Melincourt Waterfall

A visit to a waterfall seemed appropriate after all the rain we've received this month and the walk up to Melincourt turned out to be surprisingly dry, at least until we arrived at the falls! Here, the force of the spray was too great to allow a full frontal shot, so we satisfied ourselves with more distant, partially obscured images.

The humid conditions of narrow, shaded valleys such as Melincourt provide ideal conditions for mosses and liverworts to flourish and the ground, rocks and tree trunks were festooned with various shades of green.

Greater Featherwort (Plagiochila asplenioides)
growing on wet rocks

Pellucid Four-tooth Moss (Tetraphis pellucida)
growing on a fallen tree

Wishing everyone very best wishes for 2013 and fingers crossed we'll see less rain and a little more sunshine!

Purple Hairstreak at Melincourt

Purple Hairstreak (c) B. Spink

Ben Spink took this record shot of a Purple Hairstreak which he found on 13th July at Waterfall Terrace, Melincourt. Ben, along with Rob Corcorran, is working on an MSc project which is looking at  bat behaviour related to street lighting, in particular with regards to the new LED lights. During a site visit Ben watched, as it descended from the canopy, and rested briefly to take in some sunshine, between the heavy showers!