Toad in the hole

In my characteristic haphazard way I've been trying help record plants, and in a small way make a contribution to the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) field work for their next atlas. In reality I don't record everything just those that I consider to be notable. So last weekend I was out skirting the fringes of the Brecon Beacons National Park in the Blaen Pig area of the Blaenavon industrial landscape.

Parking close to the Lamb and Fox pub I set off northwards following a watercourse with its swollen water after recent rain. The distraction of a calling stonechat saw me divert from the stream to transverse the deep heather and bilberry that is now a feature of the colliery spoil in this area. In places the actions of water run off has created boggy features of sphagnum mosses where the distinctive common cotton grass bends to the angle of the prevailing wind. By contrast the shorter hares's tail cotton grass is more resilient.

Pressing on, the curvature of the hillside took me to a spot where the Sugar Loaf mountain and Clydach Gorge could be could be comfortably viewed. To my surprise, and more closely than the distant landscape features was a pond, a pond that I had not seen before and a pond that was clearly of an industrial origin. It's linear nature was emphasised by steep banks of dwarf shrub heath. At the pond I sheltered from a sporadic shower with a cold wind. Toad tadpoles swam between the floating leaves of broad leaved and bog pondweed. A movement in the sphagnum moss caught my eye, and an adult toad was seen cowering in a makeshift hole in the moss; close by were a number of delicate plants of bog stitchwort. To my glee another albeit smaller pond was located close by filled with water horsetail. I will revisit on a warmer day in search of dragonflies.