Mosses over the sea

There is very little land in ST1971 but this monad does include the outer portion of Penarth Pier. A trip with the family last weekend revealed six species growing on the wooden deck of the pier, directly above the sea at high tide but presumably elevated enough to limit the influence of salt. The species were Bryum capillare, B. argentuem, B. dichotomum, Ceratodon purpureus, Hypnum cupressiforme and Dicranoweissia cirrata.

Filling in the gaps

During the last few weeks H and I have been revisiting a lot of NPT monads in an attempt to fill in the gaps in the records of several common species like Bryum dichotomum, B. argenteum and Funaria hygrometrica, mostly along forestry roads.

Bryum dichotomum

Bryum argenteum and Funaria hygrometrica

Funaria hygrometrica

Now is a good time to record these seemingly prosaic species, which are important ruderal pioneers. Although we haven't seen anything very special, it was nice to see a colony of Blasia pusilla along a cinder track near the Tennant Canal in Jersey Marine yesterday. Unfortunately, the plants were rather decrepit and they had lost their flasks, but there were a few stellate gemmae.

Blasia pusilla, Jersey Marine

Stellate gemma of Blasia pusilla 

 This is the third population we've seen in NPT, but colonies are always rather transient.