The Digedi valley was my first outing last week - to take a group on the old route up towards Gospel Pass to see some of the remains of the days when it was "a busy highway" with a plant nursery and a school as well as to see some of the varied flora along the route.
In the event it was too early for the Meadow Saxifrage and the Bladdernut that has presumably been there since the days of the nursery was cut down to the ground in clearing operations around the ford. There were signs of regeneration though.
Bladdernut (fruits), Cneuen godog or Staphylea pinnata in 2012
At Penyrwrlod Serth (a deserted farmstead) we had a view of the daffodils being cultivated
high in the Black Mountains. Presumably part of the ongoing trial for production of galantamine. Higher yields come from growing the bulbs in the more stressful (for the plants) conditions here.
Then I set out to chase up one or two things I wanted to see like this Solomon's Seal growing by the hedge outside Trefecca:
Garden Solomon's-seal, Llysiau-Solomon yr ardd or Polygonatum x hybridum
and then further west in the county to see this flowering:
Soft-leaved Sedge, Hesgen feddal or Carex montana
Soft-leaved Sedge isn't found in many parts of the the British Isles but we have good populations in Brecknock.
In Cae Bryntywarch Nature Reserve Lousewort was dotted everywhere.
Lousewort, Melog y cwn or Pedicularis sylvatica
Then I joined a Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales walk right on our borders - we walked out in Brecknock, went round the source of the Usk and returned through Carmarthenshire. It's wild country and I made some records of the more obvious species seen but it was mainly about stone circles, sheepfolds and other relics of the past.
The young Usk
A deserted stone sheepfold
Lichen encrusted rock - part of an alignment
Close up
And little streams like this to go back and explore more...
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