Festive Foel Fawr

A Christmas Day spin over Mynydd Du to take in a bit of fresh air included a brief stop by the ultra-basic flushes below Clogau Mawr SN725194. Species of interest included Palustriella falcata, which was dominant over large areas, with plenty cushions of Hymenostylium recurvirostrum hosting a range of other species such as Aneura pinguis, Jungermannia atrovirens and Anagallis tenella.

Puzzle Wood - things grabbed in passing

I took Bea and Johnny to Puzzle Wood in the Forest of Dean today.  It's an absolutely marvellous place - straight out of the movie sets (literally) - with deep 'scowles' left by ancient iron ore mining in limestone rocks.  I have been several times over the years, and I guess it's the first place I was ever aware of noticing moss (stringing some kind into Filmy Fern when I was about 10).  This was Bea's third visit, and I jotted down a list of 35 species when we last came to the wood in 1999.  These included the calcicoles Cololejeunea rossettiana (photo), Fissidens gracilifolius, Jungermannia atrovirens (photo), Leiocolea turbinata, Neckera crispa (photo) and Taxiphyllum wissgrillii, all of which I saw today as well.

There were a few additions: Dicranum montanum (photo) and Nowellia curvifolia on logs, Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans on sandstone and Plagiomnium rostratum on limestone.  I am sure that there's more to be found if one didn't have to keep rushing on at the pace of a 7 year old!

Probably the most notable thing, however, was the absence of Sematophyllum substrumulosum.  I looked at many, many conifer logs, Yew bases and fences made of Yew branches and couldn't find any at all.  Conditions seem perfect and it's less than 5km away in NE Monmouthshire.  I suspect that a return visit in 10 or 20 years time will show a different picture, as I'm sure that substrum will be well established by then.

Square bashing in RCT

We've made an effort to hit some squares in RCT this Winter and Spring. About 2 weeks ago, in glorious Spring sunshine, we visited the Blaenrhondda Waterfalls area in an unrecorded part of SN90F. A steep, moorland trail led to an old tram road which allowed us to explore 3 waterfalls and jumbles of block scree. It looked promising on the map, but we didn't see anything of great note. However, there's a nice upland feel to the bryophyte flora here and we were able to take the tetrad total up to 74. Where Nant Drysiog tumbles spectacularly over a steep vertical face, Racomitrium aquaticum and Campylopus atrovirens var. atrovirens were abundant and small patches of Marsupella emarginata var. emarginata occured on shaded rock in the vicinity. Ptychomitrium polyphyllum was common on boulders and also occurs here as an epiphyte on willows near one of the waterfalls. Racomitrium aciculare, R. fasciculare, R. lanuginosum, R. heterostichum and R. ericoides completed a diverse Fringe-moss collection and some large colonies of Preissia quadrata were notable. Some photos from the day below:

Racomitrium aquaticum, Blaenrhondda Waterfall

Campylopus atrovirens var. atrovirens, Blaenrhondda Waterfall

Today, we explored parts of SS99I and SS99J that occur along the Cwm Saerbren Trail, which starts near the railway station in Treherbert. Both these tetrads have received some attention in the past, but we were able to bring the total for SS99I up to 79 and SS79J to a respectable 101.  Again, we didn't see anything spectacular, but this is an interesting hike that leads you to the impressive face of Tarren Saerbren, where large areas of heathland and marshy grassland break up the monotony of the Sitka and Larch. In many ways it has all the hallmarks of a typical South Wales conifer zone, with ubiquitous Colura calyptrifolia, Rhytidiadelphus loreus and Plagiothecium undulatum. A large clump of Orthotrichum lyellii on a willow tree near Nant Saerbren was nice.

  

HH in heather/bilberry moorland below Tarren Saerbren

We stopped below Tarren Saerbren where the cliffs are begging for attention. Next time!

Part of the north east-facing scarp of Tarren Saerbren

Mynydd Ton (RCT)

Under testing weather conditions (poor doesn't come close) and frequently muttering to ourselves 'what are we doing here???', we spent yesterday afternoon  recording in the Sitka plantation on Mynydd Ton. On a fine day you could sit and admire the views of the Rhondda and Ogwr valleys, but yesterday the biting wind brought tears to your eyes. The plantation provided a welcome shelter.
 The target tetrad (SS99M) had only 22 bryophyte records before we set out, but we managed to bring it up to a modest 55 after a couple of hours. Surprisingly, we couldn't find any Colura but the Sitka plantation here is relatively young and a bit isolated from the nearest forests in the Rhondda and Gwynfi valleys which do. Highlights were a local patch of Loeskeobryum brevirostre and stretches of forest tracks with nice mixtures of liverworts that included Aneura pinguis, Leiocolea badensis, Jungermannia spp. and Preissia quadrata. We've not seen P. quadrata in forestry before, so this was a nice addition to the forest track list.
The most abundant Jungermannia species was dark green, pleasnatly scented and decked with abundant perianths.

  

 I couldn't find any male plants, so I hesitate in saying that these plants are dioecious. However, there aren't any obvious male structures on the leaves (or bracts) below the perianth, so they don't appear to be paroecious - the arrows in the two lower photos point to the upper pair of leaves/bracts below the female bracts. The perianths don't have an obvious beak at their apex like those of J. pumila, but resemble those of J. atrovirens, which is known to colonise forest tracks in Ireland and Wales. Please comment.
There was also a large population of Huperzia selago in the heathy verge along the track and in another RCT plantation to the north-east we recently recorded a massive population of Lycopodium clavatum. It's a joy to see these clubmosses doing so well in these forestry habitats.
This tetrad contains some nice rock outcrops and a bit of urban habitat that we haven't yet looked at, so there's more to be added.