Slagtastic Loughor

After several years of failing to find Scopelophila cataractae in the Swansea Valley, I was filled with great joy today when I came across a lovely population in the Loughor Estuary at Bynea. There were many patches scattered on the two fingers of slag dumped on the saltmarsh, as indicated by the yellow areas shown above (SS558989), the dashed green line showing the Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries SAC boundary. Whilst the bulk of the material I found was technically outside the SAC (i.e. the yellow patches shown 'within' the western finger), it would seem unlikely this narrow bit of ground would ever be interfered with. Although, a small amount of freshly dumped material was noted close to where the two fingers meet, so it may be worth considering notifying the owners.

The main associate was Weissia controversa var. densifolia, with occasional patches of Bryum cf pallescens and some interesting lichens. An odd-looking Pohlia (I'm suspecting it's just young annotina but I will investigate further) was frequent, growing in dense and quite deep cushions with tightly packed appressed leaves. The shoots were noted to fragment very easily, possibly as a means of dispersing? Any thoughts on this one appreciated. [Des Callaghan kindly informed me this is Pohlia nutans fo. gemmiclada]

Finally a photo of a very smart lichen that was growing over (seemingly eating up!) the cushions of Weissia - again any suggestions appreciated: 

Glais horse pasture

A few indistinct (primarily acid) flush lines through this tightly grazed pasture provided some local interest, with species noted including Anagallis tenella, Dicranella rufescens, Entosthodon obtusus, Ephemerum serratum, Fossombronia wondraczekii, Pellia neesiana, Pohlia camptotrachela, Scapania irrigua & Wahlenbergia hederacea.

 P. camptotrachela & F. wondraczekii, with a little P. nitidum & E. serratum

 P. camptotrachela

 E. serratum

Pohlia lutescens

We found some patches of Pohlia lutescens on peaty soil in a ditch in marshy grassland in the Upper Dulais Valley, near Seven Sisters yesterday (SN80D). There are few records of it in VC41, but it may be overlooked. The photo below shows it growing with Pseudephemerum nitidum (moss with capsules in the bottom right corner), which gives a good indication of how small it is. It has very distinctive, knobbly, rhizoidal gemmae (bottom photo).

Pohlia lutescens and Pseudephemerum nitidum, Seven Sisters

Pohlia lutescens

Rhizoidal gemmae of Pohlia lutescens

Other things of interest in the vicinty included Scorpidium cossinii and Plagiomnium elatum in a very nice base-flushed meadow near Seven Sisters Rugby Club. 

The easternmost of the west

Work took me to the valley of the Afon Diliw, which forms the border between Ceredigion and Montgomeryshire.  A couple of hours looking for bryophytes (and lichens) produced about 80 species in the main tetrad (SN87I) and 50 in the fragment of SN87J that falls within VC46.  Getting here involves driving in from the east (so it's a major trek from Aberystwyth) because the road in from Cwmystwyth is only suitable for 4x4, so as far as I know it was completely unknown bryologically.

There weren't any major surprises, and my hoped for oceanic liverworts were absent (except for copious Colura).  The most interesting species were Pohlia elongata (photo) on a rock outcrop, Jungermannia obovata by the river, Sphagnum girgensohnii (photo) and S. russowii (photo) on steep banks, and a patch of Lophozia incisa.  Lichens need a bit more checking, but Usnea filipendula and potential Hypotrachyna sinuosa were highlights.

 

Pohlia query

I struggle with Pohlia. This one was growing under bracken at Mynydd Rudry a few weeks ago. Using Smith it keys out as Pohlia wahlenbergii due to the relatively wide (17 microns) and short (60-100 microns) leaf cells. The habitat is plausible but the colour is all wrong, with the leaves being a fairly dull green, very different from the typical pale green of wahlenbergii. I found annotina elsewhere at the site, but I can't find any sign of bulbils on this sample. The tallest stems are a little over 1cm, and the leaves about 2mm long. Help please!

 

Tan y Darren

Yesterday I had a thoroughly enjoyable time exploring the north-facing crags and screes at the head of Cwm Dare. It was a bit of a flying visit as I had to get back for the school run, and as usual I spent too much time looking at other habitats on the walk in from the car. I did manage to have a decent look at the screes, but after that I only had an hour left to look at the sandstone crags. This gave me enough time to explore the easternmost crags, but I didn't even make it as far west as the area where filmy ferns have been recorded.

The crags didn't disappoint, despite the lack of any obvious base enrichment. There were a couple of cracking patches of fruiting Diphyscium foliosum in rock crevices (photo below - left), a few capsules of Pohlia elongata protruding from under an overhang (photo below - right), a small patch of Cynodontium bruntonii, quite a lot of Polytrichastrum alpinum (tbc), as well as Bartramia pomiformis and Fir Clubmoss.

The screes held abundant cushions of Andreaea rothii (ssp falcata) (photo below - right) and I found a single cushion of the scarcer A. rupestris (photo below - left, though I'm kicking myself I didn't bring back a shoot to check for the similar-looking rare species). Although the rocks were acidic, the small stream which I followed up the hill from the cwm had signs of base enrichment with plenty of Ctenidium molluscum and a little Palustriella commutata. So far my list for SN9601 is 58 taxa, but I still have samples to sort through...

Fifty five taxa were recorded on the walk in through SN9602, including Climacium dendroides on colliery spoil and Riccardia palmata on a stump in wet alder woodland.

It's definitely an area which needs another visit!

Garden bryo query

Continuing the recent garden bryo theme...the pale green moss in the photo below turned up in a planter in our garden a couple of years ago. I didn't get around to taking a sample, and soon after the stems collapsed and the plant died.

The colour is a pretty good likeness to how it appeared in life, so I think it must be Pohlia wahlenbergii - but I'd appreciate confirmation, if possible, as I've not seen this moss elsewhere in urban Cardiff. As the photo below shows, it was growing in a soggy, neglected  planter (with no drainage). The only close associate was Bryum capillare.

 

Thanks

Nant-y-cafn square bash

After spending all yesterday on the computer I decided to get out for the last couple of hours of daylight and headed up the Dulais Valley to SN80D, which was in need of a boost. My plan was to target some of the coal spoil areas after a quick look at the Dulais. After a 10 minute session looking around the weir by the social club, I parked at the top of Brynteg above the Nant-y-cafn stream. I could hear noisy water so dropped into the ravine and ended up spending the last hour of light heading upstream towards the railway line, my route ending at an impassible waterfall. The valley was very steep sided, shaley, with dripping banks supporting abundant Pellia endiviifolia and fruiting Hyocomium armoricum (apparently capsules are very rare), [top three photos below]. Some very robust and regularly branching Pohlia wahlenbergii var. wahlenbergii [lower photo below], plants with shoots >5cm were very different to the usual material I see locally. Despite the hint of mildly basic conditions, no real calcicoles were noted and evidence of mine water percolating out through the shaley rocks reduced hopes of finding anything exciting. An interesting site all the same.

 

I climbed out of the now very gloomy ravine at 6:40, which left 15 minutes to pop onto the tip and add a few coal spoil species to the list; the track immediately east of the railway line produced frequent Archidium alternifolium and a little Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens amongst others taking the square onto 99. There are far more interesting looking tips than the tiny bit I looked at, and with the conifer forests, heathland unexplored, it shouldn't be too difficult to add another 20-30 species to this square.

Cwmnantlleucu Quarry

On my way up to SN70P yesterday evening I passed the quarry, which was quiet, so I parked in the entrance area and had a quick look at the easily accessible rock exposure. Despite everything being bone dry and caked in dust, making id challenging, species such as Amphidium mougeotii (green cushions on images below) and Racomitrium aciculare with Diplophyllum albicans (the extensive dark grey crud on the images below) could almost be described as growing luxuriantly. I still have a box of dirt-covered samples to go through over the weekend, but there appeared to be nothing particularly unusual or unexpected. One observation of interest on the dirt below the rock face was fruiting Pohlia wahlenbergii var. wahlenbergii, which is said to be rare (photo below).

The large oak on the right side of the top photo had an interesting looking pleurocarp growing on an accumulation of powdery dirt in the fork of the trunk. I was convinced this was going to be something I'd not seen before, but in the end all I could make it was odd-looking Brachythecium rutabulum [in fact Sciuro-hypnum plumosum - see comments]. Is there something I may have overlooked?