Woodland with benefits and Llanwyrtyd not so rarities

But first the gap between this and the previous post was taken up with the BSBI Welsh AGM - of which a short pictorial summary:

This is what a group of eminent botanists looks like.

 And thanks to them this was spotted on Burry Port sea front:

Hairy Buttercup, Blodyn-ymenyn blewog or Ranunculus sardous

We were taken to see this which has taken up residence where a Power Station used to be:

Prostrate Toadflax, Llin-y-llyffant gorweddol or Linaria supina

Then at a lovely limestone site in land we saw a lot of good things including:

Marsh Cinquefoil, Pumnalen y gors or Comarum palustre (Potentilla palustris)

- which we don't often see in Brecknock.

And at Pembury Dunes we saw a lot more including:

Brackish Water-crowfoot, Crafanc-y-frân y morfa or Ranunculus baudotii

There were also talks and general Botanical chat...

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Back in Brecknock we (the Brecknock Botany Group) went to a woodland where the owners wanted to know what they had growing there.

The most unexpected species was:

Coastal Redwood, Cochwydden Califfornia or Sequoia sempervirens 

A row of five of these trees that was well-established on what would not seem to be its natural habitat on a dryish hill in Brecknock.

It is one of the few such conifers that is capable of regrowing from a stump / fallen log as here:

There were plenty of good native plants as well including Moschatel (Town-Hall Clock), Sanicle and plenty of Bluebells. 

But, best of all, the owners had a barbecue and coffee with cake available to sustain us!

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We could have done with such support for our day near Llanwrtyd where the requirements of the Atlas project required us to search for continued existence of such gems as Dog's Mercury, Moschatel and Wood Anemone. We found most of the list - with only Field Maple defeating us. The Dog's Mercury was in a hedgerow quite near where we parked but we didn't see any more all day. So it is comparatively rare there. It was a wet but rewarding day.

The Wood Anemone was looking great on the banks of the Irfon:

Wood Anemone, Blodyn y gwynt or Anemone nemorosa

And there was Hornbeam along the Irfon bank:

Hornbeam, Oestrwydden or Carpinus betulus

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