A canal walk to start the season

The main event last week was a gentle start to our recording season with a canal walk from Gilwern to Llangattock. As one of our number remarked this canal is unusual in not having an associated railway - we suspect because the industry it served was already in decline by the railway age. 

There was plenty of botanical interest and we were able to identify a good proportion of the different species seen giving a good list for the day.

Surprisingly - for a 3 mile stretch - there was only one modern road bridge between our start and finish. But there were plenty of bridges such as this one - once important for routes now preserved as public rights of way. 

Hedera hibernica, Atlantic Ivy was seen along the route - sometimes with magnificent colour as here.

And near Llangattock we encountered some of the first Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) flowering in the county. [Or did we - Paul Green has pointed out this might well be Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera and I suspect he is right!]

And in a south facing hedgebank a very early Greater Stitchwort, Serenllys mawr or Stellaria holostea

The remains of a once great estate included this magnificent Wellingtonia or Sequoiadendron giganteum - certainly planted.

(Thanks to Sue for the photographs - my camera battery ran out early on and I had failed to bring the spare...)

Then, this weekend, the fine weather brought on some Whitlow-grass into flower near where I live in Hay. It turns out to be the same species we first identified in Brecon last year and obviously ready to be found elsewhere in the county:

Glabrous Whitlowgrass, Llysiau’r-bystwn llyfn or Erophila glabrescens

and again closer up.

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At the beginning of last week I pottered around between Erwood and Builth looking for Mistletoe - I didn't find any but did encounter this magnificent Wye view from Little Hill.

Stanner Rocks

The recording group had a treat this week. A visit to Stanner Rocks to see the 'Radnor Lily' flowering. This is the only site for this plant in the British Isles and it was discovered only in 1968, having been missed by the Victorian botanists who swarmed over this unique habitat - in the summer when the plant is totally dormant.

We had a great day for it and the sun brought a third plant into flower that day. The best was at a higher location than I have ever seen it with great views. I think Andy, the voluntary warden, took the best picture:

Early Star-of-Bethlehem, Seren-Fethlehem gynnar or Gagea bohemica

Sue's picture of the whole flower and plant

Mine of the one just opening near where another unique rarity grows later in the year. (Perennial Knawel)

More pictures of our day:

Red Wood Ant or Formica rufa, just waking up in the sun.

Please note that access to all parts of the reserve, apart from the quarry floor, requires permission and usually a guide.

Pictures from me, Andy and Sue

Waiting for Spring

I did get out with Hereford Botanical Society a week or so ago and it turned out to be one of the few goodish days we have had since the New Year. This was a walk near Bishop's Frome - home to the "Bishop's Frome Limestone" that outcrops here near Hay and continues in a thin band westwards.

It was a lovely walk. The highlight for me was Aspen trees larger than I have seen before:

Aspen, Aethnen or Populus tremula - not a view I am used to!

It was a big tree.

Male catkins

Watch out for these right now (they were too high above us, if present, near Bishop's Frome)- the male type as above are much more likely to be seen but there is a female tree near Llangorse lake that bears catkins with red stigmas. (Thanks to Ray Woods for pointing that out to me.) 

We also saw plenty of this - Herefordshire is the county for it after all.

Mistletoe, Uchelwydd or Viscum album

The group

 A fungus we met on the way.
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Meanwhile, preparations for the BSBI Welsh AGM to be held at Brecon in July continue, triggering an update of the Brecknock page on the BSBI Website.

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And here is a reminder that we have had some (very little) weather below freezing.

Not a lot of botany and an update

Llangors very full of water

I now have a picture of the participants in last week's New Year Plant Hunt - I must say looking more composed and comfortable than I had been led to believe but they are in the new bird hide at Llangasty having a well-earned break. The third member of the party, Joan is behind the camera.

This week I joined the BWT Winter Bird Watch at Llangors Lake and Ty Mawr Farm, Llangasty for welcome day out and some good sightings of birds I was glad to  a) have pointed out and b) identified. (What I don't know about birds fills most of the many books on the subject.)

The pictures that follow are a sample from a very good, but cold day with great warming hospitality from the Ty Mawr farm to round it off.

BSBI New Year Hunt

Brecknock took part in this event again - ably led by Joan as I couldn't be there. Her small but dedicated team found 19 species flowering in and around Llangasty on Llangorse lake. This was quite an achievement, considering the wet conditions underfoot and from the sky on the day. (And the number of species was coincidentally the same number as found last year by more people.)

Some pictures from Anne:

 Alder - not really open enough to call "flowering"

 Holly berries

 and flower buds - a few open ones were seen

The lake was quite full!

Here is the list:

Anthriscus sylvestris	Cow Parsley
Bellis perennis	Daisy
Cerastium fontanum	Common Mouse-ear
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium	Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage
Corylus avellana	Hazel
Cymbalaria muralis	Ivy-leaved Toadflax
Deschampsia cespitosa	Tufted Hair-grass
Ficaria verna	Lesser Celandine
Geranium robertianum	Herb-Robert
Geum urbanum	Wood Avens
Heracleum sphondylium	Hogweed
Ilex aquifolium	Holly
Lamium purpureum	Red Dead-nettle
Lapsana communis	Nipplewort
Mercurialis perennis	Dog's Mercury
Potentilla sterilis	Barren Strawberry
Silene dioica	Red Campion
Tanacetum parthenium	Feverfew
Taraxacum agg.	Dandelion

- remember these were all seen flowering...

(There were catkins on the Alder trees as above but not really developed enough to consider within the strict rules of this event.)

When I went for a walk around last year's venue, Builth Wells a few days later I saw only a few daisies. But the Giant Butterbur was much closer to flowering than it was last year - due to the very warm conditions for the season no doubt.

Giant Butterbur, Yr alan mwyaf or Petasites japonicus at Builth Wells on 6th Jan

While I was away I photographed another of this genus near Croydon:

Winter Heliotrope, Petasites fragrans

(This will no doubt be flowering around here soon - eg at Hay Castle.)

Another catch up

Since the last post in September the Brecknock Botany Group has still been active. Here is a round-up of notable days out.

A pool below Cribyn which we surveyed for a colleague doing a full investigation of all wildlife / bugs etc. The reddish vegetation is Cotton-grass. There were many lovely mosses and only a few identifiable vascular plants. We were scouting out routes for next year's BSBI Welsh AGM where it hoped to offer delegates a visit to the newly named Hawkweed, Hieracium attenboroughianum high up on Cribyn.

A neighbouring Vice County Recorder, Barry Stewart, spotted this plant far from its native range in Brynmaur by the roadside earlier in the year so I went to see it flowering later in the year.

St Dabeoc's Heath, Grug Dabeoc or Daboecia cantabrica

Found in gardens here or native in Western Ireland. These plants seemed happy in their roadside habitat.

Steph and I visited Brechfa Pool to assess the Crassula invasion. Mudwort was coping with the onslaught:

Mudwort, Lleidlys or Limosella aquatica

But great areas were swamped. It is a great pity and time will only tell what the outcome will be with or without attempts at control.

Particularly bad here where normally one would expect to see several Water-crowfoots (crowfeet?) and Lesser Marshwort.

New Zealand Pigmyweed, Corchwyn Seland Newydd or Crassula helmsii

Much more pleasant to visit unspoilt Henrhyd Falls and the Nant Llech Valley.

Henrhyd Falls

The ferns were particularly good and a great number of species were present.

Scaly Male-fern, Marchredynen euraid or Dryopteris affinis

And flowering quite late in the lanes nearby:

Common Hemp-nettle, Y benboeth or Galeopsis tetrahit

Autumn was definitely starting though.