Having visited this churchyard many times over the years, I'm reasonable familiar with its flora. However, I sense a decline in its value that's evident through the felling of a couple of mature trees and an a gradual extension to a more uniform grassland sward. As with most churchyards at this time of year there are many native and cultivar primroses. A small watercourse that runs through part of the site is flanked by ancient woodland indicator plants, such as dogs mercury, wood anemone and ramsons. The native bluebells that carpet part of the churchyard have yet to come into flower, but ..read more

Despite having no affinity to religion, churchyards are go to locations for me. For a naturalist they are often a refuge for nature squeezed from the surrounding landscape by creeping urbanisation and intensive agriculture. Spring can be a good time to visit as many churchyards are clad with the colour of early flowering ground flora, and early enough to beat the first  'tidiness' cut of busy parishioners. These islands of semi- naturalness dovetail native plants with naturalised cultivar varieties making biological recording both exciting and challenging. This churchyard overlooks the ..read more

The big three is a bit of a misnomer. These are the three medium sized waterbodies around Brynmawr that I once studied closely through weekly wildlife counts. The sites are Dunlop Semtex Pond (DSP), Beaufort Ponds, and Machine Ponds. These days with less time and energy counting for me has become more occasional and ad hoc. However, my son's new found photography hobby is generating some new found motivation to get out during the winter months. So this is just a brief account of last weekends (05/11/2023) wildfowl counts at the 'big three', complete with some site background notes. 1. Beauf ..read more

  High above The British, near to Talywain is a hillside road that takes you over Mynydd Llanhilleth and past St Iltyds church before descending into Llanhilleth itself. Its a road that was once a popular resting place for stolen cars. Vehicles were booted to the top of the hill then dumped by allowing them to free fall into the Cwmbyrgwm valley below. Crash, bang, wallop! On occasion the army were deployed to winch the stricken cars out, but they soon returned. Nowadays better vehicle security and a line of roadside blockstone has reduced the local notoriety of this valley above Th ..read more

Cwmbran Boating Lake and its wider green space environment of sport pitches and kiddies play areas is an urban park and as such attracts a multitude of users. Fisherman, dog walkers, runners, model boat enthusiasts and swan protectors, they all jostle for a slice of this watery cake. Because of this I've not spent much time at this site over recent years, preferring to avoid crowds in favour of less populated locations and the solitude this brings. Nonetheless, a brief taster visit for work was just enough motivation for a Sunday sunrise visit. Its unlikely Cwmbran Boating Lake will ever ..read more

  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 u ..read more

  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 cou ..read more

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 wi ..read more

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 th ..read more

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 l ..read more