Aberthaw shingle

A few spare hours on Tuesday took me to the shingle beach at West Aberthaw - the draw being that this tetrad (ST06D) had no previous bryo records despite obvious potential.

Things started well with Scorpiurium circinatum and fruiting Rhynchostegium megapolitanum on a stony bank by the car park, as well as a mystery Bryum sp. (photo below - not sure if this is B. kunzei or another member of the caespiticium group - any comments welcome).

The broad leaf of Rhynchostegium megapolitanum

Scorpiurium circinatum

West of the car park, an area of ruderal vegetation behind the shingle beach was awash with small, fruiting acrocarps, including Microbryum davallianum, M. rectum, Tortula protobryoides and Phascum cuspidatum.

Microbryum rectum

Microbryum davallianum

Microbryum davallianum spores

Tortula protobryoides

Further west still, the back of the shingle beach was quite well vegetated, the bryophytes including Aloina aloides (fruiting), Tortella nitida, lots of Scorpiurium and some more M. rectum.

Tortella nitida on old rope among shingle

This left me a little time to try and add some epiphytes in the north of the tetrad, but these were few and far between - I couldn't even find any Cryphaea. Of more interest was yet more Scorpiurium in Gileston Churchyard and small cushions of Gymnostomum aeruginosum on the mortar of a railway bridge.

Many of the species mentioned above have their Glamorgan headquarters on the South Gower limestones and few records from further east - but this is partly due to the Vale being badly under-recorded. Lots of work to do here!

Tortella torment

Cliffs at Penmaen overlooking Threecliffs Bay
where all of Glamorgan's four Tortella species grow

Below left: Tortella sp. growing with Pleurochaete squarrosa (in centre of the image) becoming crisped. Below right: T. flavovirens sample collection point.

My records show the Nationally Scarce Tortella inclinata was first recorded in the Penmaen-Threecliffs area by Sam in 2010, who subsequently found it to be locally abundant on a section of cliff slope with scattered patches elsewhere in the vicinity. Although I recorded it nearby last year for my first time, the collection was more fortuitous than anything else and in an attempt to learn the field appearance of this species, yesterday, I took a few images and collected a sample of what I thought was probably inclinata growing abundantly on a sandy cliff slope about 100m east of Sam’s large colony. Under the microscope it was clear I was wrong as the costa on the adaxial side was covered by quadrate cells (except the third near the base). Furthermore, the leaves became highly crisped upon drying so unfortunately all I'd photographed and collected was flavovirens. [At least that's what I thought! After making this post I found a second sample I'd left in my coat pocket, which I was convinced at the time was probably inclinata; to my relief this turned out to be the case. Which species is represented in the general shot above alongside the Pleurochaete I'm now not sure as there's not really enough detail in the image. The difference between the two species using a lens is in fact rather striking when they are side-by-side, the shoots of inclinata being larger and more erect, with a stronger nerve appearing more prominent in a more boat-shaped leaf apex, reminiscent of Trichostomum crispulum]. Plants showing these characters were widespread on the cliff I looked at, but it's interesting that both species grow mixed in together.

Tortella flavovirens

Tortella inclinata

T. flavovirens foreground, T. inclinata behind

After reading Smith I'm now wondering how similar the resemblance is between flavovirens and the short-leaved form of tortuosa and if there is a safe way of separating the two, as he only mentions the degree of crisping upon drying; this was considerable in my specimen, which might indicate tortuosa?

For interest here are the vc41 distribution maps of our four Tortella species:

Caerphilly Castle

I've had hardly any time for bryophyte recording over the last week, but a family outing to Caerphilly Castle on Sunday provided a brief opportunity to record a few species. Looking at the official and unofficial county databases before leaving home, I was amazed to see there were no records at all from the castle (even at hectad level) - and so got a little bit excited at the prospect of interesting finds.

In the event I didn't find anything unusual, with 20 species recorded in total of which 12 were on the castle walls themselves. The best of these was probably Tortella nitida, which was quite frequent, though there is at least one other record of this species for ST18.

In hindsight, I suppose the lack of interest isn't too surprising given the castle underwent a major restoration between the 1930s and 1960s. I didn't check the outside of the walls though, so there's still the potential for something interesting there...