Dafad's-Days: BOUNDARIES & BARLEY

Just as I start to write, our Welsh weather forecaster Derek, who manages to give bad news with a cheerful smile, has just informed us that after the weekend we are due a lot more rain. Just as we are due to "celebrate" the Autumn Equinox on the 22nd. Bothers!

Unaware of this gloomy prediction this morning, we set off under pewtery skies to explore

this area of forest well known to us. I love the way the trees form a canopy that is in some areas quite cathedral like, muting the sound of traffic and train in the valley below and yet the avian calls of buzzard and crow can be clearly heard. The creaking calls of the corvines, that sound as if they need oiling echo across the forested landscape. One today sounded more like a dog bark, I bet that amuses his flying companions! Even the mad mutt looked skywards in surprise. Again there were no signs of fungi on the forest floor although the grass was looking healthy and verdantly bright in the subdued light.

A sad sight that met my eyes, were these orange markings on so many of the beautifully tall and mature beech trees. This means that the Forestry Commission have decided they need felling. Why? They are perfectly healthy and add a balance of deciduous amongst all the Scots Pine, it's a mystery to me that these matriarchs of ancient forest should be removed, but then I am biased as they are one of my favourite species of tree. They each have such a unique character and have probably been growing here since long before the commercially planted pines.

But across the divide between forest and farmland ... an unusual crop glowed.

This is barley, a rare sight on this area of the mountain and I happen to know having spoken to the farmer over the last week, that there are 55 acres of this arable land waiting to be harvested, weather allowing!

It's lovely to see these drooping heads of barley swaying in the light breeze. There was a time within living memory of local farmers when arable crops such as these were not such a rare sight this high up on the mountain. The old farmers were as self sufficient as possible and grew quite a variety of crops as winter feed for both human and beast. Each farm had it's own machinery for rolling and crushing the grains and of course the straw left over provided winter bedding. How times have changed, so it is good to see such a crop swaying in the breeze on the top of the mountain.

But even here, on an old stone, boudary wall the signs of the coal mining legacy of The Valleys can still be seen. Those jet black chunks of coal, that made this area of Wales such a magnet for work during all those heavily industrialised years are now merely evidence of a once world wide important nation. Now is the chance of regeneration but The Valleys are no longer what they used to be and their future hangs in the balance, with the hope that the tourist industry can attract visitors who are fascinated by our industrial heritage. Sad times but greening.