Days in the Black Mountains - 2 Rhos Dirion & Nant Uchaf

A glorious Day 2 in the Black Mountains started and ended with low cloud, but there was bright sunshine in the middle of the day.  I started at Gospel Pass and walked westwards to the crags east of Lord Hereford's Knob.  These and the other north-facing crags have tempted me for ages, so it was exciting finally to visit them.  These first crags were relatively mundane ORS outcrops with base-enrichment: highlights included constant Seligeria recurvata, frequent Orthothecium intricatum, and scattered patches of Lophozia incisa, Bartramia ithyphylla, Pohlia cruda, Scapania aspera (dorsal branching) and Schistidium strictum.  Surprise find of the morning was an extensive colony of Zygodon viridissimus var. viridissimus on ORS at 550m altitude, which beats the Atlas altitude record.

Once the cloud had lifted, I headed over the top of the Knob to an area of base-rich flushes at SO223347, which held Philonotis calcarea, Plagiomnium ellipticum and some excellent female Riccardia incurvata.  My initial plan had been to stick to the ridges, but the unexplored headwaters of the Nant Bwch and Nant Uchaf drew me in.  A Short-eared Owl flew up from Molinia as I walked down into the valley, and I found myself in a wonderful area of scattered trees, tufaceous flushes, frozen waterfalls and ORS boulders.  The bryophyte flora didn't live up to my hopes (I cannot believe there was no Haplomitrium for example), but notable finds included Sphagnum quinquefarium, Leiocolea collaris, Preissia quadrata, Drepanocladus revolvens ss, Scapania scandica and Hyocomium armoricum.

Returning to the tops, I looked at dull blanket bog at 700m altitude on Twyn Talycefn - a single mound of Racomitrium lanuginosum was the highlight - and at the same altitude on Rhos Dirion.  The most remarkable find of the day was the nitrophilous Orthotrichum diaphanum on the Rhos Dirion trig point, at 713m altitude which beats the Atlas record by >150m {I don't want to think about its N source up there}.  For a brief moment the clouds were below me, and I looked west across a sea of cloud to the 'island' of Pen-y-fan.

Looking down from the top, it was obvious that the uppermost crags of Pen Rhos Dirion (700m altitude) hadn't thawed out for weeks.  They were surely the place for something rare... a relatively quick search of a few 10s of metres of the upper crag produced Grimmia torquata new for the Black Mountains, Brachydontium trichodes and Plagiobryum zieri, none of which had been seen on the morning's lower crags.  The big lower outcrops of the Pen Rhos Dirion crag await a return visit, and are likely to be base-rich and interesting.  Perhaps Graham will accompany me for that one...

Days in the Black Mountains - 1 Hatterall Ridge

In contrast to the Brecon Beacons - which Graham and I surveyed systematically in the early/mid 2000s - the Black Mountains are very under-recorded.  They have relatively fewer crags than the Beacons, but those which are present hold some very base-rich rock.  Star species include Seligeria patula and Scapania calcicola on Tarren yr Esgob, an old record of Amblyodon dealbatus, and even a historic claim of Myurella julacea.  We hope to fill in some gaps in recording this year, and I made a start on two days in early-mid January 2018.

My first day was spent in Monmouthshire, where I filled in three marginal tetrads: the fragmentary SO23R and SO32E held fewer than 20 species each, but SO23V was pretty rich, with well over 100 species.  I walked up on to the Hatterall Ridge from the east, between the Red Darren and Black Darren in Herefordshire.  Once on the ridge I marched north to the northernmost point of VC35, which is marked by a tiny cairn.  The northernmost bryophyte in the county turned out to be Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, and half an hour of combing the dry blanket bog produced just 11 species.  Surprise highlight of the area was a patch of leggy Bilberry at >600m altitude that sported 10+ tufts of Ulota bruchii and a tuft of Orthotrichum pulchellum!

The blanket bog on the Hatterall Ridge is mostly very dry and degraded, but I made a few DAFOR lists as I worked my way south.  Highlights were a 1x1m mound of Sphagnum capillifolium rubellum at SO275311, 10s of square metres of S. cuspidatum and S. papillosum in an area of pools at SO281306, and a few shoots of Cephalozia connivens in the latter area.  Cowberry and Crowberry were prominent features of the area.

A contrast to the blanket bog/moorland was provided by the hillside above Trevelog, at 420-450m altitude; this accounted for the majority of the bryophyte diversity in SO23V.  There were Old Red Sandstone boulders with Ptychomitrium polyphyllum, Seligeria recurvata and Tortella fasciculata, a deep valley with Entosthodon obtusus, Ditrichum gracile, Gymnostomum aeruginosum and abundant Conocephalum salebrosum, and a series of base-rich rills with Philonotis calcarea, Palustriella falcata, Jungermannia exsertifolia, Leiocolea bantriensis, Plagiomnium ellipticum and P. elatum.  Star find was some dense patches of Riccardia incurvata alongside one of the rills, new for the Black Mountains and VC35.

After these riches I reckoned the tetrad was well-covered, so climbed back up to the ridge so as to head southwards to SO32E.  En route I noticed a frozen flush high on the hillside in SO22Z, so headed for it.  My logic was that if a spring/flush was cold enough to be frozen when the rest of the hill had thawed then it should hold something rare.  I followed it upwards, and found two extensive patches of Sphagnum platyphyllum at SO286297 & SO287297 - my logic had proved right!  This was a new species for the Black Mountains and VC35, and is a long way south of its nearest colonies in mid Wales and the Long Mynd.  It was also the most well-marked S. platyphyllum I have ever seen, with large apical buds, pale stems, large stem leaves and regularly monoclade shoots.

SO32E still beckoned, and on my way there I spied another rushy spring on the ridge edge.  This too held Sphagnum platyphyllum at SO297287, as well as S. capillifolium rubellum and S. papillosum.  The final fragmentary tetrad produced 17 species, which was all that could be expected from a few hundred square metres of dry, patch-burnt blanket bog.  All in all it was a good day! 

A few bits and bobs from the Usk

I had a quick walk along the Usk at Abergavenny at lunchtime on Friday and it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Hennediella stanfordensis for some time.  Water levels were low enough to be able drop down onto rivers edge and peer at the eroding banks.   Bank erosion due to recent winter floods meant that there were relatively few areas with any bryophyte cover and it took me some time to find a few small patches of Hennediella although were some nice colonies of Bryum gemmiferum here and there.    

Not sure I have ever looked at Hennediella under the microscope – the few teeth near the leaf tips are very distinctive.

Male and female Lunularia seem frequent along this part of the Usk – in the past I have kept an eye on mixed patches, but haven’t yet seen any sporophytes.

 

Further upstream past the hospital is a stoney bank where Bryum donianum grows – I am not sure I have ever looked at donianum under the microscope either, so I pulled a couple of leaves off – in the field the thick margin joining the nerve is obvious, but the tiny teeth probably less so.    

Bonus species included a common sandpiper, presumably the same bird I had seen further upstream earlier in the week, a kingfisher and there were also a few snowdrops flowering on a nearby roadside.

After the Rhodies have 'gone'

Following the clearance of blanketing thickets of Rhododendron in parts of Cwmdulais a few years back, I have made a few casual records of what has been recolonising. The only lower plants (which currently provide the bulk of the ground cover) noted in a small sampling area during a casual Christmas Eve stroll, were (in decreasing levels of abundance) Campylopus introflexus, Cladonia chlorophaea agg., Dicranella heteromalla, Hypnum cupressiforme var. cupressiforme, Polytrichum juniperinum, Cladonia coniocraea and Dicranum scoparium. Clearly there is more diversity than this in the valley (see my previous post HERE on this subject), but to date recolonisation of cleared Rhododendron in the valley has been by a rather limited suite of species. Needless to say the Rhododendron is showing good signs of recovery!

A small, mildly basic flush at SN61730358 did provide a point of interest amongst this predominantly acid tolerant vegetation, with species noted (again in decreasing levels of abundance) including Dicranella varia, Riccardia chamedryfolia, Aneura pinguis, Cratoneuron filicinum, Didymodon fallax, Philonotis Fontana, Didymodon tophaceus, Didymodon insulanus, Pellia endiviifolia, Pohlia wahlenbergii var. wahlenbergii, Bryum pseudotriquetrum & Pseudocrossidium hornschuchianum. I'm not sure if this vegetation comprises recent colonists or was hiding beneath the Rhodendrons prior to clearance?

Memorial Mosses

For the last five years I have driven past a collection of sad-looking teddy bears strapped to a tree in Gorseinon, which mark the spot of a fatal accident. Over time the teddies have been colonised by bryophytes and not wishing to be disrespectful I have put aside my natural curiosity to take a closer look. However, as the shrine has not been tendered for several years, today my conscience allowed me to take a look. This little community of memorial mosses included Bryum capillare, Ceratodon purpureus, Microlejeunea ulicina, Orthotrichum affine, O. diaphanum, Syntrichia laevipila & Zygodon conoideus.

Flat Holm Island (summer)

I’ve been out to Flat Holm lots of times, firstly volunteering as an enthusiastic  17 year old, then following that whenever I had the chance. It is a fascinating place, packed with history and lots of gulls too. According to the information there are 20,000 nesting pairs, all toing and froing from ‘chippy ally’ in Cardiff back out to the island.

The grand total of bryophytes recorded on Flat Holm was, until recently one…or maybe it was two, either way I felt confident that even I could make a useful contribution. So I jumped at the chance to go with SEWBREC for their BioBlitz back in August 2017. 

The islands varied past land use means there is plenty of hard-core paths, tarmac, derelict buildings, concrete and limestone block structures, but there are very few – well almost no, natural water features. I have found only one persistent ‘drip’ that lasts year round, in the appropriately, if not enthusiastically  named ‘dripping cove’, where with some luck you will also find a small patch of Eucladium verticillatum hanging onto the underside of the cliff face. The very overgrown WWII defence ditch around the lighthouse also provides one of the few sheltered spots on the island capable of producing any humidity, and the limestone/soil banks are home to plenty of Fissidens taxifolius var. taxifolius and the trees and shrubs ideal habitats for any epiphytes. I’m sure that there is plenty more to find in the right season or with an expert eye, but until then here are the limited ‘highlights’ of the summertime trip;

Brachythecium populem, Barbula unguiculata, Bryum argenteum, Eucladium verticillatum, Fissidens taxifolius var. taxifolius, Hypnum lacunosum, Kindbergia praelonga, Metzgeria furcate, Orthotrichum diaphanum, Plagiomnium affine, Rhynchostegiella tenella, Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Syntrichia ruralis subs. ruralis, Tortula moralis, Trichostomum brachydontium and Wessia brachcarpa var oliqua.

As always I was very grateful for Georges and Sam’s help with confirming some of the IDs and pointing out where I had gone hopelessly wrong,  it really is the only way to learn when you are starting out – so hats off to them again. New years resolution is to be able to confidently record in a local area without making too many mistakes.........



One small area of Eucladium verticillatum forming near a persistent drip in the 'Dripping cove'.





Flat Holm Island (image copyright of RCAHMW)









A frosty day at Llantrisant Common

On 28th December I spent a sunny day recording bryophytes on Llantrisant Common with Karen Wilkinson and Caroline O'Rourke.

Although the weather was beautiful the ground frost never cleared - Karen was reduced to ripping up chunks of frozen Sphagnum to take home to identify. We probably missed some smaller species as a result - there was no chance of picking through Sphagnum in the field to look for small liverworts, for example.

We covered the western bits of the common and succeeded in upping tetrad ST08M from 46 to 75 taxa. The existing site list was largely made up of records from CCW vegetation surveys in the 90s, topped up with a few grots I recorded in 2015. There were no epiphytes on the list however, and these made up the bulk of the additions. We'd hoped to re-find Scapania paludicola, recorded in several places by CCW, and got excited by some promising Scapania in M15 wet heath, but this proved on closer inspection to be S. irrigua.

The highlight of the day was a small patch of Atrichum crispum close to a stream (5th Glamorgan tetrad, top photos below). Other finds included Calliergonella lindbergii (below left) among short grass in several places, Pseudephemerum nitidum and vegetative Physcomitrium pyriforme (hopefully safe to record) rubbing shoulders in a rushy ditch (below right) and Orthotrichum stramineum on an old willow.

 

Karen recorded 6 species of Sphagnum including S. fimbriatum and S. fallax new for the site, as well as some beautiful wine-red S. capillifolium.

We strayed into the southern part of the common, which falls within ST08L, and took the total for that tetrad from 53 to 63 taxa. We didn't have time to explore the extensive eastern side of the common and are planning a return visit sometime...