Forestry etc in NE Carms

I spent a couple of hours in SN73D, which includes the village of Porthyrhyd, on 17th October.  The tetrad already had 75 species recorded, mostly by Jonathan Graham, but I am trying to visit all Carms tetrads myself and this one looked pretty diverse.  My visit revealed 129 species, most of them in the Banc-y-garreg Forestry, and took the tetrad total to 147 (Jon had several additional species including Bazzania trilobata from the inaccessible private rocks on Banc Bwlchdrebannau).

The forestry tracks were notably species-rich, with highlights including Archidium, Fossombronia wondraczekii, Riccia glauca, 1 fruiting rosette of Phaeoceros laevis, Campylopus subulatus, Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens, Pohlia drummondii and female Jungermannia hyalina.  In contrast, epiphytes were rather limited and I failed to find any Colura (!) although most of the other willow regulars were present.  As I continued deeper into the forestry I found a clearfell area with 3 or 4 very small rock outcrops (each <5x2m in extent), and to my surprise these held Barbilophozia attenuata, Plagiochila punctata, P. spinulosa and Sphagnum quinquefarium.  Riccardia palmata on damp conifer logs was new for the hectad.

The trackside habitat of Jungermannia hyalina and the Plagiochila punctata outcrop (iPod photos) 

This productive first hour was followed by a fairly fruitless session along the lanes approaching Olchfa Mill, with Ctenidium, Pellia endiviifolia and a few species by a rocky stream being the only additions.  The tracks along Banc Bwlchdrebannau were even worse, as all the good rocky habitat is set well back on private land.  Luckily, things ended on a good note with a visit to Porthyrhyd Chapel, which held a good range of typical churchyard mosses including Encalypta streptocarpa, Pseudocrossidium revolutum, Gyroweisia tenuis, Schistidium apocarpum and Ephemerum minutissimum.

 

There are still >80 tetrads I haven't visited, most of which are light blue on this coverage map

Radnorshire riches

A couple of years ago I stopped for a lunchtime walk on Aberedw Rocks SE of Builth Wells, and found a rock covered with Grimmia laevigata and another with abundant G. decipiens.  Both were new to the site, and they suggested that it could be a very rich area for saxicolous mosses.  Targionia hypophylla has been known there for several decades, and there is an intriguing 20th century record of Bartramia stricta from the site, which was purged at the same time as one from Pembrokeshire [so effectively that I couldn't find out where the Pembs claim was made].

Since then the site has been on my 'to do' list, and a sunny 27th April seemed ideal.  I didn't find B. stricta or any more of either Grimmia, but there were several other good species present, including Marchesinia mackaii (photo), Bartramia ithyphylla, Pohlia cruda, Frullania fragilifolia, Seligeria recurvata, Plagiochila bifaria, P punctata & P spinulosa, Porella arboris-vitae (photo) and Orthothecium intricatum.

The two rarest species were the Nationally Scarce Plagiopus oederianus (photo, with some Bartramia pomiformis for comparison), which is abundant on north-facing rock outcrops, and the Nationally Scarce Encalypta ciliata (photo), which was only present in one small area and was last recorded on the site in 1923.

Biggest surprise was a tuft of Orthotrichum rupestre (photo), which only has 3 previous Radnorshire records and remains unknown further SW in Wales.  Its very hairy calyptra, superficial stomata, upright exostome teeth and half-pliccate capsules were distinctive.

I thought that the highlight of the day was going to be a round-leaved liverwort in a flush, which clearly wasn't Odontoschisma and seemed sure to be my first ever Jamesoniella undulifolia.  To my shock and disappointment, I found under the microscope that it had violet rhizoids, making it Jungermannia hyalina very out of habitat.

Overall it was a wonderful day of mossing, and the site is clearly of SSSI quality for its bryophytes.