Yorkshire Feather Moss
Thamnobryum cataractarum
About
An aquatic moss only discovered in 1991 in a deep ravine near Ingleton. Research has shown that it is most closely related to a moss that is endemic to Madeira. It is a medium-sized, dark green moss which forms rough mats with branches up to 5 cm long.
It is found exclusively on rock within a narrow band around 40cm wide, that broadly corresponded with the level of the river. The lowest colonies of the moss are underwater throughout the year, and during high spate flows all colonies will be submerged. It is mostly limited to rock faces that are subjected to strong water currents for significant periods, a niche that few other plants are able to tolerate and where it is often dominant.
Conservation status
One of the rarest mosses in the world. Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, a UKBAP priority species.
Feather Moss on the Ingleton Waterfall Walk.
Alongside the falls’ TV-static roar,
their oily hiss, the sprays of mist-rain
a green hush grows, settling on rock and wood.
Feather Moss. It’s all in your name, your softness.
Each frond curled like a dimple in a cheek,
spindly tendrils spread out like beard grizzle
–or a downy nest, for little creatures to rest.
A pearly-backed beetle might nestle in your tufts,
polish his shell in the water-beads, while, outside,
the world hurries on. Trail walkers pass, the light thins
and returns. Whinchats arrive, hatch their young,
head south again. Trees drop their old coats;
but you do not mark the years. Here
you remain, steadfast in your greenness,
stiller than stone;
content with this one small
patch of the world.
Yorkshire Feather‑moss (Thamnobryum cataractarum) is known from just one small site: Twisleton Glen, a gorge in the Yorkshire Dales on the Ingleton ‘waterfalls walk’. No other wild populations have been found elsewhere in the world, making this moss a unique and delicate presence in its corner of the glen.
Length: 104 seconds
Poem: Lauren Hollingsworth-Smith
Read by: Lauren Hollingsworth-Smith
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