Here and there

Several outings last week with still plenty to see and record.

First I took a visitor to Cae Pwll y Bo and Vicarage Meadows BWT Reserves. Cae Pwll y Bo had been cut but evidence of the Globeflower population wasn't hard to find among the cut herbage. And around the edge several other species were in evidence including this Hemp-nettle:

Common Hemp-nettle or Y benboeth hollt, Galeopsis tetrahit

More usually the flower background colour is white in my experience so this was a showier example but still the common species as labelled above. The less common "Bifid Hemp-nettle" has the darker markings in the centre extending to the edge of the lip.

The in Vicarage Meadows there was plenty to see, but not all of the species flowering. However this was:

Saw-wort or Dant y pysgodyn, Serratula tinctoria

Then a tour around several sites that required various checks - at the Digedi Valley Road Verge Nature Reserve we saw abundant Hairy St John's-wort along a good stretch of the road (outside the reserve are as well as in) together with a good show of Wild Basil.

Wild Basil or Brenhinllys gwyllt, Clinopodium vulgare

Hairy St John's-wort or Eurinllys blewog, Hypericum hirsutum

(Not photographed last week - they had finished flowering.)

Nearby at another RVNR the "Autumn Crocus" was putting on a very good show. The verge mowing apparently being exactly to specifications for this plant. It's not a crocus so the "correct" common name is given below. It is also known as "Naked Ladies".

Meadow Saffron or Saffrwm y ddôl, Colchicum autumnale

Then on the morning of the BWT 50th anniversary celebrations a group of BWT members met up for a guided walk at Allty Rhongyr where the timing would normally be spot on for seeing flowering Autumn Gentian but this was well-over at both sites where it is now known at the reserve.

We did make a new species record for the reserve though:

Entire-leaved Cotoneaster Cotoneaster cyfanddail Cotoneaster integrifolius

Not a happy find as this can become a real nuisance in limestone scree habitats such as this so this will have to be dug up! 

One of the participants particularly wanted to see the Rock-rose that grows at Allt Rhongyr. We soon found plentiful plants to show but it took a long a little longer to find the one solitary flower still showing !

Common Rock-rose or Cor-rosyn cyffredin, Helianthemum nummularium