Damp bryo birthday bash

I took the day off work on Tuesday with the intention of a birthday bryo outing to the hills, but the morning rain put me off attempting anything at altitude. So it turned into a woodland day instead - less extreme but thoroughly enjoyable.

I started with a trip to see the Lepidozia cupressina colony at Caerphilly Mountain (found by Peter Sturgess in 2015). It was much easier to find than on our frosty visit in January 2016, though I only found patches of it on three stones (Bazzania trilobata was much more extensive).

 

After that I nipped up to Nant Gelliwion Woodland SSSI on the edge of Pontypridd, where we only scratched the surface during a fungus group foray in September. The site held records of 18 common bryo species, mostly from past CCW surveys, but had clearly never been properly explored.

I spent a couple of hours exploring the stream and the north-facing slope of the woodland, which produced a few species of local significance including two which I think are new for ST08. The best of these was Metzgeria conjugata, which occupied the downstream side of a stream boulder (outlined in photo below). Also of note was Heterocladium heteropterum var flaccidum.

A few other often sterile species were seen with capsules, including Tetraphis pellucida, Homalia trichomanoides and a large, dark green form of Ctenidium molluscum (photos below).

 

Many of the decorticated logs in the wood were covered in Nowellia and one had a couple of patches of Riccardia palmata. A more recently fallen tree held some Frullania tamarisci.

I also have some hair-pointless Racomitrium on which to attempt a nerve section - given the streamside location I'm hoping this might be R. affine.

70 taxa were recorded within the wood; another visit to explore the other side of the valley would surely add more. Additional exploration along the lanes and in the conifer plantation elsewhere in ST08P would probably take this tetrad to a very respectable species total.

A weekend on Lundy - mosses and liverworts

Clare and I spent the bank holiday weekend on the magical Lundy Island, sailing from Bideford after dropping Bea and Johnny with their grandparents in Sussex.  South Wales was visible from Lundy (when it wasn't raining), so perhaps it isn't stretching the Blog title too much to mention some of the bryophytes I bumped into during our visit.  Clare enjoys walking for walking's sake, whereas I walk to get to recording sites, but we had a good compromise where Clare strode between headlands and waited with a book whilst I made a few stops in between; we did plenty of walking together too.

On our first day included a walk up the west coast of the island as far as the Halfway Wall.  The path down to the Battery produced Anthoceros punctatus (photo) and Tritomaria exsectiformis (photo), whilst rocky heathland a little further north held Kurzia sylvatica.  A flushed area (photo) with Bryum alpinum also supported Fossombronia sp with violet rhizoids, which I suspect is F. maritima; I'm growing some on in a tube in the hope of sporophytes.  Pogonatum nanum (photo) was fruiting beautifully on a bank nearby.

Our second day was marred by heavy rain in the morning, but we ventured out a few times along the east side of the island.  Bryological highlight was Frullania teneriffae (new for VC4) alongside Scapania gracilis in the VC Quarry (photo).  Exploration of the wooded Millcombe valley produced Epipterygium tozeri, Pohlia lutescens and Plagiochila asplenioides, whilst Schistidium rivulare was a surprise on rocks in the Quarter Wall Pond.

Our third and final day involved a stomp along 'The High Street' to the north end of the island (4 km away from The Village) followed by a walk back along the east side.  Lepidozia cupressina (photo) and Dicranum scottianum (photo) grew together on a tor just south of Gannets Coombe - like Dartmoor in miniature - and there were Cephalozia connivens and C. lunulifolia nearby.  Salt-sprayed turf near the northern lighthouse held Hennediella heimii, and a Bryum nearby looked interesting but was unfortunately non-fertile.  Finally, an exploration of Landing Bay while we waited for the boat back to the mainland produced Schistidium maritimum and Weissia perssonii at last: most of the island is too steep to allow descent to the maritime areas favoured by these species.

I don't actually know how many of the 100+ species that I recorded (with 8-fig GPS readings) were new for the island.  The BBS dataset seems extremely incomplete, especially for liverworts, with some broad-date 20th century records and a list made by Mark Pool in 1997; I added nearly 30 species to the hectad tally according to the BBS data.  However, Jean Paton's data from her visit in 1975 does not appear in the BBS dataset and several of my 'additions' were already recorded by her (unsurprisingly!), and Jean spotted several liverwort during her "few hours" on the island that I missed.  The Lundy Field Society reports may include other liverworts, but the issues that I looked at didn't have anything.  Mosses seem to be even more under-recorded, and the only reference I can find is a list from 1959 with IDs by Michael Proctor, and it is that list which forms the basis of the BBS data.  I will, of course, make sure that my records go to the BBS and the Lundy Field Society.

As well as the bryophytes, we saw Lundy's famous Lundy Cabbage (none of the plants by the paths were in flower unfortunately), Balm-leaved Figwort, Primrose Peerless and Ophioglossum azoricum.  Star lichens were Teloschistes flavicans and Anaptychia ciliaris subsp mamillata.  Bird highlights were the Lundy rarities Yellowhammer and Stock Dove, which I found during our wanderings, and there were various Warblers around, Black Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Whimbrel etc.  Lundy really is a fabulous place for a wildlife-rich holiday!

Upper Mellte - no surprises except a tame Robin

Another day in the Waterfalls - this time searching the Sgwd Clun-gwyn and Sgwd Isaf Clun-gwyn areas of the Mellte.  The morning was pretty slow, with a few colonies of Anastrophyllum hellerianum on Oaks about the sum total of interest.  We searched a lot of mist-zone Ash trees on the west bank below Sgwd Clun-gwyn, but despite an abundance of Lejeunea cavifolia they held none of its smaller relatives.  I wonder whether the river flows are perhaps not constant enough because of the reservoir upstream - something to investigate.  Eventually we crossed to the east bank and followed a gorge-walkers' path back down to the riverside, where Graham spotted a small patch of Drepanolejeunea on an Ash.  This was well downstream of the main-river waterfall, but was clearly associated with a cascading side stream.

Graham photographing the Drepanolejeunea, and the result he got

Progress downstream towards Sgwd Isaf Clun-gwyn was notable only for the paucity of notable bryophytes, although we did manage to locate some Colura in a gorse thicket.  At last we reached the Millstone Grit scree between Sgwd Isaf Clun-gwyn and Sgwd y Pannwr, and our luck changed.  Almost immediately we located Lepidozia cupressina, and not just a little bit: great mounds, with the largest covering over a square metre!  Graham found this population a few years ago, but only at its southern end, and today's visit allowed us to fully appreciate its extent: L. cupressina was frequent to abundant through a 100x40m area, with records from 17 different 8-figure GPS squares.

All of the bryophyte cover on the rocks and tree base in the left photo is L. cupressina!

I found a particularly photogenic patch of Lepidozia and tried to photograph it.  In flew a curious Robin, which landed on the Lepidozia and even ate a scrap of cheese from my finger.  This perky little character is clearly used to tourists, and followed us around for nearly half an hour.

The scree woodland also held a few patches of Jamesoniella autumnalis - the only time we saw it during the day - as well as several colonies of Plagiochila punctata.  Speculative collections of potential Hylocomium umbratum and Hypnum callichroum will be investigated fully tomorrow.

Large Jamesoniella autumnalis with red leaves, which had me hoping for Mylia, and potential Hylocomium umbratum (which is probably just H. brevirostre)

Lepidozia cupressina at Taffs Well?

As George mentioned in his earlier post, a small group of us went to see the Bazzania at Mountain Ranch this morning.  This time taking a working GPS to get a better fix on the plant's location.  We were rewarded by finding another decent-sized patch.
The mystery Lepidozia I noticed during my initial visit was completely undetectable the first time we looked at the patch, because of the frost.  We returned a few hours later after the area had thawed and found it without any trouble. It appears to be L.cupressina, which I think would be a good find if it was.  It has overlapping stem leaves that cross the centre line so the stem is not visible from above, and closely packed underleaves. However, none of us have seen this before so it would nice to get it confirmed by someone who has!