Lower Mellte Lower Hepste

Graham and I have agreed that we really must finalise our evaluation of the bryophytes of Coedydd Nedd a Mellte this winter, as we have been adding records for over 15 years now.  There are still several areas that we haven't searched, and so it was with high hopes that I set off upstream from the Craig y Ddinas carpark towards the Hepste confluence this morning.  The Mellte has been surveyed under contracts for the BBNPA by both Martha Newton and Nick Hodgetts, but there were no records of notable species from the east bank downstream of the Hepste for at least 1km.  The habitat looked pretty good, with bouldery reaches reminiscent of Eryri, and plenty of low cliffs, but a general paucity of waterfalls.

The only medium-sized falls below the confluence was edged with Anastrophyllum hellerianum oaks, but there were no Ash in its mist zone and no interesting Lejeuneaceae.  Rock shelves on a sharp bend in the river held Grimmia hartmanii and Scapania subalpina, and there were several logs with Cephalozia catenulata and Riccardia palmata.  An oak overhanging another low waterfall supported the only Jamesoniella autumnalis I saw during the day, and sphagna on the woodland slopes had me puzzling because none seemed to fit Sphangnum quinquefarium (just S. fimbriatum, S. subnitens and I hope S. russowii, but I have bits to check).

I turned into the Hepste relatively late in the day, so only had time to work upstream to the first pair of waterfalls.  These were pretty splendid, but again lacked small Lejeuneaceae.  The base of the waterfall cliff appeared to be Carboniferous Limestone, complete with a colony of Seligeria cf. donniana (fruiting, to be checked) and some Neckera crispa.  The ravine around the upper falls held a nice patch of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, perhaps previously unknown, whilst a crevice near the lower falls had scattered patches of Killarney Fern gametophyte over a 20x20cm area.  The fungus Macrotyphula juncea was growing out of some damp leaves, and I also saw what I think is Cortinarius cinnabarinus among the Rhytidiadelphus loreus in steep woodland.  At the west end of the valley there was a log covered with liverworts, including abundant Lophozia incisa.

 

A long trudge back past Cilhepste revealed a tuft of Colura on birch on the edge of the woodland/plantation, as well as some lovely growths of various Usnea species.

 

Sometimes one builds a day up too much and ends up disappointed: this was a good day out by almost any standards, but the Nedd-fechan left me expecting excitements every time!

Cwm Clydach, Kidwelly revisited

It's difficult to capture the atmosphere from photographs, so click HERE and HERE to see short videos of this beautiful narrow gorge.

The rocks along the water line, especially below the waterfalls in the first image, support a good population of Fissidens rivularis, whilst higher up the cliff locally frequent Jubula hutchinsiae, Fissidens osmundoides and Trichomanes speciosum gametophyte were among the highlights.

 The erect capsules, yellowish nerve/leaf border and smaller cells differentiate rivularis from monguillonii.

Jubula hutuchinsiae

Rhynchostegiella teneriffae

Trichomanes speciosum

Plagiochila query from Cwm Clydach, Kidwelly SSSI

Below are some images of two Plagiochila samples collected on Monday, close to the second (new?) Sticta canariensis site in the upper section of the gorge (main site shown above). Growing on a small dark cliff face, were scattered shoots of a tiny Plagiochila that I took to be depauperate spinulosa, as there were some nice patches of the latter only 1m away. However, as it shows a casual resemblance to exigua, I thought pass it by for discussion / to highlight the potential for confusion.

First up, healthy spinulosa specimens (note the long decurrent antical margin):

Now the troublesome specimen, associates including Trichostomum tenuirostre, Heterocladium flaccidum, Lejeunea lamacerina, etc. (note the 'mostly short decurrent antical margin - but probably not as short as it should be, plus the leaves may be a bit too wide and broad-based?):

To get an idea of size, the following image shows a shoot along with Heterocladium flaccidum, Lejeunea lamacerina and the Trichomanes speciosum gametophyte:

Location of the diminutive Plagiochila, it being more well-tucked in than the image might indicate:

Plus the reason for me being at this lovely site, the cyanobacterial morph of Sticta canariensis:

On Headless Hill

I love a good coincidence... This morning, Barry phoned to ask me about bryophytes and Killarney Fern gametophyte in a ravine in Carmarthenshire; at lunchtime I had a wander on Headless Hill (in the Welsh bit of the Forest of Dean) and stumbled across a large patch of Killarney Fern!  I'm sure I would have spotted it regardless of having it in my mind, as it covered nearly 150x30cm of the overhanging side of a large conglomerate block.  I usually find the gametophyte in slightly more humid localities, but it seems less desiccation-sensitive than the very rare sporophyte stage.  This part of Headless Hill was coniferised a few decades ago and the Trichomanes rock is now under a mature canopy of conifers (I think they are Fir).

Nearby were several well-rotted Oak/Beech stumps on which grew Leucobryum juniperoideum, Dicranum scoparium and a small tuft of a very curly-leaved Dicranoid moss that I had high hopes for.  Sure enough this turned out to be the long-awaited first VC35 record of Dicranum montanum, with very mamillose leaf cells and denticulate margins.  The straight-leaved D. tauricum is relatively widespread in the V-c, but for some reason the ecologically similar D. montanum remains extremely scarce in Wales.

Also at Cosmeston...

It was great to see the Thatch Moss in situ, but I was almost as excited to find two other species new to me during a brief foray after the thatch photo session.

Firstly, I spent a little while investigating the mixed bryo community growing on the clayey margin in the SE corner of the western lake, while Barry was busy trying to hook stoneworts with his home-made grapnel. This included a nice patch of Bryum gemmiferum, which appears to be the first record for East Glamorgan. Associates were Pohlia melanodon, Didymodon tophaceus, Dicranella varia and Bryum dichotomum. It was noticeably taller and paler than the latter.

Bryum gemmiferum

 There are some gemmae in focus near the bottom left of the photo if you click to enlarge.

Bryum gemmiferum habitat

While using the board-walk to get back to the car I remembered the photo in Sam's Pembs flora of Amblystegium radicale growing on the base of dead Phragmites, so took a brief detour into the reedbed and grabbed a handful of moss from this habitat. Sadly it wasn't the Amblystegium, but turned out to be Oxyrrhynchium speciosum, which I think is new for ST16. A few photos below - it looks to have all the hallmarks of this species: dark green and widely-spaced leaves, strongly toothed margins, long nerve, twisted tip, complanate branches - but if anyone disagrees with the ID please let me know!