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.

 

 

Afon Alun

A visit to Coed-y-bwl to enjoy the Daffodil display provided an opportunity for a little bit of bryologising in this well recorded tetrad. I never saw anything of special note, though it was only the second time I've encountered fruiting Dialytrichia mucronata, which was well-established on Pont Brown. The lane walls were covered in mosses - mostly Thamnobryum alopecurum and Anomodon viticulosus - and a riverside Field Maple was heavily draped with mosses including Neckera pumila. A really lovely mossy site.

Margam sidings

Also known as 'Kenfig marshalling yards', this area is now a stunning brown-field slack full of  goodies.

The 'railway fen' always seems to provide something new each time I visit and a small patch of Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides at SS7913483514 provided the highlight of yesterday's visit. Whilst Calliergonella cuspidata was largely dominant, there's also a lot of Drepanocladus polygamus and D. aduncus in the flooded areas along with a wide range of interesting vascular plants and charophytes; those noted yesterday included Chara virgata, Equisetum variegatum (a), Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima (lf), Cladium mariscus (o-lf) Juncus acutus (lf), J. subnodulosus (la), and Scirpoides holoschoenus. Not too shabby for an area of abandoned industrial land!

L: P. lycopodioides, R: Location shown by plastic box

 L: Equisetum variegatum, R: Scirpoides holoschoenus

L: Chara virgata, R: Cladium mariscus

Leaves of P. lycopodioides, D. aduncus & D polygamus

The drier gravelly sidings also provided a little interest with some nice carpets of Amblystegium serpens var. salinum growing alongside species such as Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum and rather oddly Neckera complanata on open flat ground. A 'golden road' of Schistidium crasspilum was a fine spectacle as the sun started to break through.

 L: Neckera complanata, R: Location shown by knife

 L: Schistidium crassipilum, R: Amblystegium serpens var. salinum

My route

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.

Graig Fawr, RCT

Graig Fawr

Yesterday afternoon, H and I did our weekly square-bashing trip to RCT. We decided to have a look at Graig Fawr, an imposing cirque that overlooks Treorchy in Rhondda Cynon Taff. Old vascular plant records, which list Beech Fern, Oak Fern, Parsley Fern and Wilson's Filmy-fern, suggest that, like Craig y Llyn, it is a refuge for Boreal-montane species. Setting out from a very convenient lay-by on the A4061, we took a track that runs below Graig Fach. A large clump of Neckera crispa draped over a concrete culvert was a good start.

Neckera crispa on concrete culvert below Graig Fach

Access to ledges on Graig Fach and Graig Fawr is difficult and it will take quite an effort to survey this site properly. On the day we took some easier options, firstly checking the lower scree and then climbing into an inviting gully. Below the gully, scree was covered in the usual Racomitriums (aquaticum, ericoides, fasciculare, heterostichum, lanuginosum) and Andrea rothii ssp. falcata, but the gully itself looked more promising.

Gully bisecting the southern edge of Graig Fawr

We noticed a small amount of Hymenophyllum wilsonii on the north-facing wall of the gully and a large population of Huperzia selago, with some individuals as big as dinner plates. These must be of significant age (many decades) and the fact that H. selago is not listed in old records suggests that this gully may not have been visited by many botanists for a long time.

Huperzia selago in gully

This was also suggested by some of the relatively common bryophytes we recorded there which were not in the MM database for this tetrad (SS99H); e.g. Amphidium mougeotii, Batramia pomiformis, Campylopus atrovirens, Hookeria lucens, Hyocomium armoricum, Marsupella emarginata var. aquatica, Palustriella commutata, Plagiothecium denticulatum, Riccardia multifida.

 Marsupella emarginata var. aquatica in gully stream

It was very cold in the gully and persistent hailstones didn't help to maintain our enthusiasm. But towards the top of the gully in the vicinity of SS92709562, in a dim, humid overhang, we found a Rhabdoweisia sp.

 Rhabdoweisia crenulata in humid overhang, Graig Fawr (RCT)

It's good to have Barry's recent photos of R. crispata (Tan-y-Graig) for comparison. The Graig Fawr Rhabdoweisia differs from the Tan-y-Graig plants in a number of ways. Firstly they have larger leaf cells (16-24 microns). Secondly, the mature leaves are relatively broad (usually > 10 cells wide either side of the costa). Thirdly the upper leaf margin has noticeable, large, protruding (often multicellular) teeth.

 Wide leaf tip of Graig Fawr Rhabdoweisia crenulata showing prominent teeth

Multicellular teeth of Graig Fawr Rhabdoweisia crenulata

This looks like Rabdoweisia crenulata (Greater Streak-moss) to me, which was recoded once before in VC41 by Tony Smith (Craig y Llyn in 1961). As always, comments and corrections will be appreciated.

Exploring RCT is time consuming and requires a fair amount of effort, but the rewards are obvious. There's lots of crags and cirques and a substantial amount of conifer forest. Goodness only knows what is lurking on some of those ledges! Our records yesterday bring the total for SS99H up to 75.

Blustery and bleak on the Blorenge

I had two targets on the colliery spoil between the Blorenge and Blaenavon and failed on both: Lophocolea bispinosa doesn't seem to have reached the eastern Valleys yet, and Buxbaumia aphylla was always going to be a long-shot :-)  The wind and drizzle didn't help.

Anyway, I made separate DAFOR lists for a heather/crowberry-dominated colliery tip face (21 spp including Lophozia ventricosa silvicola and Cephaloziella hampeana), and a much more open, parched tip top (6 spp), and also found some Lophozia bicrenata on the side of a gully between two tips.

 A short trip north to Cwm Ifor, where a stream has carved a narrow ravine at the junction of the Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone, produced a completely different flora.  Neckera crispa was amazingly abundant and was fruiting copiously, and there were various other calcicoles including Scapania aspera and Jungermannia atrovirens, although I couldn't see any sign of several of the notable species I found in the ravine in 2000/2003.  An outcrop of Millstone Grit above the ravine held abundant Barbilophozia attenuata and there were a few patches of Sphagnum squarrosum in a flush. 

My entire 1.5 hour visit was spent in tetrad SO21K, which is one of the richest in VC35 with >200 species recorded.  I visited many times between 1999 and 2003, including with Graham and with the Border Bryologists, so it was nice to return to old haunts.  Perhaps surprisingly, given previous coverage, I added 11 species to the tetrad total, so the day was useful.