Interesting, why so few deer in Wales historically? Much discussion about proper grazing levels for bryophytes/lichens in Welsh Atlantic woods...I have visited some where overshading by bracken/bramble is a serious issue, others where the effects of past overgrazing are stark

I've only ever seen it as a saxicole too. Some amazing photos on iNaturalist of it covering tree trunks and branches in places like Madeira and the Azores

Yes, for a lot of the woodland sites I have visited here in N Wales, NRW's site management statements note that deer are spreading in the region as their numbers increase and may become an issue for woodland regen

A tree clothed in the Filmy-fern Hymenophyllum tunbrigense at Ceunant Llennyrch NNR. Transported for a moment to the Macaronesian laurissilva. We can only imagine what virgin temperate rainforest looked like in the Welsh uplands now - perhaps this was a more common sight @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The leaves of the moss Dicranodontium denudatum break off easily and act as vegetative propagules. They are very "sticky" too, at least when wet. Was perhaps an even more efficient method of dispersal when more large animals like deer, boar, and moose roamed our woodlands. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Trees covered in the hyperoceanic liverworts Plagiochila spinulosa (left) and Scapania gracilis (right) in the temperate rainforest at Coed Hafod-y-Llyn, Gwynedd. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Here is what the leaves look like under the microscope. The nerve is less stout than in H. tenax and longer than in H. humile. It is often "kinked" in the upper half.

Willow Feather-moss (Hygroamblystegium varium) on stones in willow carr around the edges of a dried-up reservoir. It probably spends much of the year at least partially submerged, as the surrounding soil was sprouting 100s of plants of Physcomitrium pyriforme and P. patens. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Sausage-shaped antheridia (reproductive structures) from male plants of the moss Zygodon conoideus. They are surrounded by paraphyses (unicellular strands) and produced in a rosehip-shaped perigonium. Many bryophytes produce reproductive structures at this time of year. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Characteristic down-turned margins with strongly curved hairs separate it from similar Metzgeria conjugata - plus the "fan-like" growth habit visible in some of the colonies photographed above.

It was nice to find a mega colony of the uncommon hyperoceanic liverwort Metzgeria leptoneura in North Wales recently. Very surprised that it doesn't seem to have been noticed at this otherwise well-recorded site before.