I made a trip to Wern-ddu yesterday to have a look for that bluetail, but on arrival there was already quite a crowd of assembled birders - some of whom cheerfully told me that they'd been there for several hours without seeing it. I lack the patience for that kind of thing, so quickly left to check out the much more easily twitched
Fissidens limbatus found by Barry a few days earlier (thanks Barry...and you weren't exaggerating when you said it was tiny).
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| Fissidens limbatus |
On the way there was a tempting pile of limestone rubble and spoil from past quarrying at Cefn Onn, which held plenty of (putative!)
Leiocolea badensis and some more tiny
Fissidens which will probably prove to be
limbatus. A rotten log was covered in
Nowellia, which might be new for ST18. As Barry mentioned, this north-facing slope is very mossy indeed and will surely reward a more thorough survey.
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| Probable Leiocolea badensis |
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| Nowellia curvifolia |
My main aim of the day was to look for
Leptodontium flexifolium at Rudry Common, found here by Roy Perry in 1974. I'm pleased to report that it is still grows here 43 years on!
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| Leptodontium flexifolium |
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Leptodontium flexifolium with deciduous stubby leaves at shoot tips
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Leptodontium flexifolium habitat
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It proved to be quite frequent on thin peaty soil around sandstone outcrops, mostly growing under slight overhangs. The main associate was
Ceratodon purpureus (the overwhemingly dominant bryophyte here) with smaller quantities of
Polytrichum piliferum and
Campylopus introflexus. It looks like the whole site gets burnt regularly, which perhaps aids the persistence of the
Leptodontium. This tetrad (ST18Y) should now be over 60 species.
