River Tawe

Yesterday afternoon we explored a nice stretch of the River Tawe between Pontardawe and Ystalyfera, all of which is in Neath Port Talbot. We've recorded Mnium marginatum there before, but it was nice to find some significant clusters in the vicinity of SN74350568. Nearby river banks had small amounts of Mnium stellare, Trichostomum tenuirostre and some Homalia trichomanoides which is not common on the Tawe in our experience. Large riverside boulders had Cinclidotus fontinaloides, Schistidium apocarpum, S. platyphyllum and S. rivulare and on some there were  photogenic cushions of Orthotrichum cupulatum. It's a good time to look out for this smart 'rocky' Orthotrichum, which is often conspicuously dressed in abundant capsules.

Orthotrichum cupulatum on a riverside boulder near Ynysmeudwy

What we didn't find was Leskea polycarpa. It seems to be genuinely scarce on the 3 main rivers in NPT where we have only found a few colonies along the lower stretches above the tidal reach.

Orthotrichum cupulatum (in North Wales)

A meeting in Bangor only left me with a few spare minutes to poke around for bryophytes, so I was pleased to encounter Orthotrichum cupulatum for the first time. It was growing on a wall top near the pier, alongside O. anomalum - and looking strikingly different from it with the much shorter setae. Shame I didn't have a camera as it would have made for a nice comparison of the two species.

I guess it's now time to start looking for this species down here, as well as those other Orthotrichum species which can only be confidently identified in the spring.

Orthotrichum cupulatum

Orthotrichum cupulatum capsule