4. The Isle of Sheppey.

More than half the island is low, alluvial estuarine marshland overlying London Clay, intersected by fleets which, with tidal seepage, are sometimes brackish. The whole of the south of the island is practically devoid of mosses except for the sea wall and marsh pasture types. Brachythecium albicans, (Neck), B S et G is the most common.

In the north the land is generally a little higher, rising to 210 feet between Minster and Eastchurch. This high land is mainly London Clay, with some lighter soils of the Bagshot Sands and drift deposits covering small areas in the highest part.

There are no woods. Small patches of thorn scrub are found, but these are uninteresting, with similar mosses to that described from Raspberry Hill. Roadside and hedge boundary elms have a few epiphytes such as Hypnum cupressiforme, L, Brachytheceum velutinum, (L), B S et G, Orthotrichum diaphanum, Schrad, Zygodon viridissimus, (Dicks), R Br and Tortula laevipila, (Brid), Schwaegr, but these are rare.

Fallow land mosses are those commonly found on neutral clays, such as Pottia truncatula, (L), Lindb, Phascum acaulon, L and Barbula unguiculata , (Huds) , Hedw.

From Minster to Warden the coast is formed of low clay cliffs, which are a little more interesting than most of the Island. Moving underground water causes small landslides, when the ground breaks away, leaving the rather steep, turf-covered cliff slopes with these landslipped areas with bare clay vertical faces, small flat terraces with broken ground and deep fissures. Mosses amongst the turf include Brachythecium rutabulum, (L), B S et G, B. glareosum, (Bruch), B S et G, Pseudoscleropodium purum, (L), Fleisch., Cirriphyllum piliferum (Schreb), Grout, Oxyrrhynchium praelongum, (Hedw), Warnst, O. swartzii, (Turn), Warnst and Calliergonella cuspidata, (L), Loesk. On bare clay, particularly where compacted, are Pottia truncatula, (L), Lindb, Phascum acaulon, L, Barbula unguiculata, (Huds.), Hedw., Ceratodon purpureus, (L), Brid, Bryum argenteum, L, B. erythrocarpum, Schraegr and Funaria hygrometrica, (L), Sibth. Small ravines occur in the cliffs, but I have not found a wider range of species here than elsewhere.

Perhaps the most interesting bryological habitat in Sheppey is the small shell-sand beach of Sheerness, south of Leysdown. The sea wall, covered with turf and Medicago arabica, has abundant Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, (Bland), B S et G. Behind the sea wall is an uneven area with small ponds, an ideal nesting place for wild duck and similar birds. The ponds have no mosses, but on the older sand beaches they are common, with Tortula ruraliformis, (Besch), Dix, Brachythecium albicans, (Neck) B.S. et G, Ceratodon purpureus, (L), Brid, Hypnum cupressiforme, L, Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, (Bland), B S et G, Bryum pendulum, (Hornsch), Schp, B. inclinatum, (Sw), B S et G, B. capillare, L, B. caespiticium, L, Tortella flavovirens, (Bruch), Broth, Barbula convolute, Hedw and B. unguiculata, (Huds), Hedw. The area is suitable for Pottia heimii, (Hedw), B S et G, but I did not find it. Other coast habitats are uninteresting, but the luxuriant growth of Bryum argenteum, L and Tortula muralis, (L), Hedw on the inner side of the Promenade at Sheerness is worthy of notice.

Page maintained by Susan Laflin in memory of her father Thomas Laflin
Last updated January 2005.