Ulota coarctata

 

I had a quick look over the willow coppice a couple of hundred yards away from my house, in preparation for some imminent firewood coppicing. I last cut it about 10 years ago, and the trunks are now a few inches thick. A single Ulota capsule caught my eye, and on closer inspection it appears to be U. coarctata - pinched tip and erect peristome teeth. The leaves stayed more or less straight on drying. There's a record from North Wales, but none from the south, although it's spreading in England. Something else to try to chainsaw around, although all the other fruiting Ulota here seems to be U. bruchii.

 Trefloyne

The old limestone quarry at Trefloyne near Penally in south Pembs is in the process of being infilled with imported soil and sandstone. The soil must be coming from somewhere interesting, as one of the piles near the entrance had small patches of Didymodon acutus s.s and Didymodon tomaculosus on it, alongside Microbryum rectum and various common species. The two Didymodons were also growing together in the rut on the disturbed quarry floor pictured above. More atypically, a small patch of tomaculosus was also growing amongst Trichostomum crispulum on the limestone chip track into the northern part of the quarry. That's now four sites for it in Pembrokeshire, which suggests that it doesn't deserve its Section 7 status. 

The locally-scarce Pohlia lescuriana was beginning to fruit among commoner ruderal species such as Bryum klingraeffi on the disturbed clay here. Some shaded limestone boulders on one edge of the quarry, not yet disturbed, had another locally-scarce moss in the form of Platydictya jungermannioides. Gymnostomum viridulum was fruiting below the exposed limestone here - this is one of two locations in the county where it seems to do so regularly.

Didymodon tomaculosus

Carn Goedog

Of the various tors on Mynydd Preseli, Carn Goedog appears perhaps the least well recorded. I'd touched on it briefly with Paddy last winter, extending the known distribution of Gymnomitrion crenulatum to the west, but it seemed worth a proper look on a blustery Christmas eve. 

Tiny patches of Scapania scandica and Plagiochila spinulosa were nice on the north-facing slope here. Fir clubmoss Huperzia selago, wilson's filmy fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii and tunbridge filmy fern Hymenophyllum tunbrigense were in several places among the boulders. I startled a hare on Carn Meini, the first I've seen up here, whilst recording a few more patches of Grimmia elongata to add to the one I'd found at the start of the year.

Grimmia elongata

 Around Glandwr

Gawrllwyn Wood near Pentre-Galar in the north-east of Pembs yielded the first, and slightly overdue, record of Bryoerythrophyllum campylocarpum for the county. I'd looked for it without success on a few forestry tracks since Tom discovered it in Ceredigion. It was frequent along at least the first few hundred metres of the access track, accompanied by a good variety of interesting species - Cephaloziella integerrima, Scapania scandica, Bryoerythropyllum ferruginascens and Lophozia excisa - as well as the more typical calcifugous bryoflora of the area. 

Bryoerythrophyllum campylocarpum

A quick sortie into the nearby dolerite quarry at Iet-wen revealed more Cephaloziella integerrima, which is proving to be surprisingly well-distributed in the county. Here, it was growing with Aloina aloides and Weissia controversa on thin soil over rock at the base of a worked face. 

Cephaloziella integerrima location, Iet-wen Quarry

Over the border into Carmarthenshire, I waded the Nant Elwyn through old woodland with lots of fallen ash. One streamside ash trunk held a small patch of Bryum moravicum, scarce in the county, and here in the same habitat as its one Pembrokeshire occurrence.

Bryum moravicum location, Nant Elwyn

A north-facing outcrop in the wood had a few small patches of Philonotis capillaris as well as cushions of Amphidium mougeotii. The Philonotis was also on the floor of a tunnel by a waterfall associated with an old mill leat.

Philonotis capillaris location

 Bryophyte Conservation, Petrolhead Style

bike tracks at Glandy Cross

I found my way on to a motocross course near Glandy Cross this week. The tracks here are scraped down to the shale and clay-rich subsoil. The designer created the kind of varied topography that is sorely lacking from conservation management - ridges, puddles, banks with varying slope and aspect - and the seemingly irregular use has allowed bryophytes to thrive. Solenostoma gracillimum and Oligotrichum hercynicum dominate the acidic ground here, the latter with developing capsules which haven't previously been recorded in Pembrokeshire. Less frequent are Diplophyllum obtusifolium, Bryum bornholmense and Ditrichum lineare, the latter representing a third site in the county.

Oligotrichum with developing capsules

Scattered shoots of Ditrichum lineare were found in 3 places

A more formal survey on a disused 4x4 course just south of St Clears today also turned up some interest. I was on my knees for around for half an hour before finding what I was half expecting - a good population of Didymodon tomaculosus. Although small, the patches form a distinctly brownish 'understorey' to the taller acrocarps like Barbula unguiculata and Tortula truncata, and are readily recognisable in the field. The landowner duly took the knee and hand lens, and promised to razz about on the quad from time to time. The tracks also held Weissia rutilans and the reedbed here held some Pseudocampylium radicale, a new site for this local speciality. 

Didymodon tomaculosus and location

 Additions to the Pendine list

I wandered slightly off my watching brief at Pendine today and found a few local rarities new to the range. There were a few cushions of Grimmia orbicularis alongside G. pulvinata on the sloping concrete block pictured above. The only other county record is from a wall in Llandeilo; there is only one site in Pembrokeshire on natural limestone. Also on the same block was a Schistidium that I'm still grappling with - I don't have Nyholm's flora and I don't think Smith would work on this genus even if the page in my copy wasn't torn. Using the key in the Iberian handbook it seems to fit S. helveticum, with short hairpoints and exothecial cells of varying shape and size. As a calcicolous species with a southern distribution this is maybe not too unlikely, but with only three other British records it'll need someone more qualified than me to pronounce on it (Sharon duly did, and unsurprisingly it was muticous crassipilum)

Schistidium, possibly helveticum

Old tarmac nearby had Syntrichia virescens, otherwise only recorded from three sites in Carmarthen town.  Tortula caucasica and Amblystegium serpens var. salinum were in disturbed damp sand. Plenty of Didymodon acutus on track edges too. There was also a good 500-thalli population of Petalophyllum in a new location here to justify my straying. This was right next to a location which had been used for storing piles of sea buckthorn prior to chipping and taking off to Port Talbot for biomass. Hard to say whether the petalwort was there before and the population has been slightly damaged by the areas still under a scattered woody mulch, or hadn't been there and has been encouraged by the telehandler and lorry movements. And, stopping briefly on another range on the way back out, another entirely new location for this liverwort.

Grimmia orbicularis

A new petalwort location