One wet evening

The American Gardens above Pontypool Park is something of a local novelty. A collection of redwood trees,other conifers and various rhododendrons grow in an entanglement around a roadside pond. For years devoid of management the dark overgrown domination of rhododendron has now given way to a new feeling of openness and light. Selective felling and a pond makeover has now put the site on the naturalists itinerary. 

Between rain showers and a visit to the local supermarket I risked a foot drenching for a short walk around these gardens. The pond supported a couple of male mallard and several black domesticated fowl.. A coal tit called as I examined a discarded tree trunk complete with chicken in the woods fungi. The only invertebrate of note was the long horn moth  Nematopogon schwarziellus