The far east

Glamorgan's two easternmost tetrads, ST28M and N, have a lot in common: both are on the inside of a bend in the River Rhymney, have less than a quarter of a monad of their area in VC41, and until Friday neither had any bryophyte records. Luckily a riverbank footpath gives access to both from a lane to the south.

On Friday lunchtime I spent a while on the lane and riverbank footpath in ST2485 (tetrad ST28M). Nothing remarkable was recorded but 44 species seemed a reasonable total (probably an adequate level of recording for this cross-border tetrad; Sam may have extra records from the VC35 side of the river in any case). The riverbank sycamores hosted abundant Leskea polycarpa (photo) and there was a nice big patch of Cirriphyllum piliferum (photo) at the base of a hedge bank. I always find the bryoflora of flailed hedges quite interesting as it seems to differ from typical epiphytic communities (perhaps due to higher light levels?) and you're never quite sure what will turn up - this time around there was, among others, Orthotrichum stramineum and Syntrichia montana on sycamore and Dicranoweissia cirrata on hazel.

Of more interest than the bryos, though, was my first 'bryoparasitic Pezizales' ascomycete, growing on Amblystegium serpens on the silty base of a sycamore on the riverbank. According to the octospora.de website there is only one species associated with this moss: Octospora wrightii. The apothecia and spores were a very good match to descriptions for this species so I think the ID is fairly safe. There are no other South Wales records shown on the BMS and LERC databases, but these may not be comprehensive.

 

Anomodon viticulosus in Resolven

I associate Anomodon viticulosus with limestone, although it is known to grow occasionally on base rich sandstones. It is fairly local in VC41 and it's one of those fairly strict calcicoles that I would not expect to find in the heart of the South Wales Coalfield in NPT -  but I will understand it if you are not as excited about this as me! Anyway, yesterday H and I did some recording on the Afan Nedd and we came across it on a shaded railway bridge over the river near Resolven, quite a disjunct location in a South Wales context, particularly since it rarely produces sporophytes.

Anomodon viticulosus on railway bridge near Resolven

The riparian habitat hereabouts has a nice flora. It supports a large population of Saxifraga granulata and is the most southerly location for Crepis paludosa in the British Flora. Along the river corridor Wych Elms (and  some Small-leaved Lime) provide the canopy for a diverse woodland flora with some conspicuous bryophytes such as Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus, R. loreus and sparkling patches of Cirriphyllum piliferum, an uncommon moss in NPT. 

Cirriphyllum piliferum, Resolven

Homalia trichomanoides is abundant on the boles of riverside trees, Mnium stellare is frequent on riverside banks and the silty flood zone has a significant amount of Mnium marginatum; a much larger population than I had previously thought.

 Minim marginatum var. marginatum, Resolven

More stuff from the uplands

Block scree habitat above Blaengwynfi

High above Blaengwynfi, in the Afan Valley, a forestry road straddles the border between NPT and RCT. Not far away, the Pen y Cymoedd wind farm development is transforming the landscape on a geographical scale. Some nice habitat mosaics survive (just!) at least for the time being, such as small areas of wet peatland with abundant Drosera and heathy banks with clubmosses. In a few places, sandstone block scree, the remnants of old quarry workings, provide the sort of bryophyte habitat that George has been showing us recently. Racomitrium ericoides is common on rock in places like this. As Sam tells us, we should look for and perhaps expect R.elongatum in these habitats and I have spent hours looking at likely specimens - but to no avail. Spotting R.elongatum in these places might be tricky and serendipity will probably play a big part. On our trip to the site in the photo above (SS9009/9858), we saw a smallish dark-coloured Racomitrium growing in a fairly tight, cushion on a rock. It looked pretty good for R. sudeticum in a likely habitat not far (as the crow flies) from the Craig y Llyn population, and not that far from the Afan Argoed colony. However, leaf sections clearly revealed a bistratose costa - so it's heterostichum.  All other R. heterostichum that I've seen has been the typical dark grey in colour with conspicuous hyaline points on the leaves.  I think I'm beginning to appreciate how variable this species is - and this also ties in nicely with George's recent post.

Racomitrium heterostichum

Other species on rocks here included R.aciculare and R. fasciculare, the former frequently encountered by us in habitats like this, away from any water course. The iron-rich sandstone rock typically supports crustose lichens like Porpidia macrocarpa and Lecidea lithophila but there was also a significant population of Stereocaulon dactylophyllum scattered over the scree.

Stereocaulon dactylophyllum

Hilary was struck by the large amount of fruiting Polytrichum piliferum here with attractive red seta (completely lost on me, of course!!!).

Polytrichum piliferum

Other interesting stuff included Tortella tortuosa, in the company of other calcicoles like Ctenidium  molluscum and Campyliadelphus chrysophilus, mostly confined to the calcareous edges of the road. This is a rare species in NPT (there's no limestone in the county) but is also found on a coal tip in Afan Argoed and on an old wall near Cwnllynfell.

It's not always easy to get to these upland sites and, invariably,it requires quite a bit of hiking. But since that has probably put off others doing it before you, there's always a high probability that you'll be doing some trail-blazing surveys. RCT is full of places that fit into that category.

Riparian bryos again

Like Barry I've had few opportunities to get out mossing during the last week, but yesterday lunchtime I managed some time in the sunshine and continued working my way north along the Taff Riverbank in Cardiff. This time I was in ST1381, just south of where the Taff passes under the M4, not far from Coryton roundabout. This only leaves one more monad to the north before the riverbank becomes inaccessible - which will mean I can turn my attention elsewhere.

A good range of riverbank species was recorded, but included nothing remarkable...the most interesting species I suppose being Cirriphyllum crassinervium - again growing on the base of a Sycamore in the flood zone, just like the other site at which I've seen it further downstream. The same Sycamore supported a very small tuft of Orthotrichum lyellii just above the high water mark.

Also a troublesome Schistidium on a Poplar trunk, which I'll try and get some photos of tomorrow.

On the way back to the car, I spotted a large pleurocarp growing on a soil bank by the Taff Trail, and was relieved to confirm when I got home that it was as suspected Cirriphyllum piliferum. This has been my 'bogey moss' for a while, and I couldn't understand why I hadn't spotted such a large moss previously. But on checking MapMate I see Barry, Hilary and Charles have only recorded it in about 10 tetrads across NPT and Swansea, so perhaps it is not especially common in Glamorgan.