Slade

View along the cliffs west of Slade, the arrowed spot showing a slope below an outcrop where I've
previously recorded Cephaloziella calyculata plus a similar range of species listed below.

It seems like an age since I last looked at the South Gower cliffs, but on the weekend I managed to steal an hour and a half so checked out a section of cliff with virtually no records. I spent the first hour scouring promising looking ground on some outcrops east of Slade but failed to find much of interest. The last 30 minutes thankfully proved to be more productive with species noted in the sward shown below (SS49188551) including Aloina aloides, Bryum donianum, B. kunzei, B. ruderale, Cephaloziella calyculata, Microbryum starckeanum, Pleurochaete squarrosa, Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Weissia controversa var. crispata, etc..

 Putative Bryum kunzei - I do worry about this one, even though it looks pretty distinct!

Didymodon fallax and the much larger Pleurochaete squarrosa 

Bryum ruderale was particularly common in cliff-top turf in this section

Non-bryological interest was provided by one of the bryoparasitic Pezizales, which keys out Octospora coccinea. This is said to be common in the UK although only 7 records are shown on the NBN. The host was in rather poor condition for identification, but I looked like Bryum dichotomum.

Bryum query

Probably a title you all dread!

I was doing fieldwork on the northern slopes of Mynydd y Gaer (SN9486) on Friday, and noted a few bryos as I went along. Most were very commonplace species as would be expected on an acidic bracken slope, but the frequent ant hills were a bit more interesting with occasional Ptilidium ciliare, Campylopus pyriformis and the Bryum shown below.

These small reddish plants were growing mixed with C. pyriformis. After digging around I did find a few rhizoidal tubers, which were the deep red-brown colour suggested by the final photo. The rhizoids themselves were brown and papillose.

Rhizoidal tuber placed on leaf to give indication of size

Cells somewhat incrassate. Leaves bordered with recurved margins.

Given the dry acidic habitat, I wondered if this could be B. bornholmense, but I'm probably way off the mark. Any suggestions welcome, thanks.

George