Back to Cwm Parc and other things

In an effort to get SS99N up to a respectable number, we spent a misty afternoon in the plantation above Cwm Park (RCT) - don't get excited! There's been quite a lot clear felling up there, so it's all in a bit of a mess at the moment. The forest road was disappointing, but some extensive patches of Campylium protensum were interesting and of course some nice patches of ubiquitous Colura. The total for the tetrad now stands at 76 which is probably a fair representation for the area.
Twenty minutes in a small arable patch near Margam Park  (SS88C) was more fun with Riccia glauca (and sorocarpa), Physcomitrium pyriforme, Tortula modica (and truncata), Phascum cuspidatum, Dicranella staphylina, frequent patches of Leptobryum pyriforme and Bryum rubens and lots of the other usual suspects. Because arable land is so rare in NPT, it is a joy to find even a small patch like this. The new total for the tetrad is a disappointing 68, so a bit more work in order there.

Riccia glauca in arable plot near Margam Park

Physcomitrium pyriforme in arable plot near Margam Park

A casual stop at the side of the road at Ynysygerwn, near Aberdulais, yielded a fabulous population of Riccia sorocarpa growing on some bare earth beneath a young Cherry tree.

Riccia sorocarpa, Ynysygerwn

We've spent some time recently trying to nail those little Bryum erythrocarpum agg. specimens that are so common along forest roads. Our data is imperfect but Bryum ruderale seems to be well represented although B. violaceum and B. subapiculatum are also out there.

All gone pear-shaped

Leptobryum pyriforme in the garden, Gorseinon

Physcomitrium pyriforme on a bund at the top of the saltmarsh, Llanrhidian

Nant Cae-dudwg

In February I made a start on ST09W by visiting the spoil tips north of Cilfynydd. In a blog post at the time (see here) I mentioned that I was saving the Nant Cae-dudwg (in the same tetrad) for when I had a little more time, and being lucky enough to have a few spare hours this morning I thought it was about time I paid this area a visit.

 

I walked the length of the footpath within ST0992, which runs along the north bank of the stream through both wooded and open areas. After feeling a bit rusty for the first hour (I hadn't done any square bashing for 6 weeks) things picked up and by the time I'd reached the NE corner of the monad a good list of taxa had been accumulated, albeit with nothing of special interest. The highlights up to this point were a few plants of Colura calyptrifolia on willow (the spindly diagonal trunk in front of the holly in the photo below) and quite a lot of Physcomitrium pyriforme (photo) on a ditch bank alongside the access track.

 

I was about to head back but a stony flush in the woodland across the stream caught my eye so I waded across for a look. There was no obvious excitement here, but nearby a rotten ash log was covered in Nowellia curvifolia and Riccardia palmata (photo).

A few metres further on another rotten log had more Riccardia and quite a lot of Trichocolea tomentella, which extended beyond the log over quite a large area, looking rather fetching among the marsh marigolds.

75 species were recorded in the field and I still have plenty of samples to go through, so along with the almost entirely different flora of the coal tips this tetrad will now be up to a pretty respectable total.