exploring around dolanog

River Vyrnwy

At the end of a half term of rain and a lot of restoration work at home, the boys and I were very excited to get out for a little adventuring. I have recently discovered a beautiful area of Montgomeryshire around Dolanog through doing some bird surveying for the BTO, and I was keen to explore further. Dolanog is a small village nestling in the valley of the river Vyrnwy.

 

 

Eager to try out their new fishing nets, the boys searched for minnows to catch...

 

There are a lot of beautiful old houses up here. This one had 1664 inscribed on a beam, wow!

  

 

I was equally taken with the the old barns... I think I have a thing for old farm buildings.

  

 

Bluebells were still in flower in shady spots, and the meadows were covered in pignuts and buttercups.

Common Speedwell

And I spotted a new speedwell, a Common Speedwell - not so common to me!

Yellow Archangel

  

Rowan

The hedgerows were full of hawthorn and rowan blossom. Things up here were a little behind than the trees at home.

Unfurling bracken fronds

The boys were unsuccessful in their quest for fish, but they did catch a lot of bugs and buttercups. Having the nets and hunting for prey (!) did help them walk over 6 miles with very little moaning!

Speckled Yellow moth

We left the river to walk back along quiet country lanes. Littlest spotted a colony of Speckled Yellow moths. The verges were gorgeous as they were full of wildflowers. Montgomeryshire at its finest up in these hills.

EDIT: The problem of writing a blog post with constant interuptions is you forget to include things that there isn't a photograph of! I meant to include some of the birds I spotted like redstarts, pied flycatchers and my highlight - a cuckoo! A first for me in Montgomeryshire.