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