DHBlog013 · A report by Jim White
As with the previous report, the scientific names are those found in the Bryophyte Field Guide with the more recent names shown in brackets. If you would like to join Jim and the group then please use the contact form on this website to provide your details and they will be forwarded to him.
Thursday 4th November, Wild Woodbury
It proved a tough call, deciding whether to run with a session last Thursday. The unpredictability of the showers (apart from their intensity) in the preceding days, and the expected timing eastwards of the band of heavy rain all made for a tricky decision. In the event the rain just about ceased as our group was due to set off, and the six of us returning to Wild Woodbury had a very fair day, ahead of a return of rain in the late afternoon, after we’d finished. It was very good to have Robert back with us this time (see below results of his painstaking examination of Bryums!), and we were joined by Seb for an hour or so which was also much appreciated.
The strip of trees, including mature oaks, hazel, ash and field maple, beside Spears Lane provides a good range of woodland bryos much like the similar habitat in previous weeks, with spp including
Hypnum cupressiforme, Isothecium myosuroides, Orthotrichum affine(Lewinskya affinis), Cryphaea heteromalla, Ulota bruchii, Frullania dilatata, and Cololejeunea (Myriocoleopsis)minutissima. There is frequent Metzgeria furcata, saturated after the recent rain, and some M. violacea. Syntrichia laevipila is also a nice find here, and other local occurrences include Radula complanata, Homalothecium sericeum, Orthotrichum (Pulvigera) lyellii,Zygodon viridissimus and Amblystegium serpens. The floor has some Atrichum undulatum, Kindbergia praelonga, Brachythecium rutabulum and locally Eurhynchium striatum and Plagiomnium undulatum, this latter moss showing very fine ‘palm-tree’ form. The bank forming the west side of the narrow wooded belt has Mnium hornum, Dicranella heteromalla and Fissidens viridulus while the vertical sides of ditches bordering the track support much F taxifolius.
We moved to the large Brickhills field, taking our lunch spot at the top edge in pleasant sunshine and with the fine view, before embarking on the more challenging bryo-search of the ‘arable’ flora. The field had a maize crop most recently and open ground, now with a bryophyte cover, is still widely scattered. Several spp now becoming familiar are consistently present, such as Tortula acaulon, Bryum rubens, Oxyrrhynchium hians, Barbula unguiculata, Barbula (Streblotrichum) convolutum (these last two looking unusually translucent in wet condition), and the tiny but frequent Ephemerum serratum. Also here (and perhaps missed in other fields, not least because so little ground gets inspected!) include Archidium alternifolium, Funaria hygrometrica, Trichodon cylindricus, Bryum argenteum and B. subapiculatum. The very attractive rosettes of the liverwort Riccia sorocarpa also occur locally, closely pressed to the soil surface.
Rather less ground was covered today than expected, so another visit to the rest of Brickhills and adjoining compartments will probably be in order next time.
Pictured above are: the leafy liverwort Radula complanata growing on a tree and covered with perianths - the little pea-green rectangles that will ultimately produce the spores; the large moss Plagiomnium undulatum growing on the floor of the wood like miniature palm trees; a dense mat of the tiny moss Ephemerum serratum crammed with even tinier capsules; and finally a beautiful rosette of Riccia sorocarpa, a thallose liverwort growing well in the abandoned arable fields. Image credits: Robert Sharp.