Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata): a year in the life.

Marsh Clubmoss in striking light at Chobham Common.

I've struggled to keep up to date with this blog due to other commitments, however, I've decided to at least post some of the posts left in the 'draft' pile- including this post summarising my photography and experience following Marsh Clubmoss in Surrey during my M.Sc. at Royal Holloway:

I've been hiking to remote areas in the search of clubmosses for a couple of years now (-click here-), predominantly in the Lake District National Park. My hunt to see all 6 native English/Lake District clubmosses finally came to an end on the 22nd August 2021 when I found Interrupted Clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum) on the eastern slopes of Bowfell, below Bowfell Buttress at its sole English site. 

Interrupted Clubmoss on the eastern slopes of Bowfell.

While this species has to be up there for the most attractive of the clubmosses, as well as the rarest (in an English context), one of the biggest highlights of the summer of 2021 was finding Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) at Torver Common, Coniston. This endangered plant is found at only seventy heathland sites in England, three of which are in Cumbria, however, many of these sites contain very small populations and are at risk of local extinction. The decline of this species is primarily due to habitat loss and fragmentation, as it relies on periodically disturbed wet heathland. It is currently subject to conservation measures by the Species Recovery Trust and Freshwater Habitats Trust. A great source of information on the ecology, history and conservation of the Marsh Clubmoss, the aforementioned Species Recovery Trust provides a set of in-depth resources (-click here-). 

When I moved to Egham to study Quaternary Science MSc at Royal Holloway, University of London, one of the first things I did was to look for wild spaces with flora and fauna I had not seen before, and too my surprise I found Chobham Common and other Thames Basin Heaths. Among an impressive assemblage of fauna, such as Dartford Warbler, Silver-studded Blues and Grass Snake and flora such as Broad-leaved Helleborine, I found numerous populations of Marsh Clubmoss. This post is intended to be a summary of my observations over my year living locally to the site, despite COVID-19 restrictions, in order to inform and enthuse others about these charismatic little plants. 

On arriving in September, I had searched numerous times for Marsh Clubmoss on the common, however, covering 1,620 acres was a challenge so after some emailing, I was kindly given the sites by Stephen Fry (for his blog -click here-). So, in November, on receiving this information, I had a mad dash in the rain to find them before I returned home for a weekend. Having prior only seen this species at the end of summer at Torver, I wanted to see plants with mature strobili before they 'went over' with increasingly poor weather.  

A fantastic group of three strobili in their autumn colours and the green basal vegetative stems. This group was on the edge of a small peaty pool.  

One of the best features of the strobili on the upright stems was that in the deeper pools they poked out of the water dragging the meniscus of the water up with them. This lead to some interesting opportunities for photography. 

The vegetative stems are probably the least inspiring bits of Marsh Clubmoss in winter, but in the cool winter light they can be quite attractive- for a clubmoss.

Following this initial discovery trip, I returned in June to find the population looking particularly fine in the summer sun.

A group of 6 strobili-bearing upright stems backlit. It was nice to remain dry unlike my visit in November!

The plants stood out from the background vegetation far better than in winter. During winter the yellow-brown colour of the strobili and upright stems blended in with the Molinia but in the bright summer light they were very visible due to their bright lime colour, often backed against the black bare peat. 

While many of the plants in the population were high and dry, often on the margins of the pools, some of the best looking plants were just about in the pools. 

Marsh clubmoss has some spectacular associates, notably Cross-leaved Heath, Intermediate-leaved Sundew and a variety of sedges and lichens. 

Sadly I did not get to make any more visits to this site, but hopefully in the future I will get the opportunity to see this charismatic rare little plant elsewhere in the future.