1. INTRODUCTION

This survey of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) has been commissioned by Elizabeth Roberts, the owner of the site, as part of a series of surveys to record information about the natural history of Crookedstane Rig.

The site is an area centred on Ordnance Survey grid reference NS 972 130 in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It lies between four hills: Crookedstane Rig (406 m) to the north, Tomont Hill (504 m) to the east, White Hill (374 m) to the south, and Brown Hill (382 m) to the west. It is 2 km from WNW to ESE, and between 500 m and 700 m from SSW to NNE, and measures about 1½ square kilometres in area. Much of it is gently sloping, though there are steeper slopes in the east which rise to the summit of Tomont Hill. The altitudinal range of the area is 312-504 m. The bedrock is shale of the Silurian Llandovery series (British Geological Survey 1979). The climate is wet and cool: data from the 20th century gave an average annual rainfall of about 130 cm (Meteorological Office 1952) and monthly mean daily temperatures in the approximate range 0.5-12.0 oC (Meteorological Office 1975).

Most of the site was planted with Sitka spruce Picea sitchensis in the early 1980s. The eastern part was planted with P. sitchensis in the early 1970s. Within the plantation are some open rides with Molinia caerulea and Festuca-Agrostis grasslands, Juncus effusus and J. acutiflorus rush mires and Eriophorum vaginatum bog. Other open areas include a vehicle track and three small ponds. Small groups of broadleaved trees (mainly rowan, birch, alder and willow) have been planted in many places within the open rides.

Nomenclature in this report follows Stace (1997) for vascular plants and Blockeel & Long (1998) for bryophytes.