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.

 

River Tawe

Yesterday afternoon we explored a nice stretch of the River Tawe between Pontardawe and Ystalyfera, all of which is in Neath Port Talbot. We've recorded Mnium marginatum there before, but it was nice to find some significant clusters in the vicinity of SN74350568. Nearby river banks had small amounts of Mnium stellare, Trichostomum tenuirostre and some Homalia trichomanoides which is not common on the Tawe in our experience. Large riverside boulders had Cinclidotus fontinaloides, Schistidium apocarpum, S. platyphyllum and S. rivulare and on some there were  photogenic cushions of Orthotrichum cupulatum. It's a good time to look out for this smart 'rocky' Orthotrichum, which is often conspicuously dressed in abundant capsules.

Orthotrichum cupulatum on a riverside boulder near Ynysmeudwy

What we didn't find was Leskea polycarpa. It seems to be genuinely scarce on the 3 main rivers in NPT where we have only found a few colonies along the lower stretches above the tidal reach.

Scratching around in ST27

While the rest of you have been recording exciting bryophytes out in the west, spare a thought for your poor comrade in the east. I've not had a great deal of time for square bashing in recent weeks but have made a few short visits to the Glamorgan part of ST27, and it has been hard work.

ST27D, locate to the north of Cardiff docks, has been particularly tough. There is lots of wasteground vegetation in this tetrad and it has proved interesting for dockland aliens (including Senecio inaequidens and Lepidium graminifolium) and micro-moths, but not so for bryophytes. It is a dry area and almost lacking in woodland, so many common species are missing (or just missed by me). I've only recorded 35 taxa here...I'm sure there will be others, but it is probably not the best use of my time scratching around trying to find them. The only records just about worth mentioning are Brachythecium mildeanum and Dicranella schreberiana.

ST27E was better largely thanks to the Howardian Local Nature Reserve, which has some wetland areas as well as pockets of boradleaved woodland. Around 55 taxa were recorded last Sunday morning, the highlights being Marchantia polymorpha ssp. polymorpha and Oxyrrhynchium speciosum growing together beneath Phragmites.

Marchantia polymorpha ssp. polymorpha

Elsewhere on the site was this patch of Leskea polycarpa on an ash bough away from water, though the surrounding tall herb vegetation might hold standing water in the winter.

Leskea polycarpa