Kenfig dune slack day

I enjoyed an excellent introduction to dune slack bryophytes today, organised by Hannah Shaw of Freshwater Habitats Trust and led by Sam. Despite not finding any Petalophyllum there were plenty of highlights.

One of several splendid fruiting patches of Amblyodon dealbatus (thanks to Barry for the tip on where to find it).

Several thalli of Moerckia flotoviana found by Sam at SS78738194 (first site record since 2012?).

Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides at SS788820.

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

Kenfig slacks

The slacks at Kenfig are remarkably dry for the time of year, in fact chatting to Dave Carrington, he said he couldn't remember conditions being so dry during January in all his time at the reserve. I joined him while he checked a few dip-wells which showed the water level was still 50-60cm below the surface. Despite the low water levels, there has clearly been enough humidity in the slacks to allow the pleurocarps to flourish and there were some lovely patches of well-grown Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides (above, top 3 and below, top 2 photos) and Drepanocladus sendtneri  (above, 4th and below 3rd photo) amongst the sea of Calliergonella cuspidata.

Under the adjacent scrub I was surprised to find Mnium stellare was locally frequent on several steep dune banks.