Sea Frillwort on Skomer

During our annual pilgrimage to Skomer last Saturday, I didn't do any bryophyte recording, or much else for that matter, as it was nice just to relax enjoy the island ambience. However, I did get on my knees to have a quick scan of the Fossombronia in the farmhouse courtyard in the hope of finding capsules in the extreme drought conditions - as expected, this proved to be 'fruitless' exercise. But I did have success elsewhere, in fact, not too far from the farmhouse, along the edge of the path that heads out towards the Wick, where it passes over one of the Mugearite outcrops, there was a nice Fossombronia colony with plenty of dried up, but seemingly intact capsules. Examination of spore and stem anatomy last night provided confirmation of F. maritima as a Skomer species.

barren courtyard Foss.

fertile footpath Foss. with Archidium

I never photographed the location, but as I didn't get
on my knees too often I'm pretty sure this was the spot.
In any case my ref for the colony was SM7268409272

The main direct associates here included Archidium alternifolium, Campylopus introflexus, Erodium maritimum, Lophocolea semiteres, Plantago coronopus and Sagina subulata.

Cwm Dulais (Pontarddulais)

This afternoon I spent 40 mins of Alfie-time looking at a small part of what is a much wider area of south-facing coal spoil in Cwm Dulais SN613036 - how many Cwm Dulais's must there be in Wales! An unremarkable total of 31 bryos were recorded, along with what I'm suspecting must be Galium parisiense, which was locally frequent. I'm not sure if G. parisiense has been recorded on coal spoil before, but it's clearly well adapted to it and would be worth checking for on other tips. Bryologiocally, there was nothing of great note, but it was an interesting assemblage all the same, with frequent Archidium alternifolium (photo 3), Homalothecium lutescens, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum (photos 3-4) and occasional Calliergonella lindbergii, Didymodon ferrugineus, Syntrichia ruralis var. ruraliformis (photo 4) & Trichostomum crispulum. Nearby, Fontinalis antipyretica and F. squamosa were noted growing side-by-side in the river.

Misty Maerdy

On Monday I spent an enjoyable foggy day on the colliery spoil at Maerdy with a few other recorders. Emma Williams organised the outing and I was happy to explore a new area, especially as  Peter Sturgess and Karen Wilkinson were there to help with the bryos.

Part of the site had been looked at by Roy Perry in 2005, whose 64 bryophyte records were pretty much the only ones for tetrad SS99U. Peter Sturgess also did a botanical survey of the site in the same year, and was amazed how much the site has changed in the intervening 11 years. Peter remembered areas of sparsely-vegetated, flushed spoil with plety of Encalypta streptocarpa - a species we failed to find this time round. The flushes are now dominated by vascular plants and bulky pleurocarps. Willow scrub had established itself in some areas and Peter was surprised to see Rhytidiadelphus loreus - conspicuous on Monday but not recorded back in 2005.

We identified a good range of bryophyte species in the field, and I took quite a lot of samples home (which amounted to four evenings-worth of microscope work)...eventually the list for the day crept up to 96 bryophyte taxa. Roy recorded around 20 species which we didn't, and Peter has made a few records independently, so the tetrad total is now around 120.

The highlight for me was a nice cushion of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens on the side of a concrete drain (photo below - thanks to Barry for the recent field pointers on this one). There was nothing else of special note, but species I don't see very often included Hygrohypnum luridum (on concrete), H. ochraceum (in the Rhondda-fach), Schistidum platyphyllum (photo - abundant on rocks in the river, also recorded on Roy Perry's 2005 visit), Colura calyptrifolia (on young willow), Scapania gracilis (acidic crags), S. nemorea, Archidium alternifolium (photo - a couple of straggly patches on spoil), Calliergonella lindbergii (spoil), Straminergon stramineum (flush), Ptychomitrium polyphyllum and Racomitrium fasciculare (in an old quarry). To cap the day off nicely, Rei (Barbara) Brown found a nice specimen of Usnea articulata on larch.

SN71 boundary tetrads

As shown above, SN71 is shared between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire, the former much the poorer cousin of the latter in terms of bryophyte habitats. However, a tetrad with <60 species is always a challenge and  this afternoon I visited the very small bit of SN71C in Glamorgan (i.e. the northern part of the coal storage site south of the Afon Aman shown below), taking it to 70 species. Note the MapMate vc41 boundary is rather crude and shows boundaries in some squares that do not exist (e.g. on the map above it looks like part of SN71H is in Glamorgan, but it isn't and I have corrected some of the squares on the tetrad map after checking the boundary thoroughly using 'Grab a Grid Reference Duo' shown below. Note, you can use the 'toggle vice county' filter below the satellite map to view the appropriate boundary and zoom right in. There are still four more Glamorgan boundary squares to be done in SN71 and two in SN81. A quick look in the Carms Bryo-flora shows the Carmarthenshire squares have all been visited, a couple of which are in the 61-90 species category, so 60-70 seems a realistic target for the remaining Glamorgan squares in this hectad. 

Recording wise, there were no surprises, but it was interesting to note the coal storage area was mildly basic with species noted such as Pellia endiviifolia and Cratoneuron filicinum. I did pop over the bridge into vc44 and noted the coaly track there was much more acidic with frequent Archidium alternifolium (photos below), Gymnocolea inflata, Dicranella heteromalla, etc.

 

The bridge abutments and adjacent walls were of limited interest though Gymnostomum aeruginosum was abundant.

Finally, as is so often the case, the grass (or moss) always looks greener on the other side of the fence (or river), but unfortunately my wellies weren't tall enough to venture across to this part of Carms, but an easy site to access, so maybe worth a check when the river is lower...

Penyclawdd Wood revisited

Penyclawdd Wood (SO40J/P) is part of my Dingestow Court home patch, and was one of the first areas where I recorded bryophytes 17 years ago.  Since then I have made many visits, but these largely stopped when Bea was born (7 years ago) and I have only looked once since 75% of the wood's conifer blocks were clearfelled in 2012.  That visit, in 2013, produced Dingestow's only Sphagnum record: a single patch of S. subnitens.  Yesterday I checked two other blocks of clearfell, one of which has been almost overwhelmed by Ulex gallii (!!) whereas the other remains relatively clear.  There was no Sphagnum, but species of note in the clearfell/regrowth areas included Archidium alternifolium (photo), Fissidens exilis (photo) and Fossombronia pusilla. 

 

A damp, clay track that was once heavily disturbed by farm traffic is now kept open by pedestrians (and deer) because vehicles use the tracks that were put in for conifer extraction.  The sedge-rich vegetation on the clay track holds locally abundant Campylium protensum (photo), scattered Bryum pseudotriquetrum (photo) and some non-fertile Weissia with decumbent shoots that is probably W. squarrosa (photo).

There were various blocks of broadleaved woodland among the conifers, and these now stand proud of the clearfell.  One area of 30 year old birches surround a spring where Chiloscyphus pallescens and Fissidens adianthoides grow alongside Valeriana dioica and various other calcicoles.  The floor of this 'birch grove' holds abundant Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus (very rare around Dingestow) and is the only site locally for R. loreus (photo) (a few shoots 15 years ago, but now a couple of small patches) and Loeskeobryum brevirostre (photo) (one hand-sized patch about 7 years ago, but now abundant over >5x5m!).

 

It is fascinating to be able to revisit this very diverse area of woodland after so long.  It used to support White Admirals, Glow-worms and many different moth species.  More to revisit over the next several years.

Penclawdd copperworks slag ridge

This bulbiferous Pohlia was growing on a slag ridge on the saltmarsh at Penclawdd. Associates included an interesting mix such as Archidium alternifolium, Didymodon fallax, Riccia sorocarpa, Scapania irrigua & Bryum cf gemmiferum (tbc). The Pohlia bulbils appeared to be restricted to singles in axils and were 350µm long, the plants were all very small with striking red stems and yellowy leaves.
[NB. I previously posted a short note on the Gower Wildlife blog about this site HERE]

Bryum dichotomum (barnseii form)

Archidium in spring tide inundation zone amongst Plantago coronata

Henrhyd, Mynydd-y-Gwair

The small gulley marks the Glamorgan-Carmarthenshire boundary (see
green line below), with Mynydd-y-Bettws windfarm on the Carms side

This afternoon I spent a good 1½ hours around 320m asl in the little bit of SN61Q that is part of Glamorgan (yellow area above), which proved more fruitful than I was expecting due to a good chunk being base-rich. My highlight was a 60m² patch of Philonotis calcarea (the red patch), the most prominent associates including Palustriella falcata¸ Anagallis tenella and Campylium stellatum. Also there were some lovely wefts of Archidium alternifolium on the adjacent heath growing along with species such as Scorpidium revolvens, Scapania irrigua, Riccardia chamedryfolia, Aneura pinguis and Didymodon fallax.

Philonotis calcarea

Scorpidium revolvens

Archidium alternifolium