A day at Dinefwr Park, Llandeilo - 17/5/14

On Saturday 17th May we ventured to Llandeilo and visited Dinefwr Park. It was a lovely sunny day with hardly any clouds in the sky, which was a lovely change from the rain we previously had. The National Trust owns the park and Newton House, whilst the castle and woods are run by the Wildlife Trust.

You can park in the actual grounds of the park (it's free if you are a National Trust or Wildlife Trust member, or £6 otherwise) – Even though we are Wildlife Trust members we decided to park just outside the park, next to the fire station. The reason being is we wanted to walk through the beautiful meadow and woodland that you would miss if you went straight to the park's car park; it is quite a walk and I would probably park in the car park in the future :)

To the right of the main gate there’s a smaller gate which gives you access to the beautiful wild flower adorned meadows. Buttercups, clover and daisies filled the fields and we were joined by peacock butterflies, ladybirds and shiny green beetles that glistened in the sun. 

The beautiful meadow

Ladybirds were amongst the many insects we encountered in the meadow

  
Whilst walking through the meadows we saw on our right a rather large pond so we went to investigate – it was full of bulrushes, wild flowers and a haven for dragonflies and damselflies. I managed to get a pic of a magnificent Four-spotted chaser dragonfly there.

A pond in Dinefwr

Four-spotted chaser

After exploring the pond we made our way to a stile and followed it across a lane to a path the other side – it was very beautiful with Newton House in the distance. A rustic fence was to our left and meadows full of buttercups on our right. It wasn’t long before the meadow turned into woodland and you could also smell the familiar scent of bluebells that started appearing through the trees. A number of birds could be seen in the woodlands including blue tits and blackbirds as well as not so familiar birds such as redstarts. The ancient woodland is also home to giant oak and ash trees that are 100s of years old and full of character.

Newton House in the distance

Beautiful bluebells adorn the woodland floor

We eventually took a left turn and arrived at Newton House. Newton House gives visitors an idea of what it would have been like in 1912. There is an exhibition inside that tells the Dinefwr's story and more information about the castle and park. We didn't go into the house this time, but were fascinated by what was going on outside it. Swallows were weaving in and out of the outer building and a number of nests could be seen in the roofs. In the field in front of the house are rare White cattle that have been residents in the park for over a 1000 years.

Newton House

The white cattle

Not far from the house is a National Trust tourist information office where you can get different maps for various walks around the park. We also saw a leaflet that said they did badger evenings – unfortunately, that evening’s one had been booked up. After chatting to the friendly lady who worked there we decided to start the ‘Dragonfly’ walk. The map was really easy to read and you just follow the dragonfly symbols around the park to keep on track. Our walk took us past the old dove coot, a pond and sheep that were grazing with their lambs. But of course Dan and I are terrible at keeping to routes and the explorer in us went off track and we ended up in the deer park.

One of the leaflets with one of the walking routes and clear signs

The views were lovely and you could see Dinefwr Castle peeping over the trees, we got to some woodland and immediately heard that familiar tapping noise of a woodpecker. We tried to track him to get a picture but could only manage a blurry one, still lovely to see though. Through the woods you can see the deer park, where a herd of fallow deer graze. 

Me admiring the views with Dinefwr Castle in the distance.

Fallow deer

Down from the deer park we could see the large mill pond so we made our way down here. A boardwalk surrounded it where hundreds of Damselflies were mating. There were loads of tadpoles too.

Dan walks around Mill pond

They were many Red damselflies

We made our way around the pond and took a path down pass the old pumphouse. It was very pretty and hidden away in the woodland – from here we crossed a small stream and made our way deeper into the woods until we came out in an open field with a huge pond to our left. This looked like a fantastic place to have lunch. There were many water birds around: swans, mallard, coot and we were joined by another chaser dragonfly.

The pumphouse

The large pond was so peaceful apart from the odd coot or mallard

After our food we made our way back into the woods and saw to our right the other swan sitting on her nest. Quietly we passed her and made our way back to the pumphouse and then on up to lake  - we continued walking round the rest of Mill Pond and eventually came to the amazing sight and smell of wild garlic, there is nothing quite like the aroma and it truly reminds me of spring. From here we passed through a gate and started making our way up to the castle. 

A swan sits on her nest

Wild garlic in Castle Woods

To get the castle we had to cross over a meadow and then through another gate to get back into Castle Woods – there was still a carpet of bluebells that looked spectacular when the sun hit them through the trees. We then followed the path up to Dinefwr Castle.

The bluebells - the top of the castle peeps over.

The castle stands on top of a steep hill which overlooks the Tywi valley. The castle itself looks really impressive and it’s surprising how much is still intact. A great castle to explore and you can even climb up the towers to see the fantastic 360 panoramic views of Carmarthenshire and the Tywi Valley. Whilst up there we were joined by a red kite hovering above and a number of pied wagtails and swallows flying around the grounds.

Fantastic views from the castle

The fantastic red kite

The castle still looks impressive

We made our way behind the castle and then back into the woodlands until we came to a clearing where we heard a commotion. In a nearby tree we could hear a lot of birds screeching. Then all of a sudden a few small birds flew out followed by a tawny owl, we could hardly believe our eyes especially because it was in broad daylight! We both didn't have time to get a pic but it was an amazing treat. It is rare to see a tawny owl in the day, but apparently if the prey is around they will hunt for food.

From here we pretty much made our way back through the park, but when we passed Newton House we looked at the cattle and noticed there was a tiny calf which we had not seen earlier. We zoomed in on our cameras and realised the calf still had the umbilical cord still attached, it was newly born! Dan went to ask in the tourist information office and they said it was only one hour old. What an honour to be there when one of the rarest cattle in the world had a newborn and wow, he was cute! We watched for awhile as the mum tendered to him and he suckled on her. From here we made our way back through the woodland stopping at the ice house first. Then we just made our way back over the meadow and back to the car.

A white cattle calf is born! (pic by Daniel Turner)

Our day at Dinefwr was fantastic and it truly is a beautiful place with so many things to see and explore. There were a number of amazing things that happened that day – but the icing on the cake was seeing badgers in the wild. I don’t really want to say exactly where we saw the set (due to any evil people that may be reading this) but they were in Dinefwr Park and the whole place is almost 1000 acres big! 

We saw them whilst we were walking away from the beaten track - I noticed a grey flash in the corner of my eye – then I saw the distinctive black strips on the face and screamed “badger!” – Dan looked at me in disbelief, but I pointed to where I saw it and there it was…not just one though, it was joined by 3 others. I couldn’t believe it, I have never seen a badger in my life and to see a family of them popping in and out of their sett was a vision I will never forget. There were no other people around and after taking photos and video we sat and watched them. They were about 20 feet away from us and just happily foraging in the earth and enjoying the sun. We must have sat there for about 20 minutes before they returned to their sett – We were gobsmacked, one to see badgers in the wild, two to see them in broad daylight and three that there was a whole family of them. It made me realise that these animals need protecting more than ever and we must put a stop to these meaningless culls.

A young badger enjoying the sun

The family of badgers - highlight of my day

 

One of the best days of 2014

Cribarth - Part 2 (The Wellington Bomber) - 15 March 2014

This is the second part of our trip up to Cribarth...

Part Two - Saturday 15th March

Weather: Sunny

We had unfinished business up Cribarth, so seeing as it was a beautiful sunny Saturday we decided to head back up to Craig Y Nos and try and find the Wellington Bomber. I had downloaded an app called ViewRanger GPS and purchased the relevant maps to where the bomber was located (SN817168) on Carreg Goch, at about 520m.

We didn't park in the country park this time, but in a lay-by just before Craig Y Nos Castle. We made our way along the road towards the castle and crossed over to where the riding school was. There was an arrow pointing up and we followed that over a stile and through the riding school. We then followed a public walkway up the hill.

The lay-by we parked in just before Craig Y Nos Castle

The walkers sign pointing up.

Through the riding school field there's a public walk way - plus a great view of Craig y Nos

There is a well worn path to follow with impressive mature trees and plenty of birdlife. Keeping on the path we got to a very rocky bridleway which was to our left, to our right was a stile. We choose the bridleway (but should have probably taken the stile) - it was extremely tricky to walk on and very hard on the legs. Half way up we turned around to look at the view, it was beautiful - Craig Y Nos was starting to look even more like a fairytale castle. Near the top a huge bolder was in our path.

The path up with mature trees

A very rocky bridleway

The view is amazing and Craig y Nos looks like a fairytale castle

A massive bolder in our path

Once past the bolder the path seemed to get a little more even and we eventually come to the stile we saw on the last walk and things were starting to get familiar. It was also where we saw the frog spawn, unfortunately the weather had been warm all week and the frog spawn looked like it was drying out. We looked back and saw the fantastic views of Fan Brycheiniog. We crossed over the stile to the right and started to walk up the mountain.

Looking back the views are superb

The stile we crossed from the other side on the last walk to Cribarth

When we got to the brow of the hill we noticed a big rocky sink hole (Pwll-yr-Wydden) in the distance. We made our way over to it, crossing the numerous clumps of dry grass. When we got there we noticed that there were plastic crates and man-made dens built against the rocks. It was very strange and we wondered what it was all about, maybe its something to do with caving?

We walked up the side of Pwll-yr-Wydden and when we go to the top we could see in the distance a huge rock called 'Carreg yr Gap' - This is where we were heading. On our way we stopped for a a cuppa and admired the view - Cribarth was in the distance.

A shake hole in the distance

Not sure what's going on here...looks like some sort of den

Awesome rock formations

Fantastic views of Cribarth and beyond

After our little break we finally got to Carreg a'r Gap - a huge bolder, much taller than Dan. Next to the rock is another stile which we climbed over. The ground starts getting very rocky from here and we also found a sheep's skull on the ground (well, we think it belonged to a sheep). We also came across a hole in the ground that looked like some sort of burial cairn.

Dan standing next to Carreg a'r Gap

The stile

Sheep skull?

Things are getting rocky!

Burial Cairn?

More skulls and bones

We continued following the GPS, which was telling us to go west so we headed towards some mountains in the distance. As we were walking we were joined by a beautiful red kite overhead, who was obviously hunting - he was swooping down and gliding so elegantly - it was a lovely moment - just Dan, myself and the kite with no one else for miles.

The mountains were gradually getting closer and the terrain kept changing - firstly we were crossing very dry grass, then we reached a number of peat hags. We carefully crossed them and started to climb once again, when we got to the top a big pond was infront of us.

A red kite make it's presence felt

Lots of peat hags

A large pond

After exploring the pond we started to climb to the summit of Carreg Goch, the GPS was telling us we were very near to the Wellington Bomber now - just over the other side and we should see it. It was extremely rocky up there and I can understand how hard it is to find the crash site because it's exactly the same colour as the limestone rocks.

As we were climbing down the side of the mountain the bomber came into view. We were very surprised at the size of it and I started to get emotional - knowing that the lives of six people were lost here. The crash happened on the 20th November 1944, the aircraft lost height and crashed into Garreg Goch, killing all six Canadian crew members. There's a great deal of the wreckage left and a memorial has been erected to remember the men who lost their lives. Here is a great link, share with me on Twitter with lots of good information about the crash:

@sandraevans Don't know if this link will work but here's a page on our website http://t.co/z0CaVfLIiD
— Adventure Britain (@adventurebrit) April 6, 2014

The wreckage of the bomber comes into view

The memorial to commemorate the crash

So much of the wreckage remains

The Canadian flag

A single poppy is tied to a piece of the wreckage

 We paid our respects to the wreckage and decided it was time to leave, we started walking back up the mountain, but keeping more to the right to avoid the rocks.

The crash site was quite surreal to see, I've never seen anything quite like it before, it's hard to believe that the Brecon Beacons has over 30 other plane crashes up there. I've got a great little booklet that tells you where they all are (pic left).

We started making our way back and we saw lots of birds flying above us and also came across a pellet on the ground that contained bones and bits of fur, not sure what bird of prey its from though.

A meadow pipit

A large pellet with bones

Walking back we passed a number of large ponds and a lot of boggy land. We pretty much went back the way we came and as we did the moon grabbed our attention - it was full.

One of a number of ponds we passed.

The full moon

We were also blessed with a stunning sunset. I have never seen so many different colours in the sky - it bathed the whole landscape in a warm red colour and made our walk back even more magical.

 

As the sun sets the beacons look even more beautiful

A truly amazing sunset appears...

...that transforms the sky by the minute

The landscape is stunning in the warm glow

On our way back down in twilight

Before we got to the bottom the sun had set and we were now in complete darkness. Luckily we had our head torches and that was a blessing when we faced the rocky bridleway on the way down. It wasn't long before we were getting glimpses of Craig Y Nos at night and it looked beautiful and eerie at the same time. The full moon that refelcted on to the building gave it even more character and charm.

Craig Y Nos by moonlight

So our walk finally came to an end and our goal of finding the Wellington bomber was complete. We felt so satisfied and thoroughly enjoyed exploring Cribarth and the mountains of Craig Y Nos. It is a magical part of the Beacons with so much history, geological interest and just fantastic for escaping the crowds of people who flock to Pen Y Fan. I can't wait to explore this area more in the future :)