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