Pogonatum urnigerum in lowland Monmouthshire

The recent rainy 'summer' has turned my mind to bryophytes, and I have knocked off a few VC35 tetrads in lunch-breaks and evenings.  This evening I visited SO30T, south of Clytha in the heart of lowland Monmouthshire.  Most of the 60 or so bryophytes were mundane, although I have a few Orthotrichum to check.  However, I was astonished to find a large colony of Pogonatum urnigerum on a cobble-lined bank by a pasture.  This is an uncommon species in the county, although it is widely scattered in the west at ca. 300m altitude.  The only colony in the east is at Trellech Hill Quarry (280m altitude).  The Clytha colony is at just 145m altitude, and is thus in genuinely lowland Monmouthshire.

I've just checked and I notice there are still records listed for Glamorgan that need reallocating to Monmouthshire. Most, if not all are Peter's, but it is probably something Dave Slade can sort out as the records came via SEWBReC. (Barry)

A weekend on Lundy - mosses and liverworts

Clare and I spent the bank holiday weekend on the magical Lundy Island, sailing from Bideford after dropping Bea and Johnny with their grandparents in Sussex.  South Wales was visible from Lundy (when it wasn't raining), so perhaps it isn't stretching the Blog title too much to mention some of the bryophytes I bumped into during our visit.  Clare enjoys walking for walking's sake, whereas I walk to get to recording sites, but we had a good compromise where Clare strode between headlands and waited with a book whilst I made a few stops in between; we did plenty of walking together too.

On our first day included a walk up the west coast of the island as far as the Halfway Wall.  The path down to the Battery produced Anthoceros punctatus (photo) and Tritomaria exsectiformis (photo), whilst rocky heathland a little further north held Kurzia sylvatica.  A flushed area (photo) with Bryum alpinum also supported Fossombronia sp with violet rhizoids, which I suspect is F. maritima; I'm growing some on in a tube in the hope of sporophytes.  Pogonatum nanum (photo) was fruiting beautifully on a bank nearby.

Our second day was marred by heavy rain in the morning, but we ventured out a few times along the east side of the island.  Bryological highlight was Frullania teneriffae (new for VC4) alongside Scapania gracilis in the VC Quarry (photo).  Exploration of the wooded Millcombe valley produced Epipterygium tozeri, Pohlia lutescens and Plagiochila asplenioides, whilst Schistidium rivulare was a surprise on rocks in the Quarter Wall Pond.

Our third and final day involved a stomp along 'The High Street' to the north end of the island (4 km away from The Village) followed by a walk back along the east side.  Lepidozia cupressina (photo) and Dicranum scottianum (photo) grew together on a tor just south of Gannets Coombe - like Dartmoor in miniature - and there were Cephalozia connivens and C. lunulifolia nearby.  Salt-sprayed turf near the northern lighthouse held Hennediella heimii, and a Bryum nearby looked interesting but was unfortunately non-fertile.  Finally, an exploration of Landing Bay while we waited for the boat back to the mainland produced Schistidium maritimum and Weissia perssonii at last: most of the island is too steep to allow descent to the maritime areas favoured by these species.

I don't actually know how many of the 100+ species that I recorded (with 8-fig GPS readings) were new for the island.  The BBS dataset seems extremely incomplete, especially for liverworts, with some broad-date 20th century records and a list made by Mark Pool in 1997; I added nearly 30 species to the hectad tally according to the BBS data.  However, Jean Paton's data from her visit in 1975 does not appear in the BBS dataset and several of my 'additions' were already recorded by her (unsurprisingly!), and Jean spotted several liverwort during her "few hours" on the island that I missed.  The Lundy Field Society reports may include other liverworts, but the issues that I looked at didn't have anything.  Mosses seem to be even more under-recorded, and the only reference I can find is a list from 1959 with IDs by Michael Proctor, and it is that list which forms the basis of the BBS data.  I will, of course, make sure that my records go to the BBS and the Lundy Field Society.

As well as the bryophytes, we saw Lundy's famous Lundy Cabbage (none of the plants by the paths were in flower unfortunately), Balm-leaved Figwort, Primrose Peerless and Ophioglossum azoricum.  Star lichens were Teloschistes flavicans and Anaptychia ciliaris subsp mamillata.  Bird highlights were the Lundy rarities Yellowhammer and Stock Dove, which I found during our wanderings, and there were various Warblers around, Black Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Whimbrel etc.  Lundy really is a fabulous place for a wildlife-rich holiday!

A few recent pics

A few pics of samples collected last week:

Brachytheciastrum velutinum (Velvet Feather-moss) at Swansea Vale
I couldn't relocate Sam's Scopelophila in a 10 minute search,
but will try again next time I'm passing. 

Pogonatum nanum (Dwarf Haircap) at Rhossili Down 30-Nov-14

Weissia perssonii (Persson's Stubble-moss) at Rhossili Down 30-Nov-14

More urban bryos

I've had few opportunities to get out this week, so despite all this exciting Splachnaceae banter, it's back to the humble Pogonatum aloides, which I managed to add to my home tetrad SS59Z this week. I found a small patch in fruit on soil/rock exposure at a building plot in Penyrheol Road no further than 140m from my house, growing along with two other common species that were surprise tetrad ticks; Dicranella heteromalla and Fissidens viridulus, taking my largely urban home tetrad total to 109 taxa.

this plot has been on stand still for about 4 years,
the concrete base in the foreground is covered in Bryum argenteum

Here's the Marchantia polymorpha subsp. ruderalis on tarmac in Princess Street, Gorseinon.

Rhossili Bay

Some casual observations during a walk to the Old Rectory at Rhossili this afternoon produced two new species for me: Pogonatum nanum and Weissia perssonii, both being found on the fine loamy soils around Devonian Sandstone & Conglomerate outcrops.  The Weissia was locally frequent and was fruiting freely. Although the capsules were unripe, pulling them apart under the microscope revealed a rudimentary peristome and the strong costa with elongated, smooth adaxial cells.

Pogonatum nanum

Also noted were a few robust patches of Saccogyna viticulosa in one of the gulleys, a few patches of Riccia subbifurca on anthills otherwise dominated by Ceratodon and a little Reboulia hemisphaerica among the Rectory walls assemblage. Given these really were just casual observations (I was pushing Alfie in his ‘doggyhut’ most of the time!), there must be scope for plenty other discoveries along this section of coast, which is geologically very different from much of Gower’s Limestone coast.

Riccia subbifurca

ant hill in foreground location of R. subbifurca

The Pogonatum challenge Glam-style

It appears the two common Pogonatum species are much scarcer in the lower lying areas of Glamorgan as well as Carmarthenshire. The maps suggest both are absent from the Vale (George's challenge!) and lower land of the Gower peninsula (my challenge). Charles and Hilary have recorded them in a good proportion of the monads they have visited in NPT, so I guess altitude and geology are important factors? Finding P. nanum is of course the real challenge! It's on the county list, but we have no records in MapMate yet.

A challenge for Ian

Why is Pogonatum aloides so much more scarce in the Llanelli area (SE Carms) than the rest of VC44?  At the time of the Flora we assumed this was the result of selective collecting by Ian and Nigel, and that somehow their bags of moss hadn't included Pogonatum.  Subsequently I have recorded in the majority of the tetrads in SE Carms and have only found a few P. aloides sites.  So, Ian's challenge is to find some more populations of this very distinctive species!  It grows as a colonist on more or less bare soil on lane banks.

Most of the gaps in the north-west are unvisited tetrads, whereas most of those in the south-east have been looked at to some degree by me.