Anthills, ducklings, cygnets, a heron, lichen, and a canal

[spiralsheep]

I went for a walk in Powys in Wales.

Slwch Tump with anthills, gorse flowers, and a view to Pen y Fan (the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales, and Southern Britain, at a mere 886m). St Eluned was reputedly beheaded here in the 5th century.



The Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal on an aqueduct across the River Usk.



Duckling beggars being egged-on by their mum.



Cygnets with their parental swans, and a reflection of a narrowboat.



Spot the heron.



Lichen on a wooden gate.

Comments

[turlough]

It looks to have been a lovely walk!

[spiralsheep]

Yes, there were lots of wildflowers such as bluebells and stitchwort (white star-shapes) in the verges too. I also saw a woodmouse but I didn't manage a clear cap. I was lucky with the weather: bright and warm.

[sid]

Baby birds and hidden herons!

Thank you for sharing. :-)

[spiralsheep]

You're welcome!

I secretly like the anthills best. They didn't occur like that where I grew up because of the local geology. Although I adore lichen, and hydraulic technology on canals too. [/easily pleased]

[centuryplant]

The anthills are quite something. I wouldn't have guessed that's what they were.

I wonder how many ants that represents.

[spiralsheep]

I'm not especially good at ant identification but the mounds might be made by yellow meadow ants, Lasius flavus, who are root aphid farmers. They're also known in southern England for ensuring the survival of chalkhill blue butterflies. I don't know how many ants would be in large nests like the colonies I capped but they extend about a metre underground with the mound above ground acting as air-conditioning engineering.

I'm glad I've never been in one of these meadows on winged ant day when all the queens and their potential mates fly.

I sometimes see what looks like cigarette ash on top of these ant hills. I'm told it's woodpecker (usually green woodpecker) crap deposited while the woodpecker is deciding whether or not to try digging for ants.

[holyoutlaw]

Spot the heron, very tricky! Once I spotted it, though, I had a minor "d'oh!" moment.

[spiralsheep]

Your brain probably misled your eyes into focussing on the water, and the sunshine made the heron disappear to a surprising degree against a bright green background. I have renewed respect for evolved camouflage.

[sid]

Me too! :-D

[spiralsheep]

All the flora and fauna I capped was outfitted in natural camouflage except the adult swans.

[melannen]

Wow, those are anthills? I've never seen anthills like that! I would have assumed some kind of frost heave or something. ...or possibly sloth/guinea pig hybrids.

[spiralsheep]

They're not as impressive as termite mounds, which we don't have, and woodland ants sometimes build larger mounds of thatched earth but a field full of those grassy mounds is still an arresting sight.

I'm not especially good at ant identification but the mounds might be made by yellow meadow ants, Lasius flavus, who are root aphid farmers. They're also known in southern England for ensuring the survival of chalkhill blue butterflies. I don't know how many ants would be in large nests like the colonies I capped but they extend about a metre underground with the mound above ground acting as air-conditioning engineering.

I'm glad I've never been in one of these meadows on winged ant day when all the queens and their potential mates fly.

I sometimes see what looks like cigarette ash on top of these ant hills. I'm told it's woodpecker (usually green woodpecker) crap deposited while the woodpecker is deciding whether or not to try digging for ants.

[spiralsheep]

Or possibly Wales isn't accustomed to sunshine and the earth had developed a heat rash. ;-)

[quarryquest]

I was over there (Cardiff) a couple of weekends ago and it was actually quite sunny for two days. I even got a bit of sunburn! THEN it started to rain and it followed us all the way back to Suffolk.

[spiralsheep]

Well, Cardiff is the seaside so it's supposed to be sunny! ;-) I hope it stops raining before Suffolk sinks.

On a more srs note, the mountains around Brecon seem to attract any bad weather in the vicinity and the valley in the middle often seems to be a comparatively calm and sunny place, although this effect doesn't extend quite as far as Abergavenny, alas.

[quarryquest]

We were out hunting reservoirs (specifically Tal-y-bont) and spotted how full it was compared with the reference photos (taken two summers ago) that I was working from. I think there were hosepipe bans being threatened then, but after last summer and this winter there was plenty of water. It was raining when we visited too ;-p

[spiralsheep]

Ooo... I was also at Talybont a short while ago. I wonder if we passed each other, heh. The village is in the wider central valley but the reservoir is up a narrower side valley and ime tends to share the weather of the mountains rising close around it.

I had a quick peek at your journal and I finally understood your name! I take it you like visiting filming locations for favourite tv shows? Was there filming at Talybont? Or was that a separate quest?

[quarryquest]

They filmed Sherlock at Tal-y-Bont (the episode with the walker killed by a boomerang) and I was over on South Wales / Cardiff for the weekend hunting other locations for that. I've friended you btw, you sound interesting!

[spiralsheep]

Ah! I don't watch television any more so, apart from posts on my flist, Sherlock has passed me by. The only filming location I've ever noticed without someone else pointing it out to me was the setting of a scene from Doctor Who in Belle Vue Park in Newport.

I've subscribed to your journal. You seem interesting too. :-)

[lark_ascends]

Lovely!!!

[spiralsheep]

Thank you! :-)