Didymodon cf. australasiae update

Didymodon cf. australasiae 'dirt zone' habitat

I've been back to Dafen and noted the putative Didymodon australasiae was locally frequent in the 'dirt zone' of the road verge, the population appearing in patches (some very extensive) for over 1 km of the A4138. Yesterday I pulled into the lay-by of the Loughor bypass section of the A484 (Glamorgan) and walked back to a suitable looking dirty verge at SS56359793. Sure enough there was a good scattering of the same taxon. To assist potential searches the following pointers and photos should help build a search image:

• Forms mid-dark green patches, darker than frequently associated Barbula spp. and lacks brownish tones of D. tophaceus and orange tones of D. fallax.
• Grows both as mono-specific turf and as occasional shoots mixed with other spp.
• Leaves spreading-patent, tapering, the tip sometimes appearing pinched towards to a moderately cuculate tip.
• Some plants have broader leaves and the pinched leaf tip is more evident, these may be younger plants?
• The strong nerve is very evident on the upper surface of the leaf in certain light.
• Contrary to my earlier comments the species does crisp up a bit when dry as shown below.

It seems reasonable to suspect this species might be frequent in and around the Swansea-Llanelli area and possibly further afield, so if folks can take the opportunity to check the dirt zone of our major roads it will be interesting to find out how widespread the taxon really is - hopefully further clarification of its identification will come in good time.

Image above showing a couple of shoots mixed in with D. tophaeceus, B. convoluta and P. hornschuchianum.

Moss puzzle

I did some work in Swansea Docks yesterday and finally managed to add 22 species to the previously unrecorded SS69Q. There was nothing of special note, though a single capsule of what superficially looked like Microbryum rectum seemed a little odd. The habitat comprised a mossy turf growing on a marine silt/grit crust over concrete, regularly inundated by wave spray during storms. The most prominent species were Limonium binervosum agg., Hennediella heimii, Didymodon tophaceus and Tortella flavovirens. Under the microscope the seta seemed thick and too long for M. rectum, plus the leaves looked more like those of H. heimii, with smooth cells, costa ending below the leaf tip and with a few marginal teeth near below the tip. I gently squashed the capsule under the slide cover to reveal some unripe spores. Given the habitat and the leaf characters I'm suspecting this is just a deformed capsule of H. heimii, but thought I'd post it, just in case someone else knows better.

Also of interest, the crusts of D. tophaceus were punctuated by frequent fruiting bodies of one of the bryoparasitic Pezizales, probably a Lamprospora species, though the Octospora website does not list D. tophaceus as a known host.

Barry in Barry

A walk out to the lighthouse on Barry's west breakwater in yesterday's murky conditions gave the opportunity to make a list of bryophytes on what must be a regularly storm-battered and salt-sprayed pier. Given the exposure, I was pleasantly surprised to record about 25 species, the most unexpected of which turned out to be Didymodon umbrosus, found unusually well-grown near the end of the pier at ST124665. Assuming I have the identification right, this is only the 3rd Glamorgan (4th? Welsh) record, but at what would seem to be a most unlikely location, growing on gritty soil gaps in the stones as shown by the arrow above. Direct associates growing with D. umbrosus, shown in the image below, include D. tophaceus, D. insulanus, Bryum dichotomum plus Amblystegium serpens var. serpens and Trichostomum crispulum were also noted with it in the field.

Note patent leaves bent out from hyaline sheaths with very narrow marginal cells. Also bistratose mid-leaf margins extending to a blunt, flat leaf tip

D. umbrosus & Trichostomum crispulum at same magnification

Adjacent to the breakwater, the tufa cliffs in Jackson Bay ST120666, which extend almost all the way along the east cliff of Nell's Point, held abundant Adiantum capillus-veneris and Eucladium verticilatum. This area looks good for Southbya, but my casual inspections during our walk failed to spot any. I'm not sure how well these cliffs have been searched by Gareth, George or others, but the cliffs would seem worthy of closer inspection should anyone find a bit spare time and they're down that way.

Cwm Colliery

Yesterday afternoon Karen Wilkinson and I spent a few hours looking at the bryophytes of Cwm Colliery, near Beddau. It's a big place and we only really scratched the surface, but we managed to add quite a few species for the under-recorded tetrads ST08S and ST08T.

Liam Olds has done a lot of invert surveys at this site, and had mentioned the presence of tufaceous springs - something I'd not seen on colliery spoil. We looked at a couple of these on the western side of the tip - they certainly look odd but we failed to find any unusual bryophyte species: only Didymodon tophaceus, Aneura pinguis, Cratoneuron filicinum and Bryum pseudotriquetrum were recorded on the tufa.

 

Elsewhere, we found a couple of patches of what looks like it might be Lophocolea semiteres growing on spoil under young birch - photos below. I'm not absolutely sure it's not L. heterophylla - some of the leaf tips are retuse but most are entire, and none are very notched. Photos below.

Most of the spoil was fairly species-poor but we did find small patches of Calliergonella lindbergii (photo below), Archidium alternifolium, Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus and Weissia brachycarpa var obliqua. The young willow and birch woodland was quite rich, with Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus and a good range of epiphytes.

There are large areas in the north and east of the site left to explore, so further visits are needed.

Sea Bryum (Warne's Thread-moss) at Whiteford

An old dehised capsule of Bryum warneum amongst fresh ripening capsules of Didymodon tophaceus capsules at Whiteford on 26th November. 10+ fruiting plants (all old and dehised) were noted at SS4340894279 (an additional centisquare to those identified by David Holyoak - checked under microscope). The main direct associates were Pel.end., Dre.adu., Poh.wah., Ana.ten., Ane.pin., Cra.fil., Cam.ste., Sam.val., Did.top. & Bry.pse.

Beach springs and super tides

Firstly I should say hello, and make my apologies for being perhaps the only non-bryologist on this excellent blog. My interest in the mossy stuff is quite new and was a result of a contract (from Sam B – cheers !) looking at tufa forming springs across Wales. I was responsible for looking at geology, water flow and chemistry and Jon Graham was fully in charge of the bryophytes (Graham & Farr. Petrifying Springs in Wales. Field Bryology, 112).

After two weeks in the field, it was too late. I was captivated by the way changes in geology, microtopography, hydrology and chemistry influenced the presence or absence of many mosses.

So it wasn’t long before I had dreamed up a weekend project…so I thought ‘why not survey in the small tufa formations across the Vale of Glamorgan Coastline?’ Good excuse for a walk, and who knows maybe someone will find it useful ? Thus here is the first post on my initial couple of trips along the Penarth beach…soon to be followed by outings all the way to Ogmore and some exciting algae pictures from Chris Carter - but all in good time. 

The first site is an interesting coastal site on Penarth Beach (ST1864969805) where a groundwater spring emerges half way up the cliff face at the junction of a yellow sandstone where it is impeded by the darker shales below; part of the Triassic Blue Anchor Formation . This is far more than a ’seepage’ and just collecting a few samples I had given myself a good soaking. There was some tufa but it wasn’t extensive, it is unlikely that the water had been in contact with much limestone or any at all.  Noted were semi submerged Platyhypnidium riparioides (long beaked water feather moss), Didymodon tophaceus and some liverworts which I managed to let dry out until they were beyond recognition !

 Plathyhpnidium ripariodies below a fresh water spring on Penarth Beach ST1864969805

The flow of water was several litres per second the temperature 9.4^oC and the electrical conductivity 300uscm indicative of a relatively short residence time of groundwater within the aquifer, and another reason there wasn’t much tufa.  Compare this to some of the patches of tufa along the Penarth cliff face and you see a marked difference. The tufa seepages have much lower flow...they are true ‘seepages’ (see picture) with higher electrical conductivities 600-1970uscm, reflective of more dissolved ions in the water, and they do not have Platyhypnidium riparioides, instead being dominated by Eucladium and Didymodon tophaceus.

 A small cliff face seepage with active tufa formation and Didymodon tophaceus at Peanrth Head  ST191337191

Interestingly at this beach spring Platyhypnidium riparioides occurs from several meters up the cascade to almost ground level and the lower part  must have been submerged during the ‘super tide’ on Saturday 21st Feb 2015.

After popping over to meet George this week, one thought that crossed my mind, after we devoured a Tunnocks ‘Snowball’,  was that if detailed elevation data (cm accuracy) were collected for these coastal species that occur at the base of cliffs, then it should be possible to compare to tidal data - and thus work out the duration of time they can withstand inundation by sea water..........but that’s a whole other weekend project !!!

Gareth Farr with help and encouragement from George Tordoff