Rhiw Forgan

The Alun Valley area is the gift that keeps on giving...

Yesterday we walked to the top of Rhiw Forgan to see the fire service operating a robo-cutter on a large area of dense gorse and Molinia. I'd not been to this part of the site before, and an area of limestone outcrops and short calcareous grassland (SS893761) immediately grabbed my attention. It certainly didn't disappoint, with large patches of Entodon concinnus and Thuidium assimile, and not far away numerous small patches of Racomitrium canescens. I checked the latter two species under the microscope and both look pretty convincing.

 

 

 

 

It turns out that CCW also recorded T. assimile from this same habitat patch (in 1995), but it is a new subsite for Entodon and a new site for R. canescens (though Sam has recorded it in the adjacent tetrad to the west, at Merthyr Mawr).

What other goodies await at this site? There must be plenty.

More Entodon

I helped out with a habitat management work party in Pant St Brides today, in a part of the site I've not spent much time in previously. The limestone turf just above the B4265 looked ideal for Entodon concinnus and it only took a minute or two to locate a fairly large patch of it at SS89627588.

This is a new subsite for this moss at its only South Wales station with recent records, and also a new tetrad. The habitat is very similar to the site found in 2016 (approx. 600m further north), though the aspect is more or less easterly rather than southerly.

More Entodon

The scene of today's Entodon twitch: Hilary and Sandra are at one of the locations, with Charles off to sort out his camera kit. We didn't spend any time looking elsewhere, but a follow up visit is on the cards.

Entodon

I was planning to try to find the Entodon concinnus colony at Ogmore Down (recorded by Chris Forster Brown in 2012) after a site meeting there this afternoon. As it turned out I didn't need to. The person I was meeting was late so I spent a few minutes poking around on the south-facing slope near the parking lay-by, and there it was. I went back after the meeting and found several small patches spread over an area of perhaps 25 x 25m, but further searches on the lower slopes failed to reveal any more.

Although it looks quite distinctive in this photo I don't think I'd have spotted it if I wasn't looking out for it - I'd probably have overlooked it as a slightly stunted, brownish Pseudoscleropodium purum (which is much more abundant on the same slope). Once I'd got my eye in the slightly less blunt shoot tips, combined with narrower shoots and bronzy appearance, meant it wasn't too hard to spot. Close associates in the limestone turf included P. purum, Homalothecium lutescens and Hypnum lacunosum. Not too far away were Ditrichum gracile, Neckera crispa, Ctenidium molluscum and  Pleurochaete squarrosa.

The location is about 400m east of Chris's grid reference. I can send more specific directions via email if anyone wants to go and see it, though it is likely to be in other places on this slope too. A few more photos below.