Burning off the Xmas fat

This morning I went for a walk with the family to the top of Mynydd Troed which overlooks Llangorse Lake and reaches a reasonable height of 609m.  Looking up from where we parked, the hill didn’t look to have much potential for bryos, with few rock outcrops and no signs of seepages or streams.   The path up passed through mostly heathland where the bryophyte cover consisted almost entirely of a mix of Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splendens and Pseudoscleropodium purum, although I did manage to spot a bit of one of my favourite liverworts Ptilidium ciliare at the heathy edge of a lichen covered boulder poking out of the ground.  Halfway up the hill an outcrop about 1m high proved to be quite base-rich with some very nice patches of Tortella bambergeri (as was), sheets of very chunky Hypnum lacunosum and scattered tufts of Grimmia pulvinata. 

Other rock outcrops slightly further up the slope were acidic and largely devoid of moss, with just a few patches of Dicranoweissia cirrata and Grimmia trichophylla.  From near the trig point is a nice view of the ridge above Pengenffordd and today it was topped off with a bit of snow.  In the valley below are the remains of what must have been an impressive castle in its day.  If you ever visit this castle take a look at the walls and outcrops on the lowest parts as they support one of the largest populations of Encalypta vulgaris in Breconshire. 

Just north of the trig point are some small crags, about 3m to 4 m high.   Again these proved to be very acidic with lots of Hypnum cupressiforme, some Isothecium myosuroides and a lot of algae.   At the base of the crags though were a few more interesting species such as Marsupella emarginata and a few crevices had the likes of Amphidium mougeotii and Fissidens adianthoides. 

A nearby grassy area held a few frosted shoots of Rhytidiadelphus loreus amongst a turf of mostly R. squarrosus.  

Back down near the car I noticed a small mound, probably an old anthill, with a bit of Ceratodon and a small Bryum that looked like rubens, for a change I had remembered to bring my handlens and so was able to see the bright red tubers amongst the rhizoids.  I must remember to make a point of looking for this moss as there are very few Breconshire records.  

So the hill seemed to be as bryologically poor as it first looked, although I didn't wander far from the path, but at least I got out in the field, a rare event this winter, and made some records for a poorly recorded square.  Also that Pengenffordd ridge looks inviting, with some better crags towards the Hay-on-Wye end and hopefully I'll get up there in 2018.

Also at Rest Bay

I had a quick poke about at Rest Bay, Porthcawl last Saturday, while I was down there with the family enjoying the empty beach. As well as the Bryum in the previous post, species noted in tetrad SS87E included Dialytrichia mucronata and Didymodon sinuosus on tarmac in the car park and Campylopus introflexus, Ceratodon purpureus and Brachythecium albicans in some sandy grassland which presumably had a degree of acidity to it. This tetrad had only one previous bryophyte record so it was good to put a few dots on the map.

The limestone outcrops on nearby Lock's Common fall within a different tetrad (SS87D). These held a reasonable diversity of species including Rhynchostegium megapolitanum and a single rosette of Riccia sorocarpa. On thin soil nearby were some good fruiting patches of one of the Pottiales. I thought these might be Tortula viridifolia at first, on account of the longly excurrent costa, but I don't think the leaf apex is rounded enough so they are probably T. modica (leaf margins are recurved).

As with much of the East Glamorgan coastline, this area would be well worth a more detailed inspection.

Bryum headache

I'm sure I'm not the first person to suffer this affliction.

There was a nice big patch of fruiting Bryum on sandy ground behind the beach at Rest Bay, Porthcawl on Saturday.

Capsules ranged from unripe to ripe so I took a sample to have a bash at getting it to species. An evening in front of the microscope, however, has left me non-plussed as I was unable to satisfactorily key it out using Smith. Below are a few photos and notes which I hope, in combination with the sandy habitat, will enable one of you to alleviate my suffering.

Leaves 0.75mm long, broad, strongly concave. Costa longly excurrent. Leaf margins strongly recurved but appear not to be bordered (unless border hidden in recurved section). Mid leaf cells c. 12 microns diam. Leaf base pinkish red.

Capsules: exostome teeth with vertical as well as horizontal divisions, not oblique. Cilia appendiculate. Synoecious (I think - there are what look like male organs at the base of the seta). Spores 15 microns diam.

I hope it's not just B. dichotomum! Hopefully the reddish leaf base rules this species out.

Lower Clydach River above Pont Llechart

Another short visit into this cascade-free and almost cliff-free valley revealed no real surprises, with just a few tetrad additions. Species noted of general interest included Colura calyptrifolia (photo below), Fontinalis squamosa, Heterocladium heteropterum var. flaccidum, Schistidium rivulare, Solenostoma paroicum, and Trichostomum tenuirostre (photo below).

This Ash supported Radula complanata at a level of abundance I've not seen before; all of the green growth visible being this species.

Non-bryological interest was provided by a little bit of Sticta fuliginosa agg./sylvatica growing on a willow, a genus in which all species appear to be very rare in Glamorgan.

A Porella in Pembs

During our annual Brown Hairstreak egg survey at West Williamston on Sunday I noticed a few stems of a Porella species growing over limestone rocks, just a few metres above the high water mark in a sheltered inlet (SN02630609). My immediate thought was Porella obtusata and, having left my camera at home, I asked Paul Gadsby to take a couple of field shots for me:

I took a small sample for microscope checking; a few underside shots are shown below. The lobules are quite variable in width - some quite narrow and some over half the width of the underleaves. I'm not sure if this is conclusive enough for obtusata, or if it might just be platyphylla - any thoughts welcome. (I did a little taste test - there was no bitterness so I think arboris-vitae is out of the equation).

 

Lower Clydach River above Craig-cefn-parc

I never found anything remarkable during a two hour search along a 1km stretch of the river today, which lacked any cascades greater than what are visible in the above photo. There was a nice colony of Jungermannia pumila (above) on one of only a couple of small cliffs, but probably the most interesting species were Ephemerum minutissimum and Bryum sauteri in an area of disturbed M23a.

One curiosity was Phlebia radiata which was enveloping entire shoots of Hypnum cupressiforme creating an interesting form (note the sample on the right in the image below has been turned upside-down). 

Little apples

Back in about 2000 Sam and I carried out a vegetation and bryophyte survey at Craig y Fro by the A470 near Craig Cerrig-gleisiad NNR.   One of the bryos that sticks in my mind from the survey is  Plagiopus oederianus, which we found growing in some abundance behind a holly bush on the crags.  I stopped by briefly the other day to see how the Plagiopus is doing and was pleased to see it seems to be doing just fine.  It is quite a distinctive plant when fruiting, looking a bit like a large, loosely tufted, Amphidium mougeotii but with small Bartramia-like fruits growing out of it.  Actually, not many of the tufts had mature sporophytes, but on one patch they were abundant.  

I had a brief look around, paying my respects to the likes of Bartramia pomiformis, Amphidium and Aneoectangium aestivum and there were a few pinkish tufts of Orthothecium intricatum here and there. 

Wilson’s filmy-fern was looking good, with green spleenwort reasonably frequent and there were also a few patches of the very attractive lichen Solorina saccata.   

Some beds along this line of crags are very calcareous and back in 2000 we recorded Cololejeunea calcarea in one area.  

I noticed a patch of Brachydontium trichodes on top of a boulder – it is quite a while since I have seen this moss and I had forgotten how small it is.  A nearby flush had some nice patches of Blindia acuta and a very pink tuft of Philonotis calcarea.