Just north of West Worthing station, the village of Tarring centres around a church, a bowling green and a recreation ground and merges into the suburban edges of Worthing. I wasn’t expecting anything unusual and predictably enough found Didymodon luridus and D. nicholsonii on damp tarmac were the first things I found as I walked north from the station.

Tarring Park was lined with Lime trees, some smattered with Syntrichia papillosa, Orthotrichum diaphanum, Lewinskya affinis and Zygodon viridissimus. S. Papillosa is now common on urban trees, particularly those next to busy roads as it seems to be tolerant of nitrogen. We have very few old records for this moss. The earliest, from 1950 has a vague location then Francis Rose found the moss at Wannock Glen in 1952. I didn’t re-find it when I visited earlier this year but it is now common in Eastbourne.

An Oak tree in Church House Grounds had a similar bryophyte assemblage but here the Zygodon had the torpedo-shaped gemmae of Z. conoideus and there was Hypnum resupinatum and a few tiny toadstools too.

Bryum dichotomum sparkled from damp paving in Church House Grounds. I’m just beginning to regularly find this common moss again, as bulbils develop between the leaf axils making it easily recognisable. Some damp tarmac had the flat rosettes of Syntrichia latifolia, most of the gemmae washed off by rain.

Bowling greens, with their manicured, chemically treated turf is often home to Ceratodon purpureus, even on chalky soils. It grew on the vertical edges of the green along with Bryum argenteum, Brachythecium rutabulum and Barbula unguiculata.

Grass in the churchyard had been left to grow slightly longer and in the shade of the church there was Plagiomnium undulatum, Calliergonella cuspidata and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus. Apart from a couple of headstones with large fans of Homalothecium sericeum and some Rhynchostegiella tenella at the base, most were bare of bryophytes. Gravel-filled graves held a bit more interest with Streblotrichum convolutum var. commutatum and plenty of Hypnum cupressiforme.

The sloping turf banks sloping down to the gutter on the north side of the church were covered in a crisp coat of Lunularia cruciata and scented with Lophocolea bidentata.

It started to drizzle and I sheltered under the lych gate, the moss on the Horsham stone roof holding back the rain.

Then there was a bit of Fissidens bryoides on bare ground and Cirriphyllum crassinervium on the base of a Sweet Chestnut, a few capsules with smooth setae and pointed lids.

On the way back to the train I came across a lone cushion of Dicranoweissia cirrata on Oak. Unusually it didn’t have sporophytes but there were a few gemmae on the backs of long leaves. Frullania dilatata grew on another Oak.

I had to change trains at Worthing and did a quick circuit to the south, taking in Christ Church where some of the gravestones looked scrubbed but there was a bit of Rhynchostegiella pumilum on bare earth and a mix of common acrocarps in gravel filled graves.

Along Ambrose Place, brick paving might be worth checking for Sphaerocarpos in the winter but now it was interesting for the emerald Lunularia battling for space with gaberdine-green Marchantia polymorpha subsp. ruderalis.

An undulating flint cobble wall in Liverpool Gardens was grouted with Syntrichia montana, (see top photo) while horizontal cobbles were stuffed with Ceratodon purpureus and Bryum argenteum.

I walked across three tetrads, two of which have now topped 40 taxa. TQ10G now has 41 up from 34. TQ10M at 33 taxa still needs some work but TQ10L in central Worthing is up to 41 from 37.