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).
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| The broad leaf of Rhynchostegium megapolitanum |
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| 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.
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| Microbryum rectum |
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| Microbryum davallianum |
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| Microbryum davallianum spores |
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| 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.
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| 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!
