Bogging

The small parking area at the northern access to Waunafon Bog is temporally reduced to accommodate the heavy machinery and welfare facilities of a nearby civil engineering project. Nonetheless, there is still space and its free! As I pushed my way through a kissing gate and adjoining fence colourfully decorated with a variety of poo bags complete with bulging contents, a peregrine flew north. It was only just past 6am but the noise from the constant traffic of the Brynmawr - Blaenavon road hindered any attempt to detect a reeling grasshopper warbler - or anything else for that matter.

Away from the noise pollution the meadow pipit and skylark were more discernible. A Canada goose called loudly from the bogs vast interior. A steady flow of water was exiting a culvert pipe under the now disused pit road, fed by a deep channel. Its no surprise the bog appears to have a growing expanse of drier areas when unjustified and environmentally damaging water management actions are allowed to continue unchallenged. As I made for a small disused feeder pond I became aware of heavy breathing as the first off road cyclist of the morning pumped his way past without a nod or a wink. The solitary mature ash tree that stands alone on the lower slopes of the Coity marked the location of said pond. Here too are the remnants of historic fly-tipping composing of a large quantity of asbestos sheeting and a pair of white Adidas trainers, but more concerning is the vast bare and deeply incised ffridd slope roadways of scrambler bikes. 

Kicking over an area of developing lichen heath community on a patch of plateaued coal spoil I paused to ponder the prospect of a more forensic examination of the bogs moister areas. I declined.  Before climbing back onto the nicely surfaced redundant pit road I knelled to photograph the showy red tips of cladonia lichens. Now on a mission to return back a couple of calling linnet flew over and then, as if from nowhere, a second cyclist approached from behind. This time I was greeted with a stout, 'morning' as he slowed to strike up a conversation. A nice engaging cyclist, we shared man talk, that focused on camera equipment and posting on line. Interestingly he asked if I posted on the Blaenavon and Beyond Facebook site, the very same question was postulated exactly a week ago by a dog walker on Mynydd y Garn-fawr. Therefore is this site the leading authority on all things Blaenavon, I ask?