2024 County Report for Cardiganshire
Steve Chambers
The year produced plenty of good finds, including the 2nd VCRs of Rubus tricolor Chinese Bramble (roadside bank E of Brongest, SPC) & Trachystemon orientalis Abraham-Isaac-Jacob (Felin-Wnda, SPC & GH), a new site for Orobanche minor Common Broomrape (unexpectedly in the yard of a property near Banc-y-Darren, JG, det. DLD) & a massive new population of O.rapum-genistae Greater Broomrape (below Coed Tanycastell, SPC). Near Tynreithin DKR found a new site for Genista anglica Petty Whin. A garden orchard colony of Viscum album Mistletoe originating from introduced seed was drawn to my attention by the owners in Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn. On the streets of Aberystwyth impermanent exotica included the 2nd VCR of self-seeded Zea mays Maize (SPC), all records mapped on Atlas 2020 from the SW of Cards being crop occurrences only, and a veritable outbreak of young plants of probable Cassinia leptophylla (SPC & RAJ). Re-finds of county scarce, rare or otherwise special plants included Carex magellanica (Drybedd, P & GF), Crassula tillaea (Llanrhystud, SPC & HFC), Festuca vivipara (colonies in the upper Hengwm valley, SPC), Hammarbya paludosa (‘Graig Ddu East’ site, Cwmystwyth, DLD), Hymenophyllum wilsonii (Cwmystwyth valley colonies, SPC), Sorbus torminalis (Arth Dingle, SPC) & Viola reichenbachiana (bank of the Afon Teifi near Coedmor, SPC, YJS & RB). On Pumlumon ACW & JPL made the most marvellous discovery of a large, new colony of Saxifraga hypnoides, while in the SE uplands a new site, tetrad and VC alt limit was found for Carex lasiocarpa W of Llyn Du (SPC), plus new forestry track & VC alt limit sites for Logfia minima (SPC) & Sagina subulata (SPC). Also on Pumlumon, ACW & JPW broke the VC alt limit for Hyacinthoides non-scripta by a whopping 70m!
In June, three plants of Matthiola sinuata Sea Stock were spotted by the seawall in Borth by JMW, the first time this nationally scarce coastal plant, everywhere declining apart from in its S. Wales strongholds, had been seen in Cards, generating instant mystery. On a follow-up visit SPC & HFC found a total of 17 plants, 7 flowering & 10 non-flowering, behind the seawall on the seaward side along a c. 180 m length of level shingle, where they looked natural and very much at home growing among typical shingle species. The plant is considered possibly/probably native in S. Wales, but although historic sites exist around the NW & N. Wales coast, including for Mers. (pre-1930) and Caerns., these are considered introductions. Speculation about vectors resides in the realm of the metascientific but is part of the idioplasm of a botanist: it had gotten there, but how and when? The shingle frontage at Borth where the plants grow was completely flattened by reprofiling during coastal defence works in 2013-2015. Seeds possibly arrived on machinery or in materials at the time. Equally drift seeds could have dispersed up the coast, in which case the population could be considered natural if the S. Wales plants are. On the Borth seafront concrete tub planters maintained by the council contain amongst other things some coastal plants, including Crambe maritima Sea Kale. A diligent search however failed to reveal Sea Stock in any of them. It does not in any case appear to be grown in gardens and it is not listed as being offered for sale by nurseries in the RHS Plant Finder, so hortal origin is perhaps unlikely. I favour the ‘sandy surfer’ hypothesis as the plants are centred on the part of the seafront used as a hub for beach activities like surfing. Surfers are sandy folk who like to travel around visiting different beaches. Seed may have been inadvertently imported on their gear, for example on wetsuits, surfboards, footwear and vehicles, from S. Wales.
At Llanwnnen in the south, MDS found a bush of Berberis verruculosa Warted Barberry persisting where originally planted on a verge by a hedge near the old primary school. Occurring in Britain mainly in parks and gardens in the London area, but with no records for Wales, the species is not mapped on the Atlas 2020 website but is on the NBN. Untreated in ‘Stace IV’ it features in Sell & Murrel (Vol. 1) & in John Poland’s keys, MDS using the latter to identify it.
While surveying old metal mine sites near Pen-bont Rhydybeddau in December 2021, but with no time to investigate it properly, SPC & CMFB noticed a colony of an Adiantum on a roadside bank. Revisited in December 2024 (SPC & AOC) it was identified as A.venustum (Himalayan Maidenhair Fern), seemingly the first time that this fern has been found naturalised in Britain.
The Aberystwyth Botanical Society visited Ynys-las dunes, Coed Nant Llolwyn, Penderi Oakwood (where we saw Tamus communis Black Bryony at its northernmost natural limit in Cards.), Rhos Glandenys, Comin Esgairmaen SSSI (near Bronnant) & ‘Cambrian Trees’ in Ysybyty Ystwyth. High water levels precluded the planned Llyn Gynon part of the Cwm Mwyro BSBI field meeting, but we obtained updated records for the Cwm Mwyro Cirsium dissectum colonies 5021 weeks to the day after J.H. Salter first recorded the plant there in 1924. WWBIC recorders meetings were held at Erw Fach in Capel Cynon & at Treberfedd farm near Dihewyd. Thanks as ever to the WWBIC staff for arranging these. In addition, Yusef Samari (WWBIC) is also thanked for taking on the role of checking & verifying plant records for the county submitted via the iRecord ‘app’.
Uncertainty about the future long-term functionality of MapMate meant potentially wasted time was saved by not inputting data on that system. On the downside, however, a backlog of c. 4 years’ worth of records now exist needing inputting at some point. In the meantime as recorder I have decided to prioritise fieldwork over button pressing enslavement in front of a computer
Abbreviations: Andy Jones (RAJ), Annette Williamson (ACW), Arthur Chater (AOC), Chris Forster-Brown (CMFB), Dave Reed (DKR), Dylan Davies (DLD), Gary Hillier (GH), Helen Clow (HFC), John Warren (JMW), Joyce Gillison (JG), Justin Lyons (JPL), Matt Sutton (MDS), National Biodiversity Network (NBN), Peter & Gill Foulkes (P & GF), Ruby Bye (RB), Steve Chambers (SPC), Vice-county (VC), Vice-county record (VCR), West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre (WWBIC) & Yusef Samari (YJS).
