Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - January 2005 - No 71
Richard Pryce

Leader Richard Pryce

About fifteen members and friends met at Llangennech railway station but there was a slight delay as Dr George Hutchinson was expected to arrive on the 13:51 train but the service was twenty minutes late.  Mrs Kath Pryce who was billed to lead the party was unavoidably absent due to her mother’s illness, so Richard Pryce was volunteered as stand-in.

The saltmarsh was crossed along the concrete road leading to the sewage treatment works (photo p.28) with the substitute leader explaining the various vegetation zones with their characteristic plants. The upper zones were dominated by, from the upper-most, Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera), Red Fescue (Festuca rubra) and Common Saltmarsh-grass (Puccinellia maritima), with lower zones represented in the mud ‘cliffs’ of the creeks by Sea-purslane (Atriplex portulacoides) and the lowest mud colonists by Common Cord-grass (Spartina anglica).  Discussion ensued as to the distinction between the superficially similar and often confused (at least to the leader!) Sea Arrow-grass (Triglochin maritima) and Sea Plantain (Plantago maritima). Other prominent species included Thrift (Armeria maritima), Sea Rush (Juncus maritimus), both the purple-flowered Lesser Sea-spurrey (Spergularia marina) and the larger, white-flowered Greater Sea-spurrey (S. media) and Sea Aster (Aster tripolium), with the un-rayed flower form being much more frequent than the rayed form.  By the sewage works gate, several plants of Sea-wormwood (Seriphidium maritimum) were seen and a vain attempt was made to find Hard Grass (Parapholis strigosa) which had first been recorded in SN50 at this site by Barry Stewart in 2001. At the interface between the sea-washed mud and saltmarsh vegetation, Purple Glasswort (Salicornia ramosissima) was identified.

Several Little Egrets were noted on the estuarine flats together with Grey Heron, Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Curlew, Oystercatcher and other waders but the party was not lucky enough to see the Kingfishers which frequent the saltmarsh creeks.

On the return towards the railway, the leader pointed out a few plants of Parsley Water-dropwort (Oenanthe lachenallii) with its distinctive fruits, growing beyond the reach of most tides, and several stands of the slender, rather delicate-looking Saltmarsh Rush (Juncus gerardii).  A diversion was made to the small slag beach below a scrub-thicket, comprising principally of the bramble Rubus ulmifolius, on which several casual and ephemeral species were recorded, including Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum), Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), Early Forget-me-not (Myosotis ramosissima), Cut-leaved Dead-nettle (Lamium hybridum) and large (next-year’s) rosettes of Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus).

The railway fence was then followed through the scrub back to the station with rank stands of Sea Couch (Elytrigia atherica), Perennial Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), Hoary Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana) being noted on the way.