July in Treherbert woods

July arrived with more damp weather and occasional bursts of sunshine. My first visit to the woods was in the evening, and as it was only a week or so since my last visit I wasn't really expecting to see much change.  But I hadn't even reached the Pixie Bridge before I spotted two plants I hadn't seen before.

                                                     This lovely Common Nipplewort

And a big patch of Pineapple Weed. Believe it or not if you crush it between your fingers it gives off a lovely sweet smell very similar to fresh Pineapple.  

  

The Ragwort is in flower now too, which means lots of brightly coloured Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. I love these and they're incredibly interesting, so I've included a link HERE for anyone that wants to read about them.

                                          The Rose-Bay Willow Herb is plentiful now

                                              As is the Loosestrife and  Elderflower

Evening and early mornings are definitely my favourite times here, The light is gorgeous, and  especially welcome after the heavy showers of the last few days.

A few days later and the weather has improved so I venture a bit further up the mountain to take advantage of the stunning views.

The plants are quite different here just above the woods where there's more sunshine, like this incredibly beautiful  Dyer's plumeless saw-wort.. I've never seen this before and it really was gorgeous.

I've seen lots of Tormentil lower down in the woods, but this Sheep's bit growing a bit higher up was a first in this area.

And it's also the first time I've seen Ragged Robin growing here.

 

One of the highlights of the month for me was the visit by the wonderful Avant Cymru, after months of being in lockdown it was a perfect chance to get outside and meet friends and family in safety. Their performance of 12th night was hilarious, and the setting was just perfect. A highly enjoyable afternoon. Let's hope we can have lots more events here in the future. 

 

This juvenile robin seemed to love the show as much as everyone else, he wasn't at all put off by the noise and the crowd, he was running in and out between everyone's feet for the whole performance.

 

                                  There's been plenty of angelica growing along the paths. 

                           And the young Sycamore tree is getting bigger every time I pass 

                      There's also lots of lesser knapweed, although it hasn't started to flower yet.

I know the Himalayan Balsam is quite invasive, but the bees love it, and  Welcome To Our Woods are doing a terrific job of keeping it under control.

The hemp agrimony is looking lovely on the path as you walk up from the station.

                           And next to railway line is a lovely patch of evening primroses.

Did I mention that July has been quite wet? I must say I do love a wander in the woods in the rain, I love watching the flowers and trees with the rain dripping off them.

The ox-eye daisies look beautiful in the rain, as does the Himalayan Balsam and bindweed.And the greater willow herb looks pretty even though it's heavy with rain drops.

Even after all the rain the paths are in great condition with not too many muddy puddles, and it's still a lovely place to stroll.

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And we have had the odd few days of sunshine when everything looks bright and cheerful.

Although there's always plenty of birdsong in the woods the birds themselves can be quite hard to spot amongst all the foliage, but this young thrush was running around the path for quite a while looking for his breakfast 

                                      Even without the raindrops the ox-eye daisies are beautiful 

                                            And there's lot's of trefoil in the undergrowth.

 

This Timothy grass is gorgeous, and so interesting I've created a link to it HERE

                            And there's lots of common plantain too 

There's still plenty of my favourite little flower, the Enchanter's Nightshade, still around 

                                                 As well as lots of wood Avens  

                                                                        Self Heal

                                                           And of course thistles

                                      There's lots of Common Yarrow growing along the paths

             And the loosestrife is looking particularly lovely when it catches the sun light.

And the cleavers are just beginning to flower.

There are lots of berries beginning to appear now too, including several patches of raspberries. And though most of the blackberries are still either red or green there are one or two just starting to ripen.

And the berries on the Rowan are also  beginning to appear now.

Another great addition to the Welcome To Our Woods site over the past couple of weeks has been the Pixie Bridge Fairy Trail, with lots of local families taking their children over to the site to place fairies, gnomes, butterflies etc.

This lovely blue butterfly had attracted a visitor of it's own, if you look closely at his wing on the left you'll see he has a fly sitting there.

Some of the items placed there were slightly less relevant than others 😁

One of my favourites was this cute little gnome village.

After a few wet days the sun finally made a brief but beautiful appearance,  and on my last visit of the month to the woods I was greeted by this gorgeous patch of toadstools,

And this very cheeky ( and scruffy 😀 ) robin.

The Pixie Bridge was looking lovely,

And the evening light bursting through the trees was beautiful.

 

I'm going to end July with what is one of my favourite activities here in Cwmsaerbren woods. a few moments of peace and calm by the river listening to the sound of running water and birdsong in the trees all around me.