South Central Monmouthshire

Clare took B&J away for the weekend and left me to relax and do what I wanted, so naturally I grabbed my handlens and map and headed out mossing.  My target area was western Wentwood in the southern part of central Monmouthshire, where Carboniferous Limestone and Old Red Sandstone meet and the landscape is pleasantly up & down, with narrow lanes and areas of woodland.

I knocked off three blank tetrads (ST48E, 49A and 49D) and brought two others (ST49B & 49I) up to par (>80 spp) following visits to them a few years ago.  Bryologically there wasn't much to write home about, just a good cross section of the local flora.  Highlights were Tortula marginata on the wall of Penhow Woodlands NNR carpark (3rd VC35 record), a patch of Neckera pumila in Penhow Woodlands NNR (new for ST48), Fissidens exilis on the floor of some recent coppice, Plagiothecium curvifolium on conifer logs, fruiting Brachythecium velutinum on a lane bank, and the calcicoles Anomodon viticulosus, Taxiphyllum wissgrillii and Fissidens gracilifolius in the NNR.  I also got unnecessarily excited about some Orthotrichum stramineum with very orange calyptra tips, but its hairy vaginula indicated it wasn't O. pallens.

 

A few recent pics

A few pics of samples collected last week:

Brachytheciastrum velutinum (Velvet Feather-moss) at Swansea Vale
I couldn't relocate Sam's Scopelophila in a 10 minute search,
but will try again next time I'm passing. 

Pogonatum nanum (Dwarf Haircap) at Rhossili Down 30-Nov-14

Weissia perssonii (Persson's Stubble-moss) at Rhossili Down 30-Nov-14

Metal toxic Swansea

Here are a couple of photos from the Pluck Lake/Six Pits branch area of Llansamlet, taken during a survey in 2007.  Brachythecium velutinum on the metal-rich spoil is extremely falcate and well-marked; Scopelophila cataractae is more subtle, but distinctively tongue-shaped; the area also supported a peculiar bulbiliferous Pohlia that keys as P annotina but is too shiny (suggesting P proligera).  It would be good to go back some time to see how these species are doing, because 99% of the metal spoil heaps in Swansea have been reclaimed.