Gary, Heather, Arlene, Chris and Steph on the old railway path at Ystradgynlais
We walked just over 3 miles around the town and the old mining area. As usual most finds were in the built up parts but our excursion along the old railway line through the reclaimed pit area (and BWT Nature Reserves) rewarded us with male and female Hazel flowers / catkins and Barren Strawberry in full - if rather green - flower. Many of the casuals in town were hardly open but I adopted a rule of "count it if a petal can be seen"! Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was a patch of flowering Dog's Mercury. I didn't use the App in the end as gloves were essential so conventional recording with a card was employed. For similar reasons I got my camera out very little!
The rather sorry Red Clover we found.
Red Clover,
Meillionen goch
or
Trifolium pratense
Here is the list we got - 23 which is a good number for Brecknock at this time of year.
Annual Meadow-grass Poa annua
Barren Strawberry Potentilla sterilis
Common Chickweed Stellaria media
Common Mouse-ear Cerastium fontanum
Daisy Bellis perennis
Dandelion Taraxacum agg.
Dog's Mercury Mercurialis perennis
Gorse Ulex europaeus
Groundsel Senecio vulgaris
Hazel Corylus avellana
Himalayan Honeysuckle Leycesteria formosa
Ivy Hedera helix sens. lat.
Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna
Petty Spurge Euphorbia peplus
Pineappleweed Matricaria discoidea
Procumbent Pearlwort Sagina procumbens
Red Clover Trifolium pratense
Shepherd's-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris
Sweet Alison Lobularia maritima
Wall Speedwell Veronica arvensis
Wavy Bitter-cress Cardamine flexuosa
Wood Avens Geum urbanum
Yellow Crocus Crocus x luteus
It turns out that the Himalayan Honeysuckle, Leycesteria formosa may be a first record for the 10km square (SN70). We saw it twice and it would seem to be well established in the wild around the old mining areas.
(The crocus was well established in a small green but almost certainly planted at some time.)
There were plenty of fungi to see including this, found by Chris Jones from Brecknock Wildlife Trust who told us about many of the fungi we saw:
It turns out that the Himalayan Honeysuckle, Leycesteria formosa may be a first record for the 10km square (SN70). We saw it twice and it would seem to be well established in the wild around the old mining areas.
(The crocus was well established in a small green but almost certainly planted at some time.)
There were plenty of fungi to see including this, found by Chris Jones from Brecknock Wildlife Trust who told us about many of the fungi we saw:
Scarlet Elfcup
or
Sarcoscypha austriaca