Wye Valley

Earlier this week I visited a replanted woodland in the lower Wye valley. Apart from a small area with natural rock outcrops, it had a rather dull bryo flora and I only managed to record 45 species.  The most interesting part, with the rocks, had lots of Anomodon viticulosa, some fruiting,

sheets of Porella platyphylla and a small patch of Porella arboris-vitae,

but strangely no Neckera crispa, which is usually common in this sort of habitat in this part of the world.   As I hadn’t seen the rather rare moss Seligeria campylopoda for a while, I had a good look at scattered pieces of limestone on the woodland floor, but no joy.  

On my way back to the office I made a lunchtime stop at Wyndcliff to see if the Seligeria was showing there.  I looked in the area I saw some with a BBS excursion back in 2001, but still no luck and as the path quickly became horribly muddy, I turned around to find a drier route.  Walking back towards the car park I spotted a rock with a bonus patch of Amblystegium confervoides.  

Across the road the path was much drier and I quickly found a small rock with three or four young sporophytes of S. campylopoda, but I couldn’t get a good pic due to the dark conditions under the yew trees.   I didn’t have much time left, so I quickly walked on towards the base of the cliffs where there were abundant patches of Marchesinia mackaii – a reasonably common species on shaded limestone in Wye valley woods.  

On the return walk to the car I managed to spot a nice fruiting patch of S. campylopoda on a small rock wedged between two large mossy boulders and managed to get some reasonable pics.

Back at the office I came across a file note from the 1950s, which mentioned that the first area of wood I had visited had been recently clear-felled and replanted and had little botanical interest.  Judging by the age of the trees today, I suspect it must have been clear-felled again about 30 years ago, so not surprising it was poor in woodland bryophyte species.     

Have camera, will travel

A couple of bryo-twitches in the last few days enabled me to tick and learn three of my target species for 2018; Campylopus subulatus and Sphenolobopsis pearsonii on Friday and Seligeria campylopoda today. The Sphenolobopsis site on the Hepste below Sgwd-yr-Eira was really quite spectacular, especially after the recent rains. The population seemed quite healthy based on Graham and Sam's site report and I couldn't help wondering if some of the dark patches on some of the inaccessible cliffs might also support this species.

As per Sam's comment in the previous post  by Charles, the Campylopus subulatus site at Pontneddfechan is very different to the forest track sites. In addition to the Campylopus, there was a surprisingly rich assemblage of associates growing in the gritty deposits of the huge rock mass in the river (which presumably floods or is sprayed in full spate). These included Anomobryum julaceum (photo below), Blepharostoma trichophyllum and Lophozia excisa, though the latter looked a bit different to material I've seen previously, so I've attached a photo for comment in case I've made a mistake. Some male bracts with developing antheridia were evident, so I presume these are just sexually ripening shoots.

Today's pit-stop in the Wye for Seligeria campylopoda, at the site suggested by Sam last year, was frustrated by the fact that I'd remembered my camera, but I'd forgotten my hand-lens! Thankfully the unripe curved setae were easily visible and every one of the half dozen rocks I looked at held the moss in variable abundance. The record shot I took of the site shows there is now a lot more brash at this location, though not at a level likely to affect the Seligeria.

Another new species for me (if verified), growing on the same shaley dripping cliff on the Mellte where Bartramia ithyphylla is known, was what I'm pretty sure is Solenostoma sphaerocarpum (voucher retained). Paroicous with spherical perianths (one visible in image below) and bright green rounded leaves are some of the characters which point to this species. Features under the microscopic all conformed nicely too.

Seligeria campylopoda etc

I had 15 minutes to spare as I headed towards a meeting, so grabbed the opportunity to look at an area of limestone woodland below the Wye Valley road adjacent to Black Cliff.  Within a minute I found 10 limestone pebbles covered with Seligeria campylopoda, embedded in the woodland floor below a Yew.  This really is an easily twitchable colony if anyone is in the Chepstow area: park (carefully) at the entrance to the Livox Quarry road, walk up the A466 for about 10 metres, then cross a low fence next to a yellow "garden open" sign and look for the small limestone pebbles.  Please don't collect any of the Seligeria because it's extremely rare, but enjoy its curved setae.  There are another 20 or so localities in the VC35 section of the Wye Valley, but this is the easiest to relocate.

view of the roadside fence from the colony - a poor iPod pic

Slightly further down the slope I found a single pebble sporting Seligeria donniana, which is only the 4th locality for this species in the lower Wye Valley.

Another brief stop on my way back from the meeting produced fruiting Campylophyllum calcareum on a limestone outcrop in Cockshoot Wood, just NW of Chepstow.  This is just the 4th location for this uncommon moss in VC35.  It was mixed with Rhynchostegiella tenella and would have been impossible to spot if it hadn't been fruiting.

Of all the days to leave my camera at home...