Weather

It's difficult choosing the right day at this time of year and the forecast was changing every time I checked in the days leading up to last week's expedition to northern Brecknock. Despite arriving at the start point by Y Garth hill in pouring rain, we had an enjoyable day with worthwhile finds and the promise of more to find later in the year when we plan to revisit this area that has not been recorded recently.

But it really was as though winter was only just reluctantly passing in this area which I now realise my rather shaky geographical knowledge had failed to identify as the south eastern edge of the Cambrian mountains.

So in no particular order:

This really was Blackthorn (see last month's blunder.)

Searching for identifiable plants near the stream.

A wet period

Of course the lichens and fungi were amazing

Examining a Polypody

Usnea lichen in the woodland - many of the Oaks were bedecked with this and other lichens in the higher branches - some of which had fallen.

A lichen - laden Hawthorn

Hairy Bitter-cress, Berwr chwerw blewog or Cardamine hirsuta

We spent most of the day saying we hadn't seen any Primroses or Violets (apart from a very few leaves of the latter). But then approching the end I saw a very sorry looking Primula plant with no flowers only to find that nearby in a sheltered flush there was this display of Primrose with Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage (which we had been seeing all day). We had also just before this found some (Common dog-) Violets sheltering under grass.

Primrose, Briallen or Primula vulgaris

It would be good if someone buys this woodland and manages for ground flora - it was very heavily grazed.

An orange fungus in the wood.

Blinks, Porpin y ffynnon or Montia fontana

This was a new species for all my companions - the picture is from Brechfa Pool in a previous year. Our plants had buds that were only just breaking with a tiny show of white. Definitely a worthwhile find.

Thanks to Sue and Anne for many of the above pictures.

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And is Hay last week I snapped with my phone this which just turned up in a pavement:

Springbeauty, Porpin y gwanwyn or Claytonia perfoliata

It hasn't been recorded in the county before I think but isn't a native. Here is a better picture from Weston-super-Mare:

I have noted this being included in posh salad mixes (eg at Talgarth Mill) so growing for this purpose is probably the source. Of course we have plenty of this close relative:

Pink Purslane, Porpin pinc or Claytonia sibirica

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.