Miscellaneous

While on a trip to Banwen and Onllwyn a few days ago, principally to check out some old meadows in the vicinity of the washery, H and I took a brief stroll along the path that bisects Gors Llwyn SSSI. Sam and others have recorded some nice wetland bryophytes here, including Hamatocaulis vernicosus, Kurzia pauciflora and Nardia geoscyphus. A good part of the SSSI is in Glamorgan (in NPT in fact), so it adds some significant species to the county list, and once upon a time there was a population of Trollius europaeus here. Carex elata, in one of its few inland sites in Glamorgan, is within easy reach of the path, just inside the county boundary, as is a nice photogenic colony of  Plagiomnium elatum along with Straminergon stramineum.

Plagiomnium elatum, Gors Llwyn

Straminergon stramineum, Gors Llwyn

The old meadows near the washery are of significant interest. One holds small populations of Epipactis palustris and Samolus valerandi, both increasingly rare in wetlands away from the coast in South Wales. Next door (and opposite Gors Llwyn) there is a superb swampy habitat with huge amounts of Bogbean, Marsh Cinquefoil and Water Horsetail and other M27 species. 

Yesterday, after reading George's account of Sam's Kenfig course, followed by a quick phone call to Barry, we went on an Amblyodon and Moerckia twitch. We spent most of the afternoon on our hands and knees with reading glasses on, occasionally loosing the will to live while searching for Moerckia! But success...thanks boys.

Amblyodon dealbatus, Kenfig

Moerckia flotoviana, Kenfig

Kenfig dune slack day

I enjoyed an excellent introduction to dune slack bryophytes today, organised by Hannah Shaw of Freshwater Habitats Trust and led by Sam. Despite not finding any Petalophyllum there were plenty of highlights.

One of several splendid fruiting patches of Amblyodon dealbatus (thanks to Barry for the tip on where to find it).

Several thalli of Moerckia flotoviana found by Sam at SS78738194 (first site record since 2012?).

Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides at SS788820.

Kenfig revisited ...

Note the footpath through the scrub around the western margin of the pool is now flooded!

My quest for Petalophyllum at Kenfig continues without success, though I've still not given up hope of refinding it. This is one of a small suite of species that have either disappeared, or are at critically low levels at the site, despite much good work having been done to restore and create favourable habitats. In addition to an apparent absence of Petalophyllum, I've not encountered any populations of the following:
Abietinella abietina - last recorded by Smith in 1963.
Distichium inclinatum - a small amount recorded by Sam in 2012, so possibly still present.
Moerckia flotoviana - last recorded in tiny quantities at two sites by Sam and the SAC monitoring team in 2012. I have looked briefly at these sites but failed to relocate any plants.
Preissia quadrata - the last records were of two tiny colonies noted by Sam in 2012.
Racomitrium canescen - last recorded by Peter Jones in 1984.

Species which would appear to be critically low include:
Leiocolea badensis - still present but highly localised.
Riccardia incurvata - the population found by Sam in 2012 is still present, but appears to have declined markedly.

Thankfully there is some good news and those species species holding their own, or possibly even doing well include:
Amblyodon dealbatus - since its discovery at the site by Sam and Clive Hurford in 2012, at least six sites have now been identified. Last Thursday I came across a new colony with lots of developing capsules (in fact this is the first colony I've found with capsules). I'll be back to photograph it in a few weeks after they ripen and I have marked a couple of patches (white plant label tops in photo), should anyone feel inclined to check it out for themselves [8+ patches (largest 10cm x 6cm) in 2m x 1m area SS7914881233].

Bryum intermedium - first recorded by Sam in 2012 and then by David Holyoak in 2015. Last year I noted plants at David's site with young fruit, which looked good for this species, but unfortunately the site has been destroyed (only temporarily I suppose) by bikers, who are a constant presence in this area.

Campyliadelphus elodes - added to the site list this year.
Drepanocladus sendtneri - locally frequent in a dozen or more slacks.
Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides - frequent in nine or more mature slacks.

To date 157 bryophyte taxa have been recorded at KNNR. Amongst my casual records last Thursday I was surprised to find both Thamnobryum alopecurum (photo) and Brachythecium rivulare were additions to the reserve list, so next time you visit this large site, don't assume it's all been done.

If anyone knows what species of Hypoxylon this is I'd be interested to know (on Salix)

Tywyn Point scraped slack

Following yesterday's meeting at the offices of RAF Pembrey Sands, we were taken out onto the range, though time was limited as a Tornado was scheduled to come in for bombing practice. Richard Pryce and myself managed to sneak off for 15 minutes to do some recording in the southern ⅓ of the rectangular scraped slack (clearly visible on the Google aerial at SN365048[corrected]). The scrape was still quite barren, particularly bryologically, but the southern margin was found to be a little richer and Amblyodon dealbatus was among the 12 species recorded, with occasional non-fruiting plants found growing all along the 30m southern edge of the scrape. The Carms flora shows the species is already known from the site and was last recorded there by Sam in 2004 (I'm not sure if there have been subsequent visits since publication). I've asked Richard to send me a couple of habitat pics for reference...[Richard's photos now added below, apologies for my mugshot being included, but it shows the scrape edge habitat where the Amblyodon was found perfectly]

Of less significance, but equally as interesting was a small population of Leptobryum pyriforme, this being the first time I have encountered the species in a dune slack. Plants were a little shorter than typical, but the tufted shoot tips, lack of an expanded leaf base and the presence of abundant rhizoidal gemmae (including some around the stem bases) seems to make identification safe in the absence of capsules, but happy to be corrected. The lower two images show the cell structure and the interesting surface sculpturing of the tubers - I can't find very good images of these on line to compare with, but they seem to match illustrations well.

Possible Amblyodon at Kenfig NNR

Slack south of Jeff's Mistake Slack

Unfortunately the capsules of the freely fruiting species shown below had all disintegrated, leaving just patches of very long, thin setae. The habitat it was growing in was the steeply cut edges of the scraped slack in the north of the reserve with the rather unwieldy name 'Slack south of Jeff's Mistake Slack', which in the photograph is the sharp transition between the green dry-dune vegetation in the foreground and the yellowy flooded slack vegetation (SS78438286). My first thought when I saw it, was that it looked a bit like Pohlia melanodon, but the setae were far too long. Closer inspection at home made me think that in might in fact be Amblyodon. Direct associates included Pellia endiviifola, Didymodon tophaceus, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Calliergonella cuspidata, Aneura pinguis and Riccardia chamedryfolia. I've packaged my specimen, but any comments based on the images would be welcome. Hopefully in time I'll find some plants with intact capsules to make a more confident id.

A couple more reference images below that show the extremely broad-based costa and lax cell structure.