A Walk along the Wye from Builth Wells

 In 2013 I photographed this Black-poplar on the Wye bank east of Builth.

Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia, Black-poplar

These magnificent trees have long been in the county and are considered to be native in England but are probably introductions in Breconshire where they may have been planted to provide timber. Most trees in the county are males, making natural reproduction difficult...

We visited it again as a botany group yesterday only to find it sadly changed:

The tree-surgery may well have been advisable - to prevent it falling under its own weight into the river - and it is clearly responding vigorously to the treatment ! We noticed that trunk is very hollow at the bottom...

Just to prove it clearly the same tree here it is in 2013 before coming into leaf:

The tree was first recorded in in 1996 and was identified as the native subspecies in 2005 by Mike Porter. The first picture above is featured in Mike's Flora of the county.

The Flora of Brecknockshire

Why "Brecknockshire"?

It covers more places than the current ceremonial county of Breconshire and Mike Porter wanted this title. 

The County used for wildlife recording purposes is quite a lot larger than the current Powys southern limits allow and is the same as the area designated by Hewett Cottrell Watson in 1852. He had not heard that Glasbury had not long ago been made part of Breconshire - so we still leave that area to the Radnorshire recorders.

In the early part of the 20th century the name Brecknockshire became popular for the area.

Here is the leaflet promoting the book:

New Year - new start. The Brecknockshire New Year Plant Hunt

This blog has been resting while I (and members of the group) worked on completing the Flora of the County which will be published in the spring. Sadly Mike Porter, who wrote almost all of it, did not live to see it fully published. Mike was County Recorder for Botany from 1968 until last year so this Flora will be the end result of a lifetime's work.

We (the Brecknock Botany Group) intended to do a group hunt for the BSBI New Year Plant Hunt scheme at Trecastle but weather warnings (a little OTT as it turned out) decided us to do several small local hunts - including one in which two of us did brave it to Trecastle.

In all 65 wild growing plants were found flowering in the county with the highest tally being at Llangynidr by Anne and Joan. (26)

A few pictures:

Arabidopsis thaliana, Thale Cress at Trecastle, Claire Halpin

Several of us found Daisies flowering (Bellis perennis). This from Hay Graveyard by me.

Chaenorhinum origanifolium, Malling Toadflax thrives all year round near my house - not intervention from me at all and has been there since 2013 when it presumably escaped from a window box. Now naturalized in pavement cracks.

Lamium purpureum, Red Dead-nettle is a more recent arrival in the same habitat. Now well established.

Several of us found this grass which grows everywhere and "flowers" all year round. Poa annua, Annual Meadow-grass.

A Good Week

We explored a practically unrecorded tetrad on the Black Mountain last week. The route from where we parked had a lot of good things that could not be completely ignored so it took us until 1230 to enter the area of interest. 

This shows where most of us explored - the river (Afon Gwys) providing the most interest.

Meanwhile intrepid Stephen descended into the steep Afon Giedd valley to explore places like this:

Afon Giedd entering its gorge.

A good haul of records was obtained and both common Cotton-grasses were seen with Hare's-tail Cotton-grass being the most abundant:

Hare's-tail Cottongrass near the Afon Gwys Fawr

Then I heard that Hairy Greenweed (Genista pilosa) was flowering at Ogof Ffynnon Ddu on the limestone pavement. This seems to be a rare occurrence so three of us went there on Friday to check it out. The species is quite rare in the UK with relatively strong populations in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire and only a few other isolated sites in the whole country. (Cadair Idris hosts it also in Wales.) So our population is quite important. We found five patches in all growing and flowering strongly.

Hairy Greenweed (Genista pilosa)

Cold, wet, but worth it

Llangors Lake and its margins often have something new to offer. But the day we chose for this botanical exploration was windy, cold and wet. However the Blackthorn cheered us up.

The group at Llangasty

Ash inflorescences

And Marsh Marish gold (Caltha palustris) is always good to see.

But this: Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris) was the find of the day - a new record for the area.

A good re-find on our first outing of the year.

Petrosedum rupestre (L.) P V Heath (Sedum rupestre L.) or Rock Stonecrop,  Briweg Felen, isn't thought to be a native in the British Isles these days but J A Webb commented in a draft for a Flora of the county* that Rock Stonecrop was  “almost certainly native and abundant on rocks 40’ high in the Duhonw Glen at Aberduhonw” where A E Wade had first recorded the plant in 1921. (This site is probably Duhonw Rocks SO0348, where it was found by Mike Porter in 1970 and Brecknock Botany Group two days ago.)

The rocks near Llandewi'r Cwm where we spotted the plant. 

A close up picture from Sue Goodhead's camera

New information (20/02/2025): Rev W M Rogers saw it at "Duhonw Glen" in 1898. Probably also the same location.

* This Flora never made it to print...

A few updates

We explored along Sarn Helen starting from Coelbren to get some records from unrecorded areas. The views were also rewarding as we approached the Nedd valley.

This had us stumped - and the online picture ID apps actually helped - a common enough plant but we weren't familiar with the fruits.

Fruits of Sneezewort, Ystrewlys or Achillea ptarmica

And a section of the road where Roman drainage no longer worked yielded this.

Floating Bur-reed Cleddlys arnofiol or Sparganium angustifolium

And here is a lovely view of the Beacons from an unusual viewpoint, Cwar yr Ystrad on Llangynidr Mountain. Anne was exploring another under recorded area.

Photo by Anne Griffiths