Sphagnum Medium - A first for VC41

In July of 2020 I was fortunate enough to stumble (quite literally!) onto a hummock of Sphagnum medium within the Eastern area of the Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm on Mynydd Ystradffernol. The area in which it was found is far from what anyone would be able to describe as optimal for bog vegetation. It exists on an area in between extensive spruce coupes and Molinia dominated wet modified bog with large amounts of associated drainage, although the hummock I found sits along the edge of a more natural looking erosion feature with a higher Calluna presence. The peat itself is around 0.6m in depth around the location, which is less that I originally expected, grading into over 2m deep within 100m.

General habitat surrounding Sphagnum hummock

A return visit on the 31^st to search for any further species of interest didn’t yield any more results for Sphagnum medium but there are some impressive hummocks containing a variety of species (including but I’m sure not limited to capillifolium var. capillifolium, palustre, papilosum, subnitens and fimbriatum)  within 50 or so metres, although broadly speaking these are all restricted to the lower areas within the ridge/furrow microtopography.

A fairly majestic hummock to the south west

I’ve been searching for some of the former Sphagnum magellanicum species (medium and divinum) for the better part of 8 months (fuelled by jealousy over what I’d seen on Cors Fochno last summer).  However, before this, efforts had been fruitless, despite having now walked over extensive areas of the Afan and Rhondda Fawr Uplands. What it is about this particular location versus the others in the uplands of NPT and RCT that I’ve been to that makes it more suitable for the species I’m not sure, but after sending off a voucher to the BBS and receiving confirmation of the species and it being the first record for VC41 I will be returning to scope out the wider area and see what else is hiding there.

Sphagnum medium on Ystradffernol

The story of the finding of this species often seems to be more enjoyable for people I tell than the actual finding. For those of you with glasses like myself, you’ll understand the dilemma presented by consistent heavy rain, it is a choice between not seeing because of the water on the lens or not seeing because you have to take your glasses off. Cue the heavy rain as soon as I get to the area, after pushing through sitka and finally reaching some clearer air I took my glasses off, made it about 10 steps before tripping and falling over. Three inches from the end of my nose was what I’d been searching for 8 months, no doubt without the fall I wouldn’t have found it as it was off my route.

So there we have it, an 8 month goal realised and a lovely record for VC41. Thank you for the invitation to write here and may all your stumbles be so fortunate.

An extreme close up of Sphagnum medium voucher courtesy of Barry Stewart 

Miscellaneous December mosses (and liverworts!)

Here are a few images of some interesting observations I've not found time to post about over the last few weeks of 2018:

A rubbishy record shot of Campylopus subulatus collected from a forest track at Gwaun Nant-y-bwch during an excursion with Charles on 11th Dec. This is just the third Glamorgan site.

Lopidium concinnum (Hypopterygiaceae) was the most conspicuous of four aliens noted on a Dicksonia antarctica 'trunk' in Swansea's Wyevale on 20th December. Heteroscyphus fissistipus was the only other species I managed to identify. All were recorded as live, although the exposed parts of the Lopidium shoots were dead/bleached.

On the same day I was at Wyevale, I did a quick check of the Kilvey Hill Cephaloziella calyculata colony, but failed to find anything resembling integerrima, the only only other Cephaloziella noted being divaricata. The colony was highly fertile, with male plants (photo) and gemmiferous shoots abundant (photo). Perianth development was, however, uniformly at a very rudimentary stage and well behind those of integerrima seen recently at Crofty. There are still plenty opportunities for exploring unsurveyed areas at this site - i.e. most of it!

The distinctively scented Lophozia bicrenata was found growing with Vezdaea retigera on mine spoil on Cadle Heath Common in Swansea on 21st Dec.

Lophozia ventricosa var. silvicola is occasional on Sphagnum papillosum on Cefn Bryn, 31st Dec. As reported by Sam in the Pembs Bryoflora, it seems this defunct, yet distinctive taxon is the default var. on Sphagnum in our area.

A good quantity of Marchantia polymorpha cf subsp. montivagans "Mountain Liverwort" was encountered mostly 'in stream' in a base-enriched runnel on Cefn Bryn, also on 31st Dec. The large thalli clearly lacked black midribs that characterise subsp. polymorpha, though were darkened a little, as shown by the example below, photographed in natural day light (it was almost dark by the time I got to this spot and to make things worst as I was walking back up the hill I realised I must have dropped my phone in the runnel - fortunately I did manage to find it before the light completely went, sitting amongst Montia in-stream, half soaked, but still working!). I failed to get to grips with the ventral scales of the Marchantia, but I will take another look before sending off a voucher for verification of this potential county first.

another little look at Cefn Bryn

I spent an hour and a half on Cefn Bryn in the rain on Saturday and recorded 53 species in an area of flushed ground to the north of Arthur's Stone.  Kurzia pauciflora was more frequent here than I've seen elsewhere on Gower, typically growing through mounds of Sphagnum papillosum. Amongst eight Sphagnum, tenellum was the only species of any note.

Kurzia pauciflora

I only came across one base-enriched flush, where there were small quantities of Palustriella falcata and Sarmentypnum exannulatum mixed in the short turf, which held frequent Campylium stellatum and Scorpidium cossonii.

Scorpidium cossonii

Grimmia trichophylla & Racomitrium heterostichum were present on several of the rocks in the area, surprisingly this being the first time the latter has been recorded on the Gower peninsula.

Racomitrium heterostichum

Racomitrium heterostichum

Racomitrium heterostichum mid-leaf section

Grimmia trichophylla

Sphagnum russowii in Glamorgan

On 15th September Glamorgan Botany Group paid a visit to Blaenrhondda. As we didn't quite cover as much ground as we'd have liked, a couple of us made a return visit on 4th October. Whilst mainly focusing on the vascular plants, I was drawn to a patch of reddish Sphagna on a north facing Vaccinium dominated slope, near the waterfall on the Nant Melyn stream (SN917016).

This is exactly the sort of habitat where I have seen Sphagnum russowii in Scotland and it had the right jizz. Microscopic examination confirmed it had the lingulate rather than triangular stem leaves, with a mostly plane apex, and 4 rather than 5 branches, which separate it from most other possibilities. (The specimen has also now been confirmed by Tom Blockeel). We saw it in at least two locations on this north facing bank, but there could be more as we subsequently returned our attention back to the crags, so it would be good to do a follow up visit and get a handle on its distribution. 

Clyne Common walkabout

I've started looking at Sphagnum a bit more critically the odd occasions I have managed to get out recently. During an opportunistic stroll over a small part of Clyne Common yesterday I walked a 300m section of M29 soakway and came across a short section that held a few patches of S. squarrosum and S. angustifolium (photos below), the latter a species not previously recorded in Gower. In addition to abundant Hypericum elodes and Potamogeton polygoyfolius, associates included Warnstorfia exannulata and Straminergon stramineum.

As with last weeks S. teres, it is surprising how localised these more interesting patches of vegetation can be. Much of the area I walked yesterday supported Molinia/wet heath vegetation, the most prominent Sphagna here being denticulatum and papillosum with occasional S. subnitens, the wetter runnels holding locally abundant S. denticulatum, S. inundatum and S. fimbriatum, with S. fallax being rather scarce. One area with evidence of base flushing, i.e. with plenty of Anagallus tenella and Campylium stellatum, looked promising, but other than an increase in S. subnitens held no surprises. I periodically check samples of S. palustre, as I know papillosum can be a surprisingly good pretender and sure enough the Clyne material I'd jotted down as palustre proved to be papillosum. I wonder how may errors there might be amongst some of my casual recording efforts, though I do try and check samples as often as I can. NB Last weeks Fairwood collection was checked and was real palustre.

I've still not yet encountered S. contortum or S. flexuosum in Glamorgan. Hopefully they will reveal themselves in Gower before resorting to visit to Pant-y-sais, where Sam has recorded both. The other South Wales Sphagnum I'd like to see is girgensohnii, so a winter trip to an adjacent county may soon be on the cards.

Rigid Bog-moss on Fairwood Common

An M5-M21b mosaic on Fairwood Common held some good patches of Sphagnum teres (above & first below), which were frequent throughout a 1500sqm area. Carex rostrata was a constant in the areas where S. teres was prominent, the other main species of Sphagnum present being palustre (lots amongst marginal scrub - bottom photo), subnitens and papillosum. Plagiomnium ellipticum (photo below) was also found in the same area growing in quite luxuriant wefts along with P. undulatum and between mini-mounds of Campylium stellatum.  A little Cirriphyllum piliferum was unexpected and both ‘normal’ and ‘giant’ forms of Aneura pinguis were present. Some nice quality vascular plants were also present including Comarum palustre, Genista anglica, Menyanthes trifoliata, Narthecium ossifragum, Succisa pratensis and Vaccinium oxycoccos, though only the latter two species in good quantity.

Puncheston Common

Following our weekend twitch to see the Green Heron in the garden pond of Simon Hart MP, we headed up to Goodwick to look for the Black Guillemots. On the way I managed to convince the gang that Puncheston Common would be a good place to stop and decant our flasks and have a 15-20 minute break, hopefully this giving me enough time to relocate one of Sam's Hamatocaulis vernicosus sites. We stopped by the Waldo Williams plaque and after wandering around for 10 minutes I finally found some healthy patches of Hamatocaulis in very soggy ground surrounding the willows shown centre-right in the above photo. Capsules were reasonably frequent in one patch, which may be of note given the text books all state capsules are rare. The richer orange hues and thicker stems made plants stand out in comparison to Sarmentypnum exannulatum, which was much more frequent at the site. Now it's on my radar, I'd love to find this in Gower.

 

An unexpected bonus was a small but healthy population of Sphagnum platyphyllum at the same locality (photos below), though with warnings of how denticulatum can appear almost identical I'd welcome comments on my id. The texts I have indicate the double layer of cortical cells rule out this potential confusion with denticulatum, plus all the other key characters fit perfectly. The centre of the colony had rather well grown material (the darker of the images below), which looked quite different to the straggly big-budded smaller shoots, but microscopically they were identical. If correct this would represent a westwards extension to the population.

Other species noted at this wonderfully rich site included Anagallis tenella, Breutelia chrysocoma, Calliergon cordifolium, Drosera rotundifolia, Leucobryum glaucum, Menyanthes trifoliata, Narthecium ossifragum, Pedicularis sylvatica, Plagiothecium denticulatum var. denticulatum, Sphagnum squarrosum, S. tenellum, S. teres, Straminergon stramineum, Viola palustris and Wahlenbergia hederacea. This richness contrasts strongly with a lot superficially similar, but much poorer sites in Gower, which makes me wonder how much of an impact burning has on bryophytes, especially given how regular burning is carried out on the commons these days. I wonder if the Pembroskeshire commons are burned less frequently, or is the oceanic effect a bigger factor?

One final note on Leucobryum, it's worth pointing out that the first leaf section I looked at initially made me believe that the plants on the common were juniperoideum and it's only as I was expecting glaucum that I double checked. I'm sure you all do anyway, but do make sure that you cut leaf sections from the basal part of the leaf only. Both images below are from he same L. glaucum plant.

One of the more productive 15 mins in the field I've spent looking at bryophytes, although it was backed up by an hour or so of microscope work!

Days in the Black Mountains - 1 Hatterall Ridge

In contrast to the Brecon Beacons - which Graham and I surveyed systematically in the early/mid 2000s - the Black Mountains are very under-recorded.  They have relatively fewer crags than the Beacons, but those which are present hold some very base-rich rock.  Star species include Seligeria patula and Scapania calcicola on Tarren yr Esgob, an old record of Amblyodon dealbatus, and even a historic claim of Myurella julacea.  We hope to fill in some gaps in recording this year, and I made a start on two days in early-mid January 2018.

My first day was spent in Monmouthshire, where I filled in three marginal tetrads: the fragmentary SO23R and SO32E held fewer than 20 species each, but SO23V was pretty rich, with well over 100 species.  I walked up on to the Hatterall Ridge from the east, between the Red Darren and Black Darren in Herefordshire.  Once on the ridge I marched north to the northernmost point of VC35, which is marked by a tiny cairn.  The northernmost bryophyte in the county turned out to be Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, and half an hour of combing the dry blanket bog produced just 11 species.  Surprise highlight of the area was a patch of leggy Bilberry at >600m altitude that sported 10+ tufts of Ulota bruchii and a tuft of Orthotrichum pulchellum!

The blanket bog on the Hatterall Ridge is mostly very dry and degraded, but I made a few DAFOR lists as I worked my way south.  Highlights were a 1x1m mound of Sphagnum capillifolium rubellum at SO275311, 10s of square metres of S. cuspidatum and S. papillosum in an area of pools at SO281306, and a few shoots of Cephalozia connivens in the latter area.  Cowberry and Crowberry were prominent features of the area.

A contrast to the blanket bog/moorland was provided by the hillside above Trevelog, at 420-450m altitude; this accounted for the majority of the bryophyte diversity in SO23V.  There were Old Red Sandstone boulders with Ptychomitrium polyphyllum, Seligeria recurvata and Tortella fasciculata, a deep valley with Entosthodon obtusus, Ditrichum gracile, Gymnostomum aeruginosum and abundant Conocephalum salebrosum, and a series of base-rich rills with Philonotis calcarea, Palustriella falcata, Jungermannia exsertifolia, Leiocolea bantriensis, Plagiomnium ellipticum and P. elatum.  Star find was some dense patches of Riccardia incurvata alongside one of the rills, new for the Black Mountains and VC35.

After these riches I reckoned the tetrad was well-covered, so climbed back up to the ridge so as to head southwards to SO32E.  En route I noticed a frozen flush high on the hillside in SO22Z, so headed for it.  My logic was that if a spring/flush was cold enough to be frozen when the rest of the hill had thawed then it should hold something rare.  I followed it upwards, and found two extensive patches of Sphagnum platyphyllum at SO286297 & SO287297 - my logic had proved right!  This was a new species for the Black Mountains and VC35, and is a long way south of its nearest colonies in mid Wales and the Long Mynd.  It was also the most well-marked S. platyphyllum I have ever seen, with large apical buds, pale stems, large stem leaves and regularly monoclade shoots.

SO32E still beckoned, and on my way there I spied another rushy spring on the ridge edge.  This too held Sphagnum platyphyllum at SO297287, as well as S. capillifolium rubellum and S. papillosum.  The final fragmentary tetrad produced 17 species, which was all that could be expected from a few hundred square metres of dry, patch-burnt blanket bog.  All in all it was a good day! 

A frosty day at Llantrisant Common

On 28th December I spent a sunny day recording bryophytes on Llantrisant Common with Karen Wilkinson and Caroline O'Rourke.

Although the weather was beautiful the ground frost never cleared - Karen was reduced to ripping up chunks of frozen Sphagnum to take home to identify. We probably missed some smaller species as a result - there was no chance of picking through Sphagnum in the field to look for small liverworts, for example.

We covered the western bits of the common and succeeded in upping tetrad ST08M from 46 to 75 taxa. The existing site list was largely made up of records from CCW vegetation surveys in the 90s, topped up with a few grots I recorded in 2015. There were no epiphytes on the list however, and these made up the bulk of the additions. We'd hoped to re-find Scapania paludicola, recorded in several places by CCW, and got excited by some promising Scapania in M15 wet heath, but this proved on closer inspection to be S. irrigua.

The highlight of the day was a small patch of Atrichum crispum close to a stream (5th Glamorgan tetrad, top photos below). Other finds included Calliergonella lindbergii (below left) among short grass in several places, Pseudephemerum nitidum and vegetative Physcomitrium pyriforme (hopefully safe to record) rubbing shoulders in a rushy ditch (below right) and Orthotrichum stramineum on an old willow.

 

Karen recorded 6 species of Sphagnum including S. fimbriatum and S. fallax new for the site, as well as some beautiful wine-red S. capillifolium.

We strayed into the southern part of the common, which falls within ST08L, and took the total for that tetrad from 53 to 63 taxa. We didn't have time to explore the extensive eastern side of the common and are planning a return visit sometime...