I am going to have to think of a new title for "catch up"

It's a month since I posted and lots of botany has been done so here are the highlights:

Directly after the last posting we went to West Cork where the

New Zealand Holly, Llwyn-llygad-y-dydd celynnog or Olearia macrodonta

was even more abundant around Bantry than I ever remember. It likes the climate there but is, of course, an alien - and special for being a woody shrub in the Daisy Family.

Another highlight was finding one of the many Tree Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) at Dereen gardens had Filmy Ferns on its trunk:

Wilson's Filmy-fern, Rhedynach teneuwe Wilson or Hymenophyllum wilsonii

The Navelwort was also having a good year there:

Navelwort, Deilen gron or Umbilicus rupestris

Back to Brecon and I was next at one of our very few sites for Wood Crane's-bill, finding several plants in the company of Jonathan from NRW but a little late for the flowers.

Wood Crane's-bill, Pig-yr-aran y coed or Geranium sylvaticum

This is very like the Meadow Crane's-bill currently adorning our road verges through much of the county but with a more purplish-pink coloured flower and is rare in South Wales.. The pair of species are one of the few where the serious books actually mention flower colour as a significant difference. 

Then a few of our group visited some private, RSPB-owned, meadows near Elan where we were treated to a feast of Greater Butterfly Orchids, Wood Bitter-vetch and many other choice meadow plants.

Great Burnet, Bwrned mawr or Sanguisorba officinalis near Elan

 Greater Butterfly-orchid, or Platanthera chlorantha in one of the meadows

We found

Bell Heather, Grug y mêl or Erica cinerea

near the roadside there.

More meadows were enjoyed by all at Bertlywydd farm near Ystradfellte at an open day after that with again Greater Butterfly Orchids in the delightful mix.

Berthlywydd Meadows

One of our group (Joan) made a discovery while walking between her National Plant Monitoring Scheme plots - a new site for

Sand Spurrey, Troellig arfor coch or Spergularia rubra

This adds a site for the Rare Plant Register.

Then I was off to London visiting family and brushing up on my botany identification in the Surrey chalk grasslands.

Greater Yellow-rattle, Cribell felen fawr or Rhinanthus angustifolius

and distinguishing between:

Field Scabious, Clafrllys y maes or Knautia arvensis

and

Small Scabious, Clafrllys bach or Scabiosa columbaria

(Size isn't much of a steer despite the names.)

When I got back, Chris at BWT Ystradgynlais had found a

Broad-leaved Helleborine, Y galdrist lydanddail or Epipactis helleborine

near the cycle path there.

Correction! August 2017
And at Llangorse (for the Wetlands Trust Water Plant identification day) one of our number spotted:

Hoary Plantain, Llyriad llwyd or Plantago media
Greater Plantain, Llyriad llwyd Plantae or Plantago major subsp. intermedia

right by the lake shore.

There was plenty else to see including

Lesser Bulrush, Cynffon-y-gath gulddail or Typha angustifolia

and

Hoary Willowherb, Helyglys lledlwyd or Epilobium parviflorum

and I cannot omit a picture of the

Fringed Water-lily, Lili’r-dŵr eddïog or Nymphoides peltata