Bryum mildeanum

Some photos of the Bryum mildeanum at Castlemartin Range West, on the top of the cliff-slope to the west of Stack Rocks. It forms tight cushions, often mixed with Trichostomum brachydontium, on stones and open soil. Associates include Tortula protobryoides, Tortula viridifolia, Amblystegium serpens var. salinum and Scorpiurium circinatum.

Tortula protobryoides

Up the Afon Wern

The head of the Afon Wern, on the south side of Mynydd Preseli

Yesterday's mission was to try to add Bryum riparium to the Pembrokeshire list, so I headed for the most obvious upland stream in the county, the Afon Wern on the southern flank of Mynydd Preseli. A farmer offered me a quad bike ride up the hill, but I opted to wade the stream up from the road instead. Typical riparian mosses here included Fissidens bryoides var. cespitans, Hygrohypnum ochraceum, Racomitrium aciculare and Fontinalis squamosa.  

Fissidens bryoides var. cespitans

A new VC record came in the form of Ulota drummondii, a few tufts of which were fruiting on the twigs of a streamside gorse bush. The orangey leaves and bright white peristome teeth are distinctive. An eroding vertical acidic clay and stone bank nearby had common calcifuge bryophytes such as Ditrichum heteromallum, Pogonatum aloides and Solenostoma gracillimum, together with fruiting Dicranella subulata.

Ulota drummondii peristome and location photo

When I reached the steep headwater section, most rocks became dominated by a luxuriant growth of Marsupella emarginata var. aquatica, together with smaller patches of Nardia compressa in places. Concentrating on the vertical rock faces alongside cascades was more productive though, yielding a new liverwort for the county in the form of a tiny patch of Hygrobiella laxifolia. Although a few juvenile Marsupella shoots were mixed in, under a microscope the large underleaves, purple rhizoids and lack of oil bodies in the cells were all visible. More widespread species on these rocks included Trichostomum tenuirostre, Campylopus atrovirens and Blindia acuta. I collected five shoots of a small Fissidens in the optimistic hope that it might be the non-British F. jansenii rather than F. pusillus, but although the leaf apex looks promising, the tiny fragile leaves have proved beyond my sectioning abilities and I've shredded two shoots already. I'll leave the last three for Tom.....(unsurprisingly, he determined this as pusillus) 

Hygrobiella underleaves and habitat photo

The sun came out, and there was just time for one last find before the hike back - the target Bryum riparium, a few patches of which were on stream edge rocks. Confirmation under the microscope came in the form of the funky rhizoidal gemmae, pictured below.  A three NVCR day - I don't think I've had one of those before!

Bryum riparium

More Didymodon tomaculosus

 

A Section 7 moss it may be, but it clearly doesn't mind slumming it. This field of my neighbours near Redberth was semi-improved neutral grassland, but the planning system failed it and it's now scraped ground, soil piles and bonfire sites full of burnt old paint cans and Celotex off-cuts. The Didymodon tomaculosus took a bit of finding amongst the more predictable Pseudephemerum nitidum etc, but I eventually found a small patch. Some Microbryum davallianum with it was almost more of a surprise - there's only one other inland record in Pembs. Both Ephemerum serratum and Ephemerum minutissimum were on the site, and some Bryum klinggraeffii. The boundary stream in the background has, or had, Hygrocbye viola, Microglossum viride, Gibellula pulchra and a host of other nice fungi. It now has a suburban palisade fence right up against it to make the glamping pod occupants feel at home. Death by a thousand cuts..... 

Craig Talfynydd, Mynydd Preseli

Looking towards Carn Meini from Craig Talfynydd

I had some hill time on my way back from a job yesterday, and went looking for the two tufts of Glyphomitrium daviesii which Sam had found 'under a dolerite boulder deep in the hillside tor on Craig Talfynydd'. I stuck my head into a few holes, encountering Tritomaria quinquedentata, Huperzia selago and Hymenophyllum wilsonii but no Glyphomitrium. There was ample compensation though, in the form of some Rhabdoweisia crenulata, a few small fruiting tufts of which were bound up in a mat of Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans and Heterocladium heteropterum. A county first, and another notably disjunct species to add to the Mynydd Preseli list. UPDATE: This subsequently proved to be the commoner Rhabdoweisia crispata, the cells being too small for crenulata. I see from Sam's flora that a form of crispata at nearby Carnau Ysfa briefly caused him similar confusion.

Rhabdoweisia crispata and location photo

No new bryophytes under the boulders in the 'stone river' of Rhestir Gerrig, but I did manage a bit of hunt saboteuring when a dog fox came careering towards me whilst I was furtling under a boulder. It pirouetted on top of a rock and shot off at a tangent. I saw the hounds coming a few minutes later, so trampled as much as I could around the area. They came baying right up to me, then spent the next 20 minutes unsuccessfully trying to pick up the scent.....

Hedwigia integrifolia was nice to refind on the main tor, although only one small patch. I also refound Grimmia ramondii on one isolated, flattish boulder near here. Two new sites for Ditrichum pusillum - on the entrance track to Coed Glynaeron, and in a shale quarry on Mynydd Bach a short distance to the south - were a bonus.

Hedwigia integrifolia

 

 

Home on the Range

I'm doing some more detailed survey of the target gullies on Castlemartin Range. Not a huge amount more to add to the lists, as I crawled most of them last winter. Ephemerum recurvifolium is quite frequent in the stony gullies, and Bryum torquescens was new in one with more established turf. Open, clay-rich gullies tend to be rich in Fossombronias and Cephaloziellas. The western-most gully near Linney Head has a remarkable array of rare Cephaloziellas in a couple of hundred metres - integerrima, calyculata, stellulifera and dentata, the latter newly added last weekend. This is the third sub-population on the site. Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens was new to the site in another gully, and a recently created track near Linney Head had a good population of Microbryum floerkeanum.

Some Didymodon tophaceus on salt-sprayed cliff-top by Linney Head appears to be subspecies sicculus, described new to the UK from Lundy in the latest field bryology, but needs checking, as does some possible Bryum mildeanum. UPDATE Sharon subsequently confirmed the latter - a new county record of this Nationally Rare species. It was on the cliff edge on the south side of Flimston Down. The Didymodon tophaceus proved to be ssp. tophaceus, despite the nerve width being in the sicculus range.

My Castlemartin report from last winter is available here 

Three Carmarthenshire Didymodons 

Disturbed wet clay with Didymodon tomaculosus

A couple of days on jobs in Carmarthenshire this week. A mundane few square metres of exposed clay by a new hardstanding east of Capel Dewi on close-inspection proved to have hundreds or thousands of shoots of Didymodon tomaculosus, new to the VC and only the fifth Welsh record. It was growing with Aphanorrhegma patens, some juvenile Riccia (subbifurca?) and common species such as Dicranella varia, D. staphylina and Bryum rubens. There's plenty of similar sites with disturbed, wet clay so it must be under-recorded. Yes, it's small (look for Ephemerums and it becomes more noticeable), but it's quite distinctive in its own squat, dark green way.

Didymodon tomaculosus leaves and rhizoidal tubers

The next day I was on the range at Pendine, doing some petalwort survey (is there a more surveyed bryophyte?!). Didymodon acutus (sensu stricto) was in at least two places on disturbed, sandy track edges near the C9 range - a much rarer species than the Petalophyllum and another new species for the county. A greener, slightly papillose specimen from the west end of the test track proved to be Didymodon icmadophilus, new to the site. Weissia angustifolia from compacted sand on a trampled dune path was also new to the site, and a third record for the county. 

Didymodon acutus and location

  

 Before The Water Levels Rose

Drawdown zone at Llys-y-fran Reservoir, with Riccia huebeneriana

September was so dry, that I thought I'd better find the time to explore a few dried-up ponds and lakes in Pembrokeshire. At Llys-y-fran, the only large reservoir in the county, Ephemerum crassinervium ssp. sessile was frequent amongst Ephemerum serratum in the area where Sam found it on the south-western edge. A few shoots of Pohlia bulbifera on the rocky shore south of here were new to the site (and in a different habitat to the usual local sites on sheep-walks on wet ground in the hills). The best find though was the large population of Riccia huebeneriana on silty ground in the next inlet to the north - a new liverwort for the county.

The same Ephemerum combination is on two ponds here at Wyndrush Pastures SSSI, both dug within the last 12 years, and both with shallow clay margins specifically designed to encourage bryophytes. Weissia rostellata was also starting to fruit on these ponds, and Aphanorrhegma patens is spreading. I've also picked up two more sites for Ephemerum crassinervium ssp. sessile - new to the St David's area in typical habitat on a small area of open clay ground on the Airfield Heaths, and in a less expected location on a track edge at Knapps Farm, Martletwy. If it's in such mundane habitat here, it could be much more frequent than realised, although the possibility of me inadvertently bringing it here on my visits to the apiary can't entirely be ruled out.....

Aphanorrhegma proved to be abundant in several new sites, including old limestone quarries at Pincheston (near Redberth) and a couple at Ludchurch. Pincheston Quarry also had some Riccia cavernosa, which is otherwise only on the south coast at Stackpole and Broomhill Burrows. One of the Ludchurch sites - Croft Quarry - has three fine old lime kilns hidden in woodland at the lake edge, and Platydictya jungemannioides was a nice find amongst Anomodon viticulosus and other mosses at the base of one of these. Leptobryum pyriforme was also on a worked quarry face near here.

Lime kilns at Croft Quarry

Riccia cavernosa at Pincheston Quarry

I went looking for Ephemerum crassinervium ssp. rutheanum (E. hibernicum) in the dried-up quarry at Bosherston, which functions something like a turlough, and also at Bottom Meadow Quarry in West Williamston. No joy, but the latter has a far more extensive population of Ephemerum recurvifolium than I'd realised, with numerous patches in quite a few places -- both in the drawdown zone and on drier ground above the pools. I've recently found it to be much more widespread at Castlemartin Range as well, so that's two strong populations of an otherwise rare species in Wales. A botanical bonus at Bottom Meadow came in the form of a hybrid horsetail, Equisetum x robertsii, which was subsequently confirmed by the referee and is I think the only record away from Anglesey.

One of the many Ephemerum recurvifolium sites at West Williamston

 Tortula pallida, Ford Pill, Milton

I needed a break from report writing when the sun came out on Tuesday afternoon, so I thought I'd check out Sam's Pembrokeshire site for Tortula pallida, which he newly described as a British species in the latest Field Bryology. Although only armed with a 1km grid reference, it was the first moss that I found. A few shoots were on a fescue dominated bank above the saltmarsh, rather than down in the regularly inundated zone. There was more in some Agrostis stolonifera grassland nearby with Didymodon tophaceus, but it was most frequent on the edge of a stone track at the edge of the upper saltmarsh. Associates here included Pohlia lescuriana (a nice bonus as only the second VC record), Aphanorrhegma patens, Bryum subapiculatum, Riccia subbifurca and Tortula truncata.  The only Hennediella heimii to be found was on a silt-covered log across the nearby creek.

Tortula pallida location on grassy bank

Tortula pallida and Pohlia lescuriana location on wet track

Rhizoidal gemmae of Pohlia lescuriana