Beautiful bryophytes at Roydon Common


Friday 19 July, 2013

There has been a feast of bryophyte discoveries at NWT Roydon Common recently, and two particularly special mosses have been found. The first one, woolly feather-moss occurs within calcareous fens which are rich in sedges and brown mosses. It is considered a glacial relic, as it is found in fossils from around 130,000 years ago during an age of extensive glaciation, when many temperate plants and animals became extinct.
This find is particularly exciting as the bryophyte had not been recorded at Roydon Common for over 50 years and was believed to be extinct on the site. Moreover, it has not been found in other former locations around the county such as Holt Lowes and Buxton Heath. In the 1990s a lot of scrub clearing was carried out by NWT across Roydon Common and the occurrence of this moss 20 years later is a likely response to that work to open up the vegetation.
 The second find is a new moss for the site, and the first record for west Norfolk, with only three other site records in the county. Rigid bog-moss has a prominent green ‘nose-cone’ (terminal bud) and tends to have an attractive ginger tint to its surrounding branches and leaves. This species is also a good indicator of calcareous conditions.
The location still requires further scrub management to reduce shading and nutrient enrichment of the vegetation community. We hope more new bryophyte records occur as work progresses.
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