A dip in personal well-being since the Spring has reduced my drive to blog over recent months. But the lack of motivation to write this journal doesn't mean I've not been getting out and about. I find the brain fog that often accompanies stress can be eased by an outing in the fresh air. So a few weeks back I took to exploring the black patch at The British.
The black patch is an area of plateaued coal spoil that was once devoid of vegetation, kept free by the actions of scrambler bikes. Now, thanks to the power of successional processes, rewilding if you like, the black patch is quickly moving to green. Gorse and willow scrub, patches of acid grassland with devil's bit scabious and southern marsh orchid and small ponds and marshy hollows where lesser spearwort has clononised places the black patch firmly within the definition of open mosaic habitat on previously developed land.
Its location so close to Talywain and Abersychan is ideal as accessible open space where locals walk their dogs, fly tip their rubbish and illegally ride their motorbikes. With this ease of access its little surprise that the black patch has accumulated a varied flora of non native garden throw-outs. Aster, cotoneaster, monbretia, Japanese knotweed, lady's mantle can all be found cheek by jowl with native acid grassland and heathland species.
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| Monbretia |
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| Japanese rose |
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