Conked out on Entodon concinnus

A bit of focused recording on a short stretch of chalk bank was a good time to try and remember some of the new latin names for chalk-hill bryophytes. A few years ago I spotted Encalypta streptocarpa on a steep bank on a walk from Beddingham up to Red Lion pond, by the trig point on top of Itford Hill. I was with friends and didn’t have a chance to linger, but the sunken lane looked promising and I eventually managed to get back there this month.

The lane slowly emerges from a large field of rough grass and very near the top I found a few shoots of Encalypta streptocarpa. There were a few scruffy shoots of Campylium protensum nearby. Next to another small colony of Encalypta, the long, tightly curled leaves of Tortella squarrosa (Pleurochaete squarrosa) were a similar, dull yellow-green.

The track sunk deeper into the chalk as I descended, with a few more chalk specialists to add to the list. The sculptural shoots of Entodon concinnus spread like pointed fingers across the short turf. I worry about overlooking this moss as it looks a little bit like Psp. purum but it is smaller, more pointed and often has an ochre tinge; once spotted it is obviously a different plant.

To the left a small chalk pit with precarious looking chalk boulders forming a steep cliff needed checking. Some of the chalk was dark green wih Mesoptychia turbinata (Leicolea turbinata) and there was a corner bristling with Seligeria calcarea with short leaves and round capsules. The more common Seligeria calycina was here too. One large lump of chalk had tumbled into a small copse and had greened up with Tortella inflexa

Then I started to feel the effects of the booster jab and sat down on some short-cropped turf. I looked down and saw that there was Entodon concinnus spreading across the whole area. This meant looking in more detail to see if any other rarities were mixed in. Bits of Flexitrichum gracile (Ditrichum gracile) with fine green leaves provided a bit of contrasting texture but the Entodon dominated and didn’t leave room for much else.

TQ40M was already reasonably well recorded but the Encalypta, Campylium, Flexitrichum, Mesoptychia, both Seligerias and the Tortella are all new finds for the tetrad bringing it up to 74 taxa.