat specific
4	Frullania dilatata	Plagiomnium undulatum	Locally abundant but habitat specific
5	Metzgeria furcata	Pleurozium schreberi	Locally abundant but habitat specific
6	Lophocolea bidentata	Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus	Locally abundant but habitat specific
7	Isothecium myosuroides	Dicranum scoparium	Locally abundant but habitat specific
8	Bryum dichotomum	Climacium dendroides	Uncommon and local
9	Mnium hornum	Orthotrichum speciosum	Rare and eastern, not in Wales
10	Tortula muralis	Radula complanata	Increasing and locally abundant
11	Bryum capillare	Atrichum undulatum	Abundant (No. 12 in Pembrokeshire)
12	Atrichum undulatum	Nowellia curvifolia	Locally abundant but habitat specific
13	Ulota phyllantha	Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus	Locally abundant but habitat specific
14	Dicranella heteromalla	Eurhynchium angustirete	Not British
15	Bryum argenteum	Homalia trichomanoides	Locally abundant but habitat specific
16	Calliergonella cuspidata	Ptilium crista-castrensis	Uncommon and north-eastern
17	Fissidens bryoides	Plagiochila asplenioides	Locally abundant but habitat specific
18	Thuidium tamariscinum	Syntrichia ruralis	Locally abundant but habitat specific
19	Didymodon insulanus	Neckera pennata	Extinct in Britain, one historic record
20	Ulota bruchii	Plagiomnium cuspidatum	Uncommon and very local

This has got me thinking again what a pity it is that the South Wales Bryophyte Blog is only visible to 'members' and I wonder whether we could make it more visible but with commenting and blogging limited to 'members'.

Argyll Gardens, Gorseinon

Yesterday for a change I took Alfie for a walk in Argyll Park, which is situated next to the bus station in the middle of Gorseinon and managed to find a total of 16 unremarkable taxa on the Gorsedd Stones. These lumps of Limestone were erected for an Eisteddfod event held in 1980, so have probably been in place no more than 25 years.

Barbula convoluta var. sardoa

Barbula unguiculata

Bryum argenteum

Bryum capillare

Didymodon insulanus

Didymodon sinuosus

Didymodon tophaceus

Grimmia pulvinata

Hypnum cupressiforme var. cupressiforme

Hypnum cupressiforme var. resupinatum

Orthotrichum affine

Orthotrichum anomalum

Orthotrichum diaphanum

Rhynchostegium confertum

Schistidium crassipilum

Tortula muralis

Also present were some plants with very young capsules that could be O. cupulatum, which I'll try to remember to revisit on a future doggy walking excursion.

D. sinuosus - one of the most frequent species on the stones

shady side of a nearby Beech covered in Metzgeria
consanguinea with lots of Microlejeunea ulicina

Metzgeria consanguinea and Hypnum cupressiforme var. resupinatum new for SS59Z which now has 106 taxa.