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Anglesey -
Burial chamber near Moelfre |
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Anglesey - Cors Bodeilio:
Dactylorhiza purpurella |
I have deserted Merioneth and this blog almost since
Caerdeon. Only a few days after that was over [when it was still very cold and un-summery] we had the BSBI AGM
in Anglesey.
Almost straight afterwards we were in
France. Martin and Clare Rand arranged a wonderful botanical holiday
just south of Auxerre, in the heart of the
Burgundy
country. We stayed in a gite big enough to take 11 of us in comfort, with a
large kitchen and open-plan living room, and its own pool. This was more than welcome
as the weather got quite hot as the week went on.
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| Botanising in Burgundy |
The botanical highlights were numerous including some
wonderful arable weeds such as
Althaea
hirsuta, Hairy Mallow and
Legousia
speculum-veneris, Venus’ Looking-glass.
Perhaps the highlight for me among so much superb habitat was the
woodland with many orchids including my favourite
Cephalanthera rubra, Red Helleborine. Martin’s knowledge of the
region and its botanical riches was amazing and enabled him to take us straight
to the best areas for plants and grand scenery.
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| Le Buget at nightfall |
From there John and I went to Le Buget, our “second home” in
Auvergne and
we managed some good botany though the grain harvest was well under way and
many of the arable weeds had disappeared.
Most of the time, though we were working hard in the garden, clearing
heaps of building rubble and laying doorsteps etc.
I returned to Llandrillo in early July to find a garden
looking more like a jungle and clearing it really has had to be a priority, but
we had a good field meeting during the last week of July.
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| Yellow Water-lilies [Nuphar lutea] on Llyn Cwmorthin |
Five members of
Merioneth Nats met in Tan–y-Grisiau, among the extensive slate workings of
Ffestiniog. We recorded in two tetrads,
notching up 170 records altogether including updating
Andy
Jones’ 1997 record of Floating Water-plantain,
Luronium natans.
Coincidentally, I was sent another record of the same
special plant with a superb photograph which I’ve put in here – it gives a much
better idea of it at its best than my poor efforts!
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| Disused quarry house by Llyn Cwmorthin |
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| Disused house below Llyn Cwmorthin |
The walk up to Llyn Cwmorthin was interesting with many relics of former quarrying times and showing the uplands so much more populated than nowadays. What a bleak life it must have been - but giving rise to so much of the richness of Welsh society and culture.
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