A new website has been created which aims to promote awareness and conservation of bryophytes at sites by providing freely available and up-to-date information on important locations for these plants. The area covered comprises the vice-county of Cheshire (v.c. 58). Sites are identified as Nationally Important or Regionally Important according to sets of criteria. New [...]
The sandstone outcrops of The Weald and Cheshire have been major national strongholds for the endangered Slender Thread-moss (Orthodontium gracile), a rare plant in Europe. But recent searches in Cheshire have raised new concerns over its future. A total of 11 days of surveying in Alderley Edge and The Peckforton Hills found the plant at [...]
Orthotrichum pulchellum (above) and O. affine (below) on an ash twig at Alderley Edge, both rare at this site in the recent past but now locally frequent It is unusual to be able to make sound judgements about trends in many bryophyte populations at a site since there is rarely sufficient information. A [...]
A small group of extraordinary bryophytes, known as ‘obligate metallophytes’, are entirely confined to substrates that are rich in heavy metals such as copper, conditions that are toxic to normal plant growth. Earlier in Earth’s history, when the land surface was more skeletal, they were probably much more frequent but today are rare. During a [...]
