Colura in SE Wales

Once upon a time... not so long ago... I got very excited about Colura.  Back in 2001 there were just two records of this species from south Wales: one made by the BBS in Hensol Forest in the late 20th century and one by Martha Newton in the Nedd-fechan valley in ca. 2000.  Graham and I paid homage to Martha's colony in summer 2001, and we were really impressed that such a tiny, rare, beautiful thing could really be in south Wales (and that someone could actually find it).  Then in August 2001, to my amazement, I spotted some tufts of Colura on 2 Ash trunks in the Yew Tree Wood near Dingestow.  I phoned Graham, incoherent with excitement, astonished that such a rare liverwort could be here.

Fast forward to 2016, and the situation has changed completely.  In 2002/03 I started bryo recording in Brechfa Forest, discovering vast colonies of Colura on willows in the conifer plantations there.  It proved to be widespread, and more or less ubiquitous in the upland-edge plantations of Wales, as Charles and Hilary are ably demonstrating in Neath - Port Talbot.  However, it remains pretty scarce in Monmouthshire, and I have only seen it in VC35 on three occasions since that exciting day in 2001: twice in the west and once in the east.  Graham asked me a couple of days ago whether it's still in the Yew Tree Wood, and I didn't know.  Sure enough, it is - I revisited the site yesterday lunchtime and found Colura on several Ash trunks in the original area, alongside loads of Cololejeunea minutissima, Radula complanata and Metzgeria spp., plus a patch of Lejeunea cavifolia.

This rambling tale is a way of letting relative newcomers to bryology know how much things have changed, even during my bryological career!