Nature Tripping Episode 31 - Bryophytes and the Atlantic Rainforest

Written By Jo Kennedy

Bryophyte curious?  Join Jo and Cathy in this episode of Nature Tripping for a walk through Hardcastle Crags in Calderdale with bryologist Johnny Turner.   It might just look like green stuff but get close-up and the trees, rocks and streams are home to specialist species of mosses and liverworts indicative of Atlantic rainforest, as well as more common species once lost from the woods but now back in abundance.

We learn what makes an Atlantic rainforest and how to tell if you’re in one.  We find out about a long lineage of local bryologists from 1700s onwards and how their records reveal the impact of human activity on Calderdale’s temperate woodland across the centuries.  It’s not all bad news!  Johnny also shares his thoughts on his life-long relationship with these very ancient plants.

Bryophytes seen on the podcast walk (all images taken by Johnny Turner):

Scroll to below these images for more resources on bryophytes and Atlantic rainforests.

Lepidozia cupressina, Rock fingerwort (strictly Atlantic species)

liverwort covering a rock

Scapania gracillis, Western Earwort

Scapania gracillis - close up

Scapania umbrosa, Shady Earwort

Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Little Shaggy Moss

Bazzania trilobata, Greater whipwort (“Darth Vader”)

Fronds of Thuidium tamariscinum (feather like) amongst Sphagnum quinquefarium

Jubula hutchinsiae, Miss Hutchin’s Hollywort (in the water)

Cephalozi (Nowellia) curvifolia - Rustwort

Epiphytic polypody fern

RESOURCES

The original inspiration for this episode:

Another mine of information about the history of the woods of Calderdale:

  • Christopher Goddard (2017) ‘The West Yorkshire Woods. Part I: The Calder Valley’. Hebden Bridge: Gritstone Publishing.

And:

More information on James Needham, botanist https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/JAMES-NEEDHAM.pdf

The Woodland Trust:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/temperate-rainforest/

Other places to experience the Atlantic rainforest: https://wildhaweswater.co.uk/

Various Wildlife Trusts nature reserves:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/where-see-year-round-wildlife/where-see-uk-rainforest

Jo Kennedy
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Nature Tripping Episode 30 - Regenerative Farming and Life in the Soil