#bryngarw

Thankfully, my pal Julia was in the same mood, so we met at Bryngarw Park, collected our Keepers Star Talisman from Cedars Tearoom and started out on our Bryngarw Keeper’s Quest.

The Keepers are a unique interactive trail around Bryngarw Park that connects the visitor to their natural environment.  Leaving the Circle of the Flame in the car park, we made our way down to the river. There was no sign of the Dippers today and the river was running high and fast.  We stopped at the Keeper of the River and listened to her story.

From there we wandered through the Oriental Garden and discovered the Keeper of the Garden.  He has recently suffered a little at the hands of a failed attempt at vandalism.  The Keepers have been carved from ancient oak that has fallen at the park.  It’s an incredibly hard wood and with the determination of the Park Rangers & the generosity of Black Box AV, the old keeper of the Garden is still standing tall.

As well as the Keepers, there is plenty of wildlife in the park.  We were followed around by a few Robins, a couple of Buzzards overhead and some fabulous fungi.

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My favourite Keeper,  Keeper of the Woodland was looking and sounding as impressive as ever in the Winter sun and listening to his story was a highlight of the morning.

Finishing off our quest with the beautiful Keeper of the Meadow we were ready for some refreshment at Cedars Tearoom.  The pumpkin soup was definitely a winner!

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After a fairly stressful week in the office, sat staring at a screen, the sun was out and I had a spare hour so I headed off to one of my favourite green spaces in Bridgend County.

I'm taking part in the Plantlife wild flower count and my 1k path goes from North to South through Bryngarw Park, Brynmenyn.  I first did this back in June, so it was time for my Autumn survey.

I tried not to sob at the amount of Himalyan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed I passed, but plans are afoot to tackle these nasty non-native invasives, so I concentrated on our wonderful natives instead.

Red Campion, Herb Robert, Hemp Agrimony, Wood Avens, Enchanter's Nightshade, Hedge Woundwort are all still identifiable by their leaf, with a few still in flower.  The blackberries are fabulous too.

There was some fabulous fungi around and that's got to be my next project. So I'm looking forward to the 13th October and the fungi event at Coed Hills Forest Garden.

Now I'm ready to tackle the weekend head on.