April in Cwmsaerbren Woods

 April has seen lots of sunshine, the days are longer and brighter, and definitely getting slightly warmer.

The yew tree is definitely looking it's best against the sunny blue skies.

And the rest of the trees are looking quite magnificent now too.

Everywhere you look there's new life bursting through, from the blossom on the willows to the new shoots on the hawthorns.

One of my first visits of the month took me past the pond and along the path leading up the valley.

The path follows a little stream which is fairly well hidden in the trees, but on hearing a bit of a commotion coming from the undergrowth I battled my way through the branches to investigate.

I was amazed to find a pair of mallards in the little stream, it's barely more than a trickle at this time of year, but they seemed quite at home there.

So I made a hasty retreat and left them in peace.

There isn't a lot of fungus there now, but what there is can be quite eye catching in the evening light.

My favourite tree is still full of lichen, and some interesting fungus.

The Willow herb is begining to come through now.

And there are lots of buds appearing on the trees.

Plenty of dock leaves, but surprisingly few nettles so far.

 

The golden saxifrage is glorious now, and certainly living up to it's name in the sunshine.

And the Indian balsam is also begining to grow 

One of my favourites, the lesser celandine. is also looking gorgeous.

And of course no wander in the woods is complete at this time of year without seeing the dandelions brightening the place up.

And there's also lots of bittercress around now. Though the flowers can be tough to chew, the tender leaves are suitable for a salad and have tons of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, beta-carotene, and antioxidants.

And not only does spring look beautiful, the sounds are beautiful too.

The paths which were bare and muddy are now dry and green.

The  Welcome to our woods campsite is looking amazing, 

As is the area around the Pixie Bridge

But as always the highlight of the month has been the birds. 

This little robin was quite happy preening himself , he didn't give me a second glance.

Someone had left a few strawberries out on the rocks, and this great tit was having a real feast.

The dunnocks were plentiful as usual.

It's not often the greenfinches hang around long enough for me to get a photo, so I was delighted this one posed for a while.

But my favourites were definitely the blue tits, they were adorable.

On my final visit of the month I was amazed by the amount of work that Welcome to Our Woods and the Rhondda Skyline Project had done on the old brewery site. This short video shows the transformation in just a couple of weeks. 

Cwmsaerbren woods in April. 

Just Beautiful. ❤