Text by Bruce McDonald
Photos by Mike Dean and Bruce McDonald
We were hoping for better
weather on our return trip to Pontypool Park – our first trip being abandoned
because of heavy rain. This time we were more fortunate.
The history of this park goes
back as far as 1576 when Richard Hanbury came to Pontypool and started the
family dynasty here. Over 100 years later Capel Hanbury bought a portion of
land that was to become Pontypool Park. Then in 1694 Major John Hanbury built
the first house which was subsequently added to and then completely re-worked
in the early 1800s. Part of the house was demolished in 1872 and the Victorian
extension added. Finally the park was transferred to the Local Authority in
1920. There is much to see in its 64 acres including ponds, an ice-house,
Italian Gardens and higher up the Shell Grotto and, beyond that, the Folly.
Our first objective was to
look at the specimen trees in the company of Tony Titchen and despite only
walking a few hundred yards from the visitor centre we managed to cover a wide
spectrum of different species. We started with Robinia pseudoacacia, named
after Jean Robin who was arborist to the French king Henry III. The pods are
poisonous and the commonly planted cultivar 'Frisia' never seems to produce
flowers. Nearby were Scots Pine, Pinus
sylvestris, characterised by very short needles – this was the subspecies
Scotica. Next Tony talked us through the identifying characteristics of a Lime.
It had pale undersides with the bracts on the fruit ‘subtending’. This was the
Silver Lime, Tilia tomentosa. Tony
distinguished between ‘sprouts’ which emerge from the trunks of a tree and
‘suckers’ which appear from the ground. The flowers were attractive to bees but
have been known to kill them.
Our next Lime had shiny leaves
that were similarly coloured on both sides and this was X euchlora. It makes a good street tree and provides dense cover –
one to stand under if it raining. A Norway Maple, Acer platinoides, provided an opportunity to use Tony’s latex text.
Remove a leaf and check to see if a milky substance emerges from the break. The
Norway Maple does but Sycamore does not. This can be really useful as the
leaves of these two can look very similar. Incidentally the Field Maple, Acer campestre, also exudes latex.
Next some oaks where we had a
Scarlet Oak, Quercus coccinea,
juxtaposed with a Turkey Oak, Quercus
cerris and a Red Oak, Quercus rubra.
Tony’s tip for the American Red Oaks is to hold a leaf to the sky – the vein
clearly goes to the tip of the leaf. And finally a substantial Tibetan Cherry, Prunus serrula,and this was a Champion,
one of several in the park.
After lunch a few of us headed
off into the extensive grassy meadows with increasing amounts of sunshine
encouraging a host of invertebrates to manifest themselves. Somewhat surprising
was the number of Marbled Whites, Melanargia
galathe, on display matched by Ringlets, Aphontopus hyperantus, Meadow Browns, Maniola jurtina, Small Heaths, Coenonympha
pamphilus and assorted Skippers.
The oaks were sporting the usual collection of Marble Galls,
Andricus kollari and a few Artichoke
or Hop galls, Andricus foecundatrix,
but more unusual was the gall shown in the image which was on the reverse of
some leaves of a Purple Beech where the branches had fallen to the ground. Up
in the tree it might not have been noticed. The gall is Aceria nervisequa and whilst not uncommon when reported to SEWBREC
it was the only record on the publicly-accessible database – one for members to
look out for.
At the top is the Shell Grotto with great views over the
surrounding countryside but closed to the public as it always seems to be
whenever we visit.
Numerous grass-hoppers were disturbed as we walked through
the long grass but we did manage to identify a Common Green Capsid, Lygocoris pabulinus. A decent day of
weather had guaranteed a good day out.
'In the above article (also in the September 2016 newsletter) about the visit to Pontypool park we identified this bug (photo above) as the Common Capsid Bug. We have heard from Rob Nottage that this is Closterotomus norwegica also know as the Potato Capsid. This can be distinguished by the two black dots on the pronotum.'
