[ccfic]
Jim White
Thursday October 30th
With a reasonable weather forecast and a good number of moss hunters available, the excursion to Brownsea, postponed from last week, was able to go ahead this week. Despite road closures and for most an unfamiliar departure point, eight bryologists made it (just!) to the island for our first exploration of the NT-managed area. There would not be time for a comprehensive cover in just one visit so today we concentrated on part of the southern section, including a couple of sorties down to local wetter locations as well as a sample of the more ubiquitous drier habitats.
Trees on the plateau are exposed to full sun and wind so bryophyte cover is rather limited. Where there is an epiphyte community present, regular spp include Hypnum cupressiforme, Frullania dilatata, Metzgeria furcata, and occasional Ulota crispa, Lewinskya affinis, Cryphaea heteromalla, Myriocoleopsis minutissima and Homalothcium sericeum. Close to the main path, on the ground in light shade, bryos include Kindbergia praelonga, Brachythecium rutabulum, Atrichum undulatum, Polytrichum formosum, Mnium hornum, Lunularia cruciata, and in one spot, thickly covering an old brick, Rhyncostegium confertum. Elsewhere on (different) brickwork is Streblotrichum convolutum. Heathy acid grassland also has typical species such as Polytrichum juniperinum, Campylopus introflexus, C. pyriformis, Hypnum jutlandicum, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, Leucobryum albidum and Dicranum scoparium, some of which also grow on the many felled and partially rotten logs. In some niches in this habitat are Lepdozia reptans, and on drier surfaces Dicranella heteromalla, and Bryum capillare, while compact cushions of Dicranoweissia cirrata occur locally on rotting stumps.
There was time to explore just a couple of the small flushes that run down valleys along the S shore. Damp mineral soil here has a local turf of Gymnocolea inflata along with some other liverworts that also occur on damp peaty surfaces and intermingled with Sphagnum, including Calypogeia fissa, C. muelleriana, Cephalozia bicuspidata, C. connivens, Lophocolea bidentata and L. heterophylla. Pellia epiphylla is especially associated with the shaded and damp path-edge cuttings. A continuous cover of Sphagnum species marks the floor of the valleys, with S. fimbriatum the most frequent, along with S. subnitens, S. auriculatum and S. palustre. Aulocomnium palustre and Polytrichum commune occur locally in this assemblage.
Our search period was always going to be limited due to ferry times but it was unfortunately further curtailed today by a minor emergency, happily found later to be a false alarm! There is much more to explore or revisit more carefully, so another one or two trips to Brownsea are certainly on the cards.
