#43 Flamingo Moss by Steven Heathcote
Meet Steven Heathcote, a Senior Ecological Consultant and bryologist!
Steven is a Senior Ecologist at JBA Consulting based in Doncaster and a keen botanist and bryologist. He completed a PhD at Oxford University on the ecological adaptations of bromeliads in cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes. Since 2011 has worked as an ecological consultant, specialising in habitat and botanical survey. He is the British Bryological Society recorder for Lincolnshire and has lived in Yorkshire since 2015, is an active participant in the YNU bryophyte meetings, and records bryophytes around the county in his spare time.
Flamingo Moss
Steven’s chosen species is Flamingo Moss, Tortula cernua (formerly known as Desmatodon cernuus). A Yorkshire speciality, Flamingo Moss has always been uncommon, first reported in the UK from Barwick-in-Elmet (vc64) in 1990 and only rarely recorded from sites outside the county since. The species is a small, having a rosette of 5-10 leaves close to ground level, rarely more than 5mm high. The most distinctive feature is the capsule, held well-clear of the leaves on 2-3cm long stalk. The capsule is slightly inclined and curved with a ‘beaked’ lid, the overall appearance of the stalk and capsule giving rise to the name Flamingo Moss. Each individual appears to be short-lived, regenerating from spores on a regular basis. Production of spores appears to year-round, but probably with more capsules formed in autumn and releasing spores in spring.
A small moss species with very demanding habitat requirements, it is now restricted to a line from the south banks of River Don at Sprotborough, to Lindrick Common and Brancliff Limeworks as far south south to Steetley Quarry just over the border into Derbyshire – thought to number about seven sites overall. Interestingly, all of these sites are former lime kilns, where the waste from burning Magnesian lime was dumped.
The lime-producing industry had a stronghold on the Magnesian Limestone, and was probably at a peak in the 19th Century. Quick lime was produced at quarries already extracting building stone, with the same material burnt in ‘kilns’ and transported to Sheffield by barge. The kilns were lit with local coal, and production of a batch would have been a week-long process to light the kiln, fire the limestone then unload the quick lime. Waste material from the process was dumped locally, creating the substrate which has subsequently become the home of Flamingo Moss – giving the species an interesting link to Yorkshire’s industrial past.
The waste material has rather unique properties. It is strongly alkaline, with pH 8.7 – 9.2. Analysis of the soils of some of the sites (Headley 2006) reported ‘Under these conditions the availability of many plant nutrients, such as phosphorus and iron, is extremely limited. The material also has an unusually high ratio of magnesium to calcium, partly due to the source of the lime coming from the Magnesian limestone. This also disrupts the uptake of another plant nutrients, potassium, for higher plants’. These properties limit the ability of vascular plants to grow, maintaining the ground free of competition for Flamingo Moss.
There are interesting stories from other sites, too. It was once found in good quantity at Garfoth near Aberford (vc64), and the interesting substrate was described by Burrell in 1915 (quoted from Blockeel, 2000); ‘The lime on which it grows is sedimented from water pumped from a neighbouring coal mine, after use in steam condensers. When tested at the outfall to a cooling pit, this condenser waste had a temperature of 130ºF. The overflow runs away as a small open stream to the Cock beck. Alkaline earths in solution are precipitated when carbonic anhydride is dissipated by heat, the troughing, cooling pit and stream bed being thickly coated with the white deposit, which is from time to time cleared out and dumped on some adjoining rough pasture.’ In 2000, Tom Blockeel (one of the VC recorders, involved in the monitoring of this species) reported that although the remains of steam condensers and settling pits can be located, there is no longer suitable habitat for Flamingo Moss at this site.
Steven’s interest in bryophytes developed as a result of his enthusiastic and knowledgeable colleagues at RSK Carter Ecological. He had previously walked past the Don Valley sites oblivious to the presence of this rare species until he was alerted to it by Tom and went on to discover more about this small and graceful moss. Its interesting link to Yorkshire’s ecological past is also one of the reasons he chose it for this blog, alongside the challenge this presents in the context of modern conservation: unsurprisingly, there is no new dumping of waste from burnt Magnesian limestone and as a result the substrate is gradually losing the harsh properties that keep the habitat free from competition. There is also the occasional loss of sites through remediation or reclamation. Consequently, Flamingo Moss is now classified as Critically Endangered on the GB Red List for mosses, which was last updated in early 2023.
Recording and monitoring
Flamingo Moss was monitored intensively between 2000-2006 as part of Back from the Brink, with a summary dossier available from Plantlife. Subsequently, there has been no formal monitoring, but the British Bryological Society maintains records of all bryophytes, and records are gladly accepted via any means (iRecord, emailed to the County Recorder, through your local LERC).
Steven’s report on the status of the Don Valley populations was published in Field Bryology and is available online.
Further information and acknowledgements
NEYEDC would like to thank Steven for his time and expertise in helping to create this blog.
References
Blockeel, T. (2000). The status in Britain of the flamingo moss Tortula cernua (Huebener) Lindb.. A report for Plantlife. Salisbury: Plantlife.
Headley, A. (2006). Biological and Ecological Investigations of the moss Tortula cernua (Hüebener) Lindb. (flamingo moss). Salisbury: Plantlife.