In spite of the eye-watering cost of diesel now, we decided to go up to Kim’s in the van now we have got it through the MoT. Hoping to repeat the successful arrangement of last summer, we plan to go up for a week, overlapping with Angus and Brendan’s week there for a few days in the middle of our visit. It’s less pressure on Kim if we aren’t all there for the whole time, especially if the weather’s poor.
August 1st ‘22
Although the diary said today is a bank holiday, there were a lot of heavy lorries on the roads, as well as cars and what seemed to be tradesmen going about their work. [It turned out it was only a public holiday in Scotland and Ireland] We left about 7am and stopped at 9 for breakfast at the Taunton Deane services. The Somerset countryside was looking golden with ripe corn and stubbles and the gleaning rooks, starlings and gulls.
By midday we reached the Gilfach Valley, a nature reserve a bit north of Rhayader. There were several cars in the car-park near the entrance so we drove on up the valley till we could turn and stop beside the road, and ate our lunch looking back down the valley over extensive coniferous/ birch woodland and the willow wood along the stream. The steep hillsides were grazed moorland with rocky outcrops.
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| Looking down the Gilfach valley |
While Tony slept after lunch, I walked up the road enjoying the fine views and the big clumps of ling growing among the boulders on the hillside.
Huge slabs of slate have been up-ended and used as a fine boundary.
We continued northwards and this time took the road from Llanidloes directly cross country past Llyn Clywedog and then along narrow single track but fortunately quiet, lanes then up and over the great mountain pass beyond Malltwyd to rejoin our more usual road at Cross-Foxes. This avoids the busy and bendy road up to Machynllech and then to Dolgellau.
We had originally planned to meet Kim a bit south of Trawsfynedd to stop overnight in Snowdonia and put out the moth trap. Our mid-journey phone conversation told us that rain was forecast to set in about 4pm so not fancying a wet night for either Kim in her bivvy-bag or for the moth trap, we decided to scrap that plan and go straight on to Ty'n Gamdda. We arrived at Kim’s at Ty’n Gamdda at 4-30pm as it started to rain! So it was a wise choice! There was half an inch of rain over the next 18 hours.
Tuesday 2nd Aug.
The drizzle continues and with a brisk SW wind. Jane came over and we settled down to a good catch-up chat. Largely an ‘in day’ with almost half an inch of rain.
Wed.3rd August.
Sunny and warm. We watched the comings and goings of Willouby’s Leafcutter bees bringing big pieces of leaf to various holes Gwydion had drilled in some big blocks of wood. We watched from the sunny clearing in the back garden. This year the bees are also using the drainage holes near the base of a plant pot there.
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| Blocks of wood with holes bored for solitary bees. |
Willouby's Leaf-cutter Bee with piece of rose leaf before dragging it into a hole at the base of a pot plant.
Rose leaf with almost circular sections cut out by leafcutter bees. They take mere seconds to remove each piece of leaf.
Later we drove to Widlin on the North coast of Pen Lleyn, and Kim and I walked across a couple of fields from the lane to the cliff top. From there we could look down into the small bay, across rocks to the far end where a thick layer of sandy head material overlies the rock. There are about 17 Sand Martins’ nest holes there and we could see the comings and goings of several martins at a distance. Nearer along the beach we could see a Whimbrel and three Common Sandpipers feeding on the scattered seaweed near the high tideline and a couple of Oystercatchers and a few Black-headed Gulls.
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| The yellowish patch at the top of the cliff at the far end of the bay is where the sand Matins have excavated their nest holes. |
Two or three Sandwich Terns were flying and occasionally plunging into the sea, calling with their rusty screeches and then returning to the beach where a youngster was persistently begging for food from the returning adults, usually without success.
A Grayling butterfly came and settled just in front of us. They always close their wings as soon as they alight, and lean over sideways a little so only their camouflaged under - wing is seen.
Towards the end of the afternoon we went to pick blackberries along the track beyond Cau Crin. There is a fine crop of good big, well-flavoured ones along here. Stewed and strained, they make a delicious puree with Greek yoghurt.
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| Patches of Harebells always adorn the banks around here. |
At twilight we set up the Skinner moth trap in the top corner of the hayfield, hoping it would be more or less sheltered from the fresh westerly wind.
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| Skinner moth trap in the hay field. |
Half of the hayfield was cut this afternoon. K & G have left it late so the insects could enjoy the flowers. They are only cutting half so that next year they can compare growth and insects in the two differently managed areas.
Thursday 4th August
Kim got up at 5.30 and switched off the moth trap and covered it before going on her morning walk along the cliff and we opened up after breakfast. Despite the breeze and clear sky we had a respectable catch of 64 individuals of 40 species. A few were new for the year for Kim and me too, as I don’t get coastal species in inland SE Cornwall. Scarce Footman is a novelty for me and so too is the Yellowtail and Crescent Dart, but all of which we trap in Brittany.
During our visit we walked down from time to time, to the pond Kim dug in the bottom corner of the hay field last year. It is beginning to settle in quite well, with clumps of marginal and emerging plants including Water Plantain, Bogbean and various rushes and sedges looking established. Small quantities of duckweed have appeared and the water lily has a succession of beautiful white flowers opening every day. So far there is about 90% open water surface so plenty of space for pond skaters, water boatmen and whirligig beetles, and Kim has seen six different species of Dragonflies and damsels, some mating and laying eggs. The myriad toad tadpoles have long since grown and taken to dry land. Sitting on the bench at one end, we watched birds coming to drink and bathe ; House Sparrows, Linnets, Goldfinches and a Pied Wagtail all pottered on the surrounding shores of cobbles and a gang of three or four swallows repeatedly flew round and swooped down low over the water, either drinking or catching insects. The resident Swallows nesting in the woodshed near the house have so far fledged their first brood of five and are busy feeding their second brood.
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| The pond after about a year. |
Angus and Brendan his second son, eleven years old, (one of our grandsons) arrived for a week’s stay, this evening. Brennie’s first job was to say hello to the hens and sheep. The black twin lambs, born in the spring, were new to him.
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| Brennie cutting young leafy willow for the sheep. |
Friday 5th August
The morning was social, with visits from Kim’s friend Jan and from Viv & John who have recently moved to Aberdaron from the Forest of Dean. Very keen and knowledgeable naturalists, they are a very welcome addition to the area.
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| Gwydion turned the hay this afternoon after the heavy dew had dried off. |
In the evening we carted the Skinner moth trap and all the accompanying paraphernalia in the wheelbarrow, up to Bywchestyn and Angus and Brennie set up their tent on the cliff-slope beyond. Kim lit the light in the trap as it was getting dark about 9.30 and took her swag to sleep alongside Angus and Brendan. Brendan began the night sleeping out in his sleeping bag but by the morning he had retreated, covered in dew, into the tent.
Saturday 6th August
Angie got up at 5.30 and switched off the moth light and covered the trap which they later brought down to the house to open. We had a more moderate catch this time, with about 53 individuals of 17 species, many of which were Flounced Rustics, but also handsome Antlers and True Lover’s Knots, both to be found in moorland situations. A new species for Kim was a Nutmeg. Brennie tubed most of the moths from the egg boxes which they were roosting in at the bottom of the trap. Young fingers and reactions are very dexterous. After identifying and counting, the catch was released back on the cliff.
Nutmeg, a new moth for this site .
Then picnic and sea-going equipment (for snorkelling, canoeing and paddleboarding) were assembled and we drove the few miles to a small bay on the north coast of the peninsula, Porth Ysgaden, where we could readily indulge the water babies of the party. Kim warned us it could be busy as it was a Saturday in the height of the holiday season and the nearby farms all have camp-sites these post-pandemic days. Little did any of us realize just HOW busy it would be. Cars choked the top of the bay and were parked alongside the road for hundreds of yards back. Vehicles towing trailers with boats were trying to get to the bay, and those already unloaded were trying to get parked.
As it was lunchtime already, we just took our picnic and snorkels and wet suits and walked along the clifftop path a short way and sat on the grass looking down into a narrow inlet just to the south of Porth Ysgaden.
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| Snorkelling inlet just round the corner from Porth Ysgaden. |
Next, when the snorkelling had lost interest, came the job of blowing up the paddleboard and canoe-----both inflatables these days. Kim helped them down to the slipway and came back with tales of queues to launch and utter bedlam with people trying to launch various craft and others trying to land. This is the nearest slipway for all the area’s campers so it is very popular but a real bottleneck. It would have been a horrible shock and no doubt we’d have turned away if we’d been unprepared for a crowd.
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| Kim, Angus & Brendan with snorkels. |
Angus in canoe and Brennie on paddleboard, Porth Ysgaden.
Sunday 7th August
Today's first job was to construct a new compost compound in the narrow strip of veg. garden going down to the pond beside the hayfield. When filled and the compost rotted down, kim will use this as a raised bed to keep the constant problem of rabbits off the crop.
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| Angus & Kim making the new compost compound. |
Tony had brought up the net and tray which he uses in Cornwall to look at river invertebrates to assess water quality in the River Seaton. He and Kim were interested to see how the stream which joins the river at Aberdaron compared. This stream has run dry near the usual confluence so we went up the valley a bit till the water was still running among the big boulders in its bed.
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| They sampled among the boulders a bit upstream from the bridge at Cyll y Felin (Hazel Mill) |
The standard sampling method was used to give a measurable comparison and although the water level was low and rather cloudy, they were pleased to find they had caught five small sticklebacks and a good number of Stonefly larvae as well as caddis larvae and other species which we were unfamiliar with. So all-in-all, the fish, Gammarus (Freshwater Shrimps) and other species indicated a reasonable water quality despite rather unpromising appearances. Back at Ty'n Gamdda we set up Angus’s small aquarium with water pump for a short stay for the sticklebacks to watch them for a while before returning them to Cyll y Felin.
Back at Tyn Gamdda, looking at the river sample.
Some of the unidentified invertebrates from the sample.
The hay was turned for the second time this afternoon.
Monday 8th Aug.’22
An early start to load up our gear, clean the barn and off down the road by nine am.
We’d opted for the Cross-Foxes/ Malltwyd route again and made good time on a lovely morning.
We stopped for our lunchtime picnic by the River Wye beyond Builth Wells ,on a back road in a small quiet lay-by a mile or so upstream from the pretty little suspension bridge between Erwood and Boughrood. It was sunny and hot with scarcely any air moving, and we were glad to park in dappled shade beside a luxuriant growth of Meadowsweet, Ground Elder and nettles partly under the sweeping low-slung branches of a big Wych Elm. Speckled Wood and a Silver-washed Fritillary butterfly were flitting around.
As we sat, we became conscious that every now and then a little puff of whitish dust was erupting from a couple of taller-than-the-rest, nettles. These plants, like the rest of the nettles in that patch, were in flower and we realized that they were males whose inflorescences were mature and in the warm dry air were splitting open their pollen sacs and the white pollen was being released. The light breeze was wafting the little clouds away, to become invisible within a foot from the plant, but the minute pollen grains would still be in the air. Some could alight on a female nettle flower and then fertilize it to produce seed.
The scientific name of the Stinging nettle is Urtica dioecia. Urtica refers to the stinging hairs on the plant which give a painful rash; the dioecia specific name tells us that the male and female flowers are produced on separate plants, thus ensuring cross-pollination and a vigorous mixing of genes.
We have never witnessed this pollen eruption from nettles, and it also reminded us how many microscopic particles travel through the air without us ever being aware. As the sun moved a bit, more nettle plants were lit up and warmed, and they too started to explode little puffs of pollen.
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| Stinging nettle in flower. |
This was the highlight of a journey which became hotter, slower and more tedious as we got embroiled in heavy traffic from Bristol south to Weston-super- Mare, and we were glad to get home. We phoned Ty’n Gamdda to let them know we’d arrived safely and they told us the hay had been bailed and the 38 bails were safely stacked in the shed.
