Moonlight on Mynydd Illtud.
03rd July 2018
I never thought that this spell of weather would continue for this length of time. Susan and I have in the main been out early in the morning and late in the evening because the rest of the day has been really unbearable.
I have been out early walking the local hills and it has been very pleasant being up above all the the heat down below.
We have travelled in many hot countries but it is different when you have this weather at home and you have to work etc. I got up early last Saturday morning after another uncomfortable night and I looked at the small thermometer that Susan keeps in the bedroom and I had to look twice because unbelievably it was reading 27C, no wonder I couldn’t sleep!
We have been out looking for Dragonflies and Damselflies in the mornings but the problem is they don’t start flying until the sun has warmed them up, but by then it’s too hot to photograph them. However, we have had some success because it’s prime time now for these insects to emerge and fly.
On the back end of last week we had been out on Mynydd Illtud, an elevated area near Brecon that contains some large bogs that in turn support good populations of these insects and in particular on a small brook called the Camlais. This meandering little brook drains the bog and then flows down through a forestry and ultimately into the River Usk in the grounds of the 16th century Abercamlais mansion house on the Brecon to Sennybridge road. This Camlais stream is so called because the word Cam, derived originally from the word Gam, means crooked and anybody who had a deformity in those days was labelled ‘Gam’ this has become the word ‘Cam’ used in modern day language. The ‘Lais’ part is a softening of the Welsh word ‘Glais’ meaning brook or stream. So to take it to its conclusion, ‘Abercamlais’ – The mouth of the crooked stream – ‘Aber’ meaning the mouth of in Welsh – Welsh lesson over LOL.
Along this Camlais stream, lovely Golden-ringed Dragonflies have started to fly.
Emperor Dragonflies,
and Broad-bodied Chasers are also on the wing.
Also there are big numbers of Damselflies. It’s a lovely and easily accessible place to see these beautiful insects.
Another evening on our walk back along the stream a bright full moon had risen and as we were quite close to the car I set my landscape kit up and went back to take a photograph of the Beacons in the now rapidly fading light. The moonlight was highlighting an area of cotton grass and a small pool and it made a nice scene. A very fitting end to a glorious evening.
I have been out early walking the local hills and it has been very pleasant being up above all the the heat down below.
We have travelled in many hot countries but it is different when you have this weather at home and you have to work etc. I got up early last Saturday morning after another uncomfortable night and I looked at the small thermometer that Susan keeps in the bedroom and I had to look twice because unbelievably it was reading 27C, no wonder I couldn’t sleep!
We have been out looking for Dragonflies and Damselflies in the mornings but the problem is they don’t start flying until the sun has warmed them up, but by then it’s too hot to photograph them. However, we have had some success because it’s prime time now for these insects to emerge and fly.
On the back end of last week we had been out on Mynydd Illtud, an elevated area near Brecon that contains some large bogs that in turn support good populations of these insects and in particular on a small brook called the Camlais. This meandering little brook drains the bog and then flows down through a forestry and ultimately into the River Usk in the grounds of the 16th century Abercamlais mansion house on the Brecon to Sennybridge road. This Camlais stream is so called because the word Cam, derived originally from the word Gam, means crooked and anybody who had a deformity in those days was labelled ‘Gam’ this has become the word ‘Cam’ used in modern day language. The ‘Lais’ part is a softening of the Welsh word ‘Glais’ meaning brook or stream. So to take it to its conclusion, ‘Abercamlais’ – The mouth of the crooked stream – ‘Aber’ meaning the mouth of in Welsh – Welsh lesson over LOL.
Along this Camlais stream, lovely Golden-ringed Dragonflies have started to fly.
Emperor Dragonflies,
and Broad-bodied Chasers are also on the wing.
Also there are big numbers of Damselflies. It’s a lovely and easily accessible place to see these beautiful insects.
Another evening on our walk back along the stream a bright full moon had risen and as we were quite close to the car I set my landscape kit up and went back to take a photograph of the Beacons in the now rapidly fading light. The moonlight was highlighting an area of cotton grass and a small pool and it made a nice scene. A very fitting end to a glorious evening.