Tuesday 29 March 2016

Glynrhigos Farm

rocks in Afon Dulais with abundant Schistidium rivulare
A friendly (and slightly bemused) farmer at Glynrhigos Farm kindly permitted access for me to record along the Afon Dulais section that passes through SN70R today and I must say despite the rain, it was nice to spend an hour and a half bryologising in the evening, finishing at 7:30pm. The main highlight from this square-bash was a 15cm x 15cm mound of  Leucobryum juniperoideum (confirmed by leaf section - photos below) wedged in a root gap at the base of an oak. Other species of interest included Calypogeia muelleriana, Chiloscyphus pallescens, Lejeuanea patens, Nowellia curvifolia, Orthodontium lineare, Plagiomnium rostratum, Schistidium rivulare & Trichostomum tenuirostre. The square is now on 85 (in fact now 91 after this morning's additional dets.), but a future visit to grassy heaths and coniferous plantations on higher ground at Mynydd Marchywel, plus more epiphyte recording (poorly sampled today) should comfortably take the square over 100.
Leucobryum juniperoideum at base of oak
lower part of the L. juniperoideum mound
L. juniperoideum leaf sections
Trichostomum tenuirostre

2 comments:

  1. Well done Barry, that's a tough square, so if you get it over 100 that would be excellent. I think all the previous records were from a small section of the Cilfrew/Crynant road.
    Any Leucobryum is a good record for NPT. We recorded L. glaucum not too far away from there but I wonder now whether it might have been L. juniperoideum. I didn't look at leaf sections at the time, but I kept some dried samples as vouchers, so I'd better check that out. Watch this space!

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  2. Yes, I must confess that I wasn't that convinced by the proportions of the narrow/broad leaf parts as a good character, as these were both long and short with everything in-between, but the leaf section is pretty convincing - I look forward to finding out what your leaf sections reveal...

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