Wernddu revisited

Well this time the Red-flanked Bluetail gave itself up readily and on our circuit back to the car I stopped briefly at what looked like the remains of an old lime kiln. Amongst some fruiting Leiocolea turbinata was the tiny Fissidens crispus (=limbatus). NB smallest tick marks below = 1μm and note protruberant cells.

Watch House Point Cliff revisited

Southbya tophacea is now well documented on this blog, thanks largely to Gareth and Hannah's efforts. However, as we were at East Aberthaw on the weekend, homage was paid to the tufa cliff first shown to me by Julian Woodman five years ago. On my previous visit no associates were recorded, so after a little photography I noted the following direct associates, listed in decreasing levels of abundance: Eucladium verticillatum, Didymodon tophaceus, Leiocolea turbinata, Cratoneuron filicinum, Trichostomum crispulum & Gyroweisia tenuis. No doubt other species are present, but perhaps the most noteworthy species was the Gyroweisia, which I was fairly confident with in the field despite being lime-encrusted. However, a small sample was collected for checking and photos below show shoots in situ, then before and after clearing with vinegar).

male Leiocolea turbinata

Adiantum capillus-veneris looking good too

Radyr Quarry

I only became aware of the existence of Radyr Quarry thanks to to three bryophyte records made by A.E.Wade in 1950. Despite being close to home the quarry is completely hidden in trees and scrub, and doesn't stand out on my Explorer OS Map. After a bit of online research I discovered it was quarried for Radyr Stone from the 1800s until around 1920, after which it was used as a refuse tip.

Yesterday lunchtime I visited the southern end of the quarry (ST139794) and was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of bryophytes on the very shady rock faces. Radyr Stone is a breccia, comprising Triassic red sandstone with embedded fragments of Carboniferous Limestone. Given this one would  expect the flora to be calcicolous, and this proved to be the case. A single large tufaceous patch was covered in Eucladium verticillatum (photo below).

Not far away there were several patches of Leiocolea turbinata on soil-capped ledges (photo below), a new species for me. I think both this species and the Eucladium are new for ST17.

The quarry extends a fair way to the north, where it can be accessed via a LNR in Radyr (probably easier than the scramble through brambles at the southern end). I'll certainly check out the rest of it at some stage.

Incidentally, the three species Wade recorded were Riccardia chamedryfolia, Tortula modica and Microbryum davallianum. There is probably no suitable habitat remaining for the latter two species, which shows how much the quarry has changed in the last 65 years.