Cotoneaster and Southbya

Cotoneaster horizontalis at Southbya location, Lydstep Head

It can surely only be a matter of time before the larger of Pembrokeshire's two Southbya tophacea colonies is overwhelmed by the triple-whammy of Cotoneaster horizontalis, C. simonsii and Quercus ilex which all now spread unchecked across the old quarry on Lydstep Head. After making some headway with the Cotoneaster for a few years, the National Trust seem to have given up now, and even the fishermen who unwittingly kept a path open for the liverwort don't appear to have been this way for a while. There were still a few nice patches of Southbya on the middle section of the path, but I didn't notice the Leiocolea badensis which I'd found lower down a year or two back. 

Southbya tophacea

The wall cotoneaster has also turned the corner on to the exposed eastern slope, where it's muscling in on the ledges with Funaria pulchella, and spreading into the maritime grassland below.   It's a shame, as the pony-grazing across the head is generally keeping the limestone cliffs in a good condition. One short section of pony path along the cliff top on the south side had 8 small patches of Tortula acaulon var. papillosa, only recently found new to the county at Castlemartin. The papillae weren't quite as striking as on the latter specimen, but the ventral nerve cells produced a similar section. 

Tortula acaulon var. papillosa nerve section

A few hundred yards away, some strikingly long excurrent nerves caught my eye, and proved to belong to another variety of Tortula acaulon, var. pilifera. This had previously only been found in tiny quantity in two other locations on the south coast, so it was nice to record a couple of patches here. I didn't manage to find any bog-standard var. acaulon to finish the set.

Tortula acaulon var. pilifera

Bryum kunzei was the only other new bryophyte for the site - I've now recorded this on all of the four main coastal limestone sites in the county. Tortula protobryoides was fruiting in several places, and Tortula lanceola in a couple. Pleurochaete squarrosa has re-appeared after Sam noted it as lost to rank grassland here. 

Bryophyte-rich cliff-tops at Lydstep Head

Cotoneaster horizontalis on Funaria pulchella cliffs

 Sand Schools

I've done surveys on a couple of Ceredigion manèges over the last week.  I always hope for some interesting bryophytes in such places to contrast with the dull agricultural landscapes that I get to look at on most such pre-development jobs. 

One in Capel Seion was bryophyte covered, but the chipped car-tyres over the sand meant that it was entirely dominated by a few common species like Bryum argenteum and Ceratodon purpureus. At least one plant of the latter had copious axillary gemmae which is reportedly a rare occurrence and not something that I'd seen before.

  

Gemmae on Ceratodon purpureus are reportedly a rare occurrence

The second one, near Ffostrasol, seemed more promising - plants like common storksbill and thyme-leaved sandwort suggested that the sand may have come from the Penparc quarry. A bit of surreptitious recording around the quarry edge last year had revealed the first Aloina ambigua for the county. I could find no Aloinas, or Fossombronia incurva which is in quantity on a sand-school in north Pembrokeshire, but after quite a long search I did find a few tiny shoots of what I thought was Gymnostomum viridulum mixed in with the abundant Barbula convoluta. This would have been an unexpected addition to the Ceredigion list, but Sharon Pilkington considered the specimen too poor to confirm / accept as a voucher.  Perhaps a hard sell to the architect drawing up the plans for the glamping pods anyway, but it suggests that the source quarry may have more to offer. Otherwise, there was some vigorous Aneura pinguis, Trichostomum brachydontium and a small quantity of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens (also on the Pembrokeshire one).

Gymnostomum viridulum?

Waterfalls in the Gwaun Valley

I was in the Gwaun Valley before the harsh easterlies set in, doing some bryophyte survey for NRW. Pembrokeshire's not renowned for its waterfalls, but the steep streams of Dwfr Ddisgynfa, Cwm Du were nicely swollen. Heading upstream in waders, I found a good fruiting population of Dicranella subulata on an erosion scar created by a large beech tree which had slid into the river. This is still a rare moss in the county, but now known from three more places than the one location on the top of Preseli where Sam found it. There was a bit of Ditrichum heteromallum mixed into the small sample that I collected, which I probably wouldn't have picked out if it hadn't been fruiting.

Dicranella subulata dominates the bank here

The next section of bank had water pouring in from the wet woodland to the side, and was lined with Jubula hutchinsiae. The population here is quite large for Pembrokeshire, and some of it had sporophytes which I hadn't seen before (Sam didn't find fruiting plants during recording for his flora). I couldn't find any less common oceanic species mixed in with it, but there was some Sphagnum quinquefarium, Fissidens curnovii and Dichodontium cf. pellucidum. 

Jubula habitat

Further up, I managed to get to a promising crag next to the main waterfall which had enough spray in the area to remind me of a trip up the Rheidol with Tom in the autumn. A Trichostomum in very small quantity on the rock face here was somewhat reminiscent of the Trichostomum (Oxystegus) hibernicum that we saw that day. Tom's compared stem sections against material from Devil's Bridge and found it to have an extra zone of cells between the thin-walled medullary cells and the thick-walled cortical ones. He found the medulla proper to have 20 - 25 cells, which would place it near T. hibernicum. The leaf sheaths aren't inflated enough though, so it's Trichostomum tenuirostre var. holtii. There were also a few small shoots of Philonotis arnellii on the rock here, some Jungermannia pumila and a good sheet of Palustriella commutata. Metzgeria conjugata was on a trunk across the stream, whilst rocky ground nearby had Odontoschisma denudatum and Bazzania trilobata.

Main waterfall section

Fortunately this stream had escaped the fate of the neighbouring one to the north, which was thick with sewage fungus from a presumed recent pollution episode, not so many eyes in the countryside at the moment are there? Duly reported and quickly acted on. Lets hope the imminent new WG legislation actually makes a difference to this kind of thing.....

Not many bryophytes here

 Neottiella ricciae

I'd filed bryophilous fungi under 'maybe later if I ever get the time', but this little orange asco on Riccia sorocarpa at Broadhaven South proved surprisingly easy to ID with a google search. It's Neottiella (Leucoscyphus) ricciae, which FRDBI suggests has only been recorded once before in the UK, by Ted Ellis in Norfolk in 1968. I'm happy with that as a debut. George Greiff will take the specimen for the fungus herbarium that he's collating. The dark Riccia spore alongside the ascospores in the image below came from Riccia subbifurca, although it has something of the Mediterranean  R. warnstorfii about it - thick tubercles and a spore wing seemingly thickened to one corner. I'll be interested to see the results of Christian Berg's work on the genus when it's published, as a Stackpole specimen fed into that.  

Lydstep Head

The east end of Lydstep Head

Back on the limestone, surveying cotoneaster. It hasn't yet wiped-out the Southbya tophacea on the north side of Lydstep Head, but the otherwise great habitat is plastered in the stuff, and with some holm oak thrown in for good measure.

The east-facing slope is nice and open and exposed (so much so that my specimen box was wrenched from my hand and went over the edge). At least I found some Gymnostomum viridulum and pockets of Funaria pulchella in a few places whilst trying to retrieve it. I confirmed Bryum torquescens from rocks around the point (suspected by Sam Bosanquet, but not previously found fertile). Better still was a small amount of Bryum kunzei in a seemingly typical ridge-top location. In even smaller quantity on a path was a Weissia with unripe capsules which I suspect will be W. levieri, but I'm having to try growing it on in the hope that the ripened capsule will shed its lid, unlike W. angustifolia or longifolia.

Maybe Weissia levieri

 Coed Ty Canol

Cynodontium jenneri ledge

I've been doing some bryophyte survey for NRW in Ty Canol NNR and the Gwaun Valley. I've not had much luck trying to re-find old records of more notable species such as Harpanthus scutatus and Scapania umbrosa - they don't come with grid references and there are a lot of boulders to look at. Cyndontium jenneri was I think the first record south of the Dyfi though, on an overhung ledge on an otherwise dry, acidic and dull crag. I collected it on the off-chance it was something more interesting than Cynodontium bruntonii, and was surprised to find that it was unistratose in section and with smooth cells. Sharon Pilkington confirmed the ID - it must be out there on more wooded crags in west Wales.

Other than that, the wood is dripping with mosses and liverworts of the attractive but not particularly rare variety, such as Bazzania trilobata and Plagiochila spinulosa. Tritomaria quinquedentata was one of the few other additions to the site list - it was dominant on just a single flat-topped rock on the woodland floor.

Bazzania trilobata

 

 Coffee Break Finds

A surprisingly rich few metres of track edge

I stopped to make some coffee whilst surveying cotoneaster around Mynachlog-ddu last week. Whilst the kettle was boiling, I crawled along the edge of a track near the entrance to the former forestry at Coed Llwyn-drain. I'd found the first Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens in Pembs lower down the track a couple of years ago, but the nice mossy ground here has all been destroyed by recent forestry works. The first Didymodon icmadophilus for the north of the county was a good start, and I collected some Dicranella which proved to be subulata - only two other county sites, one of which is near the top of the Preseli ridge not too far away. Prize find, however, was Ditrichum pusillum which I've been looking out for without success for a while. This is Nationally Rare, and most or all records in Wales are old - there doesn't seem to be much here, so hopefully it will escape the fate of the Bryoerythrophyllum. 

I'll admit the kettle was whistling a bit when I got back to it......

Ditrichum pusillum leaf tips

 St Govan's

Bryum kunzei habitat on top of slope

With Weissia capsules starting to ripen, I thought I'd have a good look at the slope tops on the valley at Trevallen, near St Govan's Head. Weissia angustifolia is a local rarity known from the Castlemartin Coast, and I found occasional small patches amongst the rocks on both sides of the valley. I was hoping for Weissia levieri but it wasn't to be. There were good patches of Bryum torquescens, and some Porella platyphylla. Highlights were finding Bryum kunzei to be reasonably frequent in a few places on the top of the slope - previously known from the Gower limestone but not Pembrokeshire. Another new moss for the county was a single small patch of Phascum cuspidatum var. papillosum, or Tortula acaulon var. papillosa as it is now known. This variety is back in favour, apparently rare and southern in distribution. The papillose cells are quite striking in section.

Tortula acaulon var. papillosa, showing ventral nerve cells

 
Bryum kunzei

Funaria pulchella was fruiting well on ledges towards the head, and I found a reasonably strong patch of Platydictya jungermannioides tucked away in a recess on a crag. Just for good measure, an even tinier pleurocarp, Amblystegium confervoides was amongst larger mosses at the base of a crag in the valley. This would have been new to Pembs if I hadn't found a few wisps of it amongst Zygodon on a lime-mortared stream culvert near Martletwy a few days ago. This area is certainly some of the richest limestone country in south Wales.

Platydictya jungermannioides