Punching above its weight

 

The walk to the Woodland Trust's Punchbowl Reserve was one of relative ease. All down hill through the golden bracken covered slopes of the lower Blorenge and onward through sheep pasture interspersed with veteran beech trees to the Punchbowl lake itself. 

We were not alone on our trek, it was a Sunday afternoon there was a family, a biker, a young couple and a father with two children and a dog - this is a popular destination. The well worn path was sandy in places and peppered with the chambers of the solitary bee heather colletes. An adjacent field complete with gorse and an upper drystone wall boundary was unsurprisingly home to a male stonechat.

The lake itself was turbidly green, its margins carpeted with New Zealand pygmyweed. In the water was soft hornwort and where there was exposed mud its cousin rigid hornwort could be found. A patch of soft rush attracted my attention. Contained therein were several long-winged conehead, a Roesel's bush cricket, field and meadow grasshoppers and ground and slender groundhoppers. Here too were common blue and blue tailed damselflies. There was little to see on the water but when the sun appeared and the temperature increased the surface became alive with busy small red-eyed damselfly, yet another site in the range expansion of this species. 

The walk back was marked by frequent breath gathering stops and the overtaking by those walkers much younger and fitter than me. My accompanying son bemoaned the fact that I carried too much naturalist paraphernalia for my own good. 

An idiot with a gun - toxic masculinity.

 

A midweek walk around one of my many local patches ended up with an altercation with a person carrying a firearm. Foolhardy you may say but I detest guns and the gun culture especially when those wishing to pursue their intimidating pastime choose a public site to exercise their testosterone filled activity. 

For those who know the area, this poor excuse for a person was carrying an uncovered rifle around the grassland just beyond the Big Arch, and was working his dog through dense scrub. Not wishing to become a victim of a stray bullet I moved to a position where this idiot could see me. After a short while I decided to make my way back to my car and prepare to leave. Whilst packing up I noticed the man in the distance still carrying his weapon and making his way in my direction, this was no surprise as the vehicle parked next to me was clearly his. Bizarrely as he arrived to where his car was parked his gun was no where to be seen he had clearly noticed me looking at him and had hidden the gun en route. He then chose to aggressively challenge me on why I was looking at him etc. I responded by saying that I didn't care for him carrying a gun around in a well used public space. Interestingly, he then walked off feigning a limp, under the Big Arch but without his weapon and car giving the impression he had walked to the site, but he had not. A subsequent check of his car number plate revealed he had no MOT. To sum up this person owned a firearm, was aggressive, and had no regard for the law. In other words an absolute tosser!

In terms of wildlife  there was not too much to report other than a stridulating Roesel's bush cricket and several early instar long-winged conehead.

High above a valley

The felling of a considerable block of oppressive conifers high above the A472 Cwm y Glyn between Crumlin and Pontypool has opened up the prospect of a new area to explore. The resultant clearfell is quickly regenerating with both native broadleaves and unfortunately conifers but the elevated views from the haul road are impressive, including a whole new perspective of Graig Major ancient woodland. 

At its entrance there's the standard Natural Resources Wales (NRW) signage welcoming the visitor to Hafodyrynys Forest. From here, the track with its short flower rich margin climbs in a winding fashion through the landscape. A solitary southern marsh orchid was found along this track. As the road meandered upwards it travelled through an area of mature beech trees with a distant signing redstart. At its highest point there were commanding views over the valley. Here several tree pipit sung whist a two banded longthorn beetle alighted nearby.

This is a site that merits further investigation especially for the possibility of nightjar. The only disappointing aspect was the presence of four off road motorbikers.

 

A portrait of fence posts

There's something very photogenic about wooden fence posts. Knaweled, pitted, weathered and colonised by lichens and bryophytes they stand as witness to a changing landscape. In an industrial setting many are remnant field boundaries, often associated by drystone walls, but others will have surrounded a working landscape of coal and iron. Few are lightweight giving them the longevity to see out the ravages of upland weather. Most that remain are wooden beasts the size of railway sleepers, strapped into place with the heavy ironmongery of now rusty bolts and brackets that is a trademark of the way valley communities lived. These rugged blocks of timber are sentinels standing watch of a uniquely varied  landscape. Long may they remain. 

 

Boundaries

Earlier this month I pushed my dodgy knees to the limit by exploring the lower upland slopes between the top of Graig Ddu near Talywaun and Waunwen. This is an area I've explored infrequently and is charaterised by stone wall field boundaries and mature beech trees. The fields and their remnant walled boundaries are part of a nearby lost farmstead. Now the enclosures are dominanted by billberry, bracken. heather and gorse with a landscape once fashioned by sheep grazing now replaced by extensive linear interventions of scrambler bike activity.

My ramblers on this day uncovered a couple of landownership boundary markers. The first is a well weathered stone marker at the entrance of Griag Ddu woodland . The second is one more in keeping with the localities industrial heritage and is made of cast iron inscribed with W&BM apprantly meaning Waunwen.

In terms of nature I was hoping for a singing pied flycatcher but drew a blank. Otherwise, there were serveral signing redstart, another possible Greenland wheatear, a whinchat and several linnet and redpoll around a large patch of gorse. 

 

Some nature from Hill's Tramroad

The section of Hill's Tramroad that nestles under the east facing slope of Blorenge mountain, is a delightful walk. It starts at a disused farmstead with its enclosures of drystone walls and weatherbeaten hawthorn, blackthorn and sycamore trees and takes the walker within touching distance of bracken dominated ffridd habitat. The views are also impressive with the Skirrid to the south east, the Sugar Loaf to the east and the Usk Valley and the Brecon Beacons to the north.

This stroll was with my son who is discovering photography with a new micro two thirds camera, so it was less a naturalist walk more a photography session, but this didn't stop me picking up the odd interesting biological record. The first thing that struck me was the sound of singing willow warbler, there were many taking up position in the scrubby interface between now clearfell confier woodland and ffridd. Here too were serveral parachuting tree pipit. A male wheatear alighted on the top of a drystone wall, two red kite passed over and a pair of stonechat stone chatted. This intergrade from woody habitat to open upland was notable for its flowering plants. Wood anemone, wood sorrel and emergeing bluebell were evident as was a patch of moschatel or townhall clock. A bloody nosed beetle lumbered along the track side.

Back at the discused farmstead the sun shone on a copse of brillant white flowering blackthorn complete with bracket fungus. The yellow flowering gorse accommodated a pair of linnet, no doubt with a nest somewhere contained. A springtime swallow rounded off a pleasing afternoon.

 

Two days at The British (upper and lower)

Sunday 10 April - Upper

Acid grassland with yellow meadow ant mounds and scrambler bike damage in background.

I was out early to beat the bikers and to hopefully pick up on some of those Spring migrants. Taking the footpath on the western fringes of the enlclosed grassland towards Big Pond the morning was bright and sunny. A fieldfare type call soon alerted me to the presence of a male ring ouzel. Emerging from the shadow of a large beech tree the birds white cresent plumage could be seen prominent and eye catching against the strong morning sunlight. As I moved closer the bird guilded to the comfort of a nearby tree giving continued good views. 

Satisfied that I'd connected with a very notable passage bird I moved on to Big Pond. Here the damage to the hillside from continuous scrambler bike activity stopped me in my tracks. The extent of this damage is shocking, with those involved clearly having no regard for the environment or the farming community thats seeking to earn a living from this land. But even more disheartening is the inability of the Police to counter this illegal activity. 

Male Ring Ouzel

Friday 15 April - Lower

Male Redstart

The lower part of The British is well known for its Big Arch enterance feature and its disused buildings with a steep moulded backdrop of gorse covered coal spoil. The day before had been notable for an influx of Spring migrants so I was hopefully this visit would produce a similar result. 

The morning was still, with little breeze so ideal for picking out bird song. The first clear song was that of the chiffchaff. These birds have been around for a few weeks now so most will no doubt be singing from there chosen breeding territories. And then my first willow warbler could be heard singing from an area of gorse scrub. As I walked around the ampitheater type setting of this lower part of The British I could hear more willow warbler - three maybe four singing in unison.

I knew the now ramshackled National Coal Borad (NCB) building with its maturing self seeded trees had supported a breeding pair of redstart in the past, so through the hum of my tinnitus I listened carefully and sure enough a male was signing proudly from the environs of this crumbing building.

Not too much on offer from a botanical perspective but a dead elder complete with jelly ear fungus at the top of a tip proved a challenge to access, but I managed it with a few odd stumbles. Here it was also pleasing to find a mature specimen of wild privet. So all in all a reasonable Good Friday.

Dead elder with jelly ear fungus

 

Putative Greenland Wheatear

Its said that familiarity breeds contempt and that was certainly the case when I photographed this male wheatear on the lower slopes of Mynydd Coety recently. Wheatears are widespread on the hills around Blaenavon and following the inital notirity of seeing the birds returning in March they are relegated to 'banker' status for a birding walk throughout Spring and Summer. It wasn't until I posted a photograph on my Twitter account was the prospect of a Greenland wheatear given any consideration. It was a suggestion from local birder Graig Conatance that got me to give this bird the level of scrutiny it rightly deserved.

Greenland wheatear sub-species Oenanthe oenanthe leucorhoa breed in Iceland and Greenland but pass through Britain on their way to their breeding grounds. Although one can never be sure this is O o leucorhoa there are field signs that can help. Note this bird has a strong brown tinge to its mantle. The Greenland race is said to be chunkier - note the pot belly. And the breast coluration is extensive. 

So there you have it Greenland wheatear, yes or no, take your pick.

 

Botanising in a cemetery

For some, botanising in a cemetery on a Sunday morning in early Spring may seem a touch bazaar but burial grounds can be rich pickings for an inquisitive naturalist. The interest in such sites lies within the blend of remnant semi improved grassland, parkland type trees and the variety of introduced memorial plants that have naturalised this type of setting. 

Panteg Cemetery on the outskirts of Pontypool is large and old. It still accepts burials but for a naturalist its the aged parts that keep the attention the most. Primroses frequent grave surfaces and have colonised extensively throughout the cemetery. A large patch of the non-native three-cornered leek occurs under a tree with individual outlying plants some distance away suggesting that it won't be too long before it become more widespread. As its early Spring some small stands of snowdrops were in flower. Another grave was covered in the winter flowering sowbread. Red valerian was widespread with many displaying evidence of the gall Trioza centranthi.

There was certainly enough on show to whet the appetite of a naturalist and diary mark further visits during the coming Spring and Summer.

 

Three-cornered Leek (Allium triquetrum)

Abraham-issac-jacob (Trachystemon orientalis)

Wood Surge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Sowbread (Cyclamen hederifolium)

Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) with leaf roll (Trioza centranthi)