Great Days Out
NATURE ESCAPES
WALK: Bosherston Lily Ponds, Pembrokeshire
PARADISE PONDS
May delivers a host of delights for wildlife lovers, as Julie Brominicks finds out on a visit to one of the most idyllic aquatic environments in Britain
The ponds welcome rain with a gentle hiss. A drop lands on a water lily leaf and rolls to the centre where more raindrops accumulate and enlarge until, too heavy at last, they slide into the water through the slit in the leaf. I am watching a frog watching me. Despite being overcast, it is luminous, poetic even, under the trees by the lily ponds.
ODE TO MAY
Nature is absorbing at any time of year, and May – mild in temperature and abundant in life – has its own qualities. Birdsong. Blossom. Ferns unrolling. New leaves pulsing with light. May is when dormice wake up, cow parsley froths, swifts return and even droughts aren’t always perilous – though irrigating showers are better.
May is when everything feels fresh with none of summer’s sloth. Across Britain, you can experience this reawakening by hiking, biking, boating or simply sitting still. Cuckoos calling on Welsh ridd (the edgeland between upland and lowland). Emperor moths haunting heather moors. Linnets feasting on dandelion clocks and stoneflies hatching on clean rivers. Woodcocks courting over woodland clearings and orcas hunting grey seals in Scottish waters.
Wildlife can be fugitive. To see it requires stealth and a little imagination. Go out, perhaps, in gentle rain or the gloaming – as well as during sunny spells, which are delightful but often busy, now that Covid, climate change and Brexit have inspired more of us to explore British landscapes.
RESPONSIBLE ACCESS: BOSHERSTON BY BUS
The narrow lanes of Sir Benfro (Pembrokeshire) were not Cruiser made for modern traffic – especially not the density seen in the summers of 2020 and 2021. Try the Coastal Cruiser shuttle bus; it runs seven days a week in summer and departs from Doc Penfro (Pembroke Dock) railway station, cheerfully chauffeured by Gordon, an expert on itineraries and birdlife. If driving is essential, park at either Coedwig Castell Dock (Castle Dock Woods) or Cwrt Stagbwll (Stackpole Court) to avoid choking lanes to the car parks at Llynnoedd Bosherston (Bosherston Lakes), De Broad Haven, (Broad Haven South) and Cei Stagbwll (Stackpole Quay), which are often full by 9am.
SPRING-FED SPLENDOUR
Being both popular and environmentally sensitive, Llynnoedd Bosherston (Bosherston Lily Ponds) in the western extremity of Sir Benfro (Pembrokeshire) is one place that deserves careful and imaginative planning to visit. The ponds are special, forming one of very few hard-water mesotrophic lakes in Wales. They are spring-fed, so lucid, but artificial – created in the 1780s by the Cawdors of Stagbwll (Stackpole), and testament to that era’s zest for water features. Weirs were built across three adjacent valleys to slow the water’s flow to the sea, and the resultant ponds stocked with lilies and fish. But it is the underlying limestone, responsible for the concentration of calcium carbonate, that encourages the growth of the stoneworts that are sensitive to nutrient enrichment. The combination of natural ecology and human intervention has resulted in a biodiverse site (12 species of bat, 40 species of dragonfly, 30 species of butterfly) that requires continued stewardship. As I watch, another raindrop falls on to a lily, rolls, and slides gently off.
There are few benches on this circular route, the path is narrow, and the wooded valleys steep, so lingering on busy days is ill-advised. Choose a quiet time, then walk very slowly, for maximum immersion.
1 ALIVE WITH LILIES
There are several access points to this short walk, but the Coastal Cruiser drops you at Bosherston where there is a Norman church, St Govan’s Inn, and Ye Olde Worlde Café.
Arrive at the western arm of the lake. The broadleaf wooded valleys sustain great spotted woodpeckers and treecreepers, while ducks populate the water, which the enchanting sunken bridge invites you to cross.
Climb to the viewpoint for an Arcadian view of the lily-gilded ponds in their greencloaked valleys, tapering to the dunes and the coast.
2 STONEWORT SURPRISE
A second sunken bridge takes you across the central arm, containing probably the best example of a stonewort meadow in Wales. Lesser bearded stonewort, Baltic stonewort, starry stonewort, and rugged stonewort all survive, so far avoiding nitrogen enrichment from agricultural run-o and subsequent deoxygenation and algal blooms.
3 WILLOW WETLAND
The eastern arm is the longest and least busy. Take the higher path betwixt woodland and fields, and descend to Eight Arch Bridge, built in 1797 over a weir.
Prior to the National Trust taking over, settlement pools that supplied the eastern arm were neglected and the silt not removed. Consequently, the upper eastern arm is now also silt-swamped – no longer pond but wetland dominated by willow and reeds. Nevertheless, the boathouse bird hide is a good place to see kingfishers.
4 WOODLAND RUIN
Detour to Coedwig Lodge Park (Lodge Park Wood) and Cwrt Stagpwll (Stackpole Court) to appreciate the restorative qualities of woodland, and the decaying elegance of the old estate; the manor house was demolished long ago.
Return along the eastern arm by the water’s edge.
5 OTTER SPOTTER
Cross the land-bridge at the central basin. This is where I encounter Chris, who has been fishing the ponds for 50 years. “I sometimes see an otter under the willow here,” he tells me, “on its back knocking at a freshwater mussel.”
6 COASTAL HAVEN
Circumnavigate the central basin to the sand-dune ridge that separates the ponds from De Broad Haven (Broad Haven South). Emergent reeds grow extensively here in the littoral sands. At spring tides and drought, the sea is very occasionally higher than the ponds. Rising sea-levels mean the ponds’ freshwater status is finite – another reminder that these ponds are as environmentally fragile as they are beautiful.
Return along the south edge of the ponds to Bosherston.
Julie Brominicks is a Snowdonia-based landscape writer.
WILDLIFE WATCH
OTTER
Your best chance of seeing an otter is at night, dawn or dusk. Perhaps you will smell them or hear them whistling to each other before they come into view. Otters breed at any time of year. Look out for them frolicking, or feeding on fish, frogs or freshwater pearl mussels.
HAIRY DRAGONFLY
Britain’s smallest hairiest hawker emerges early, in April or May. The male has blue spots, while the female has yellow ones.
GREATER HORSESHOE BAT
It comes out to feed at dusk and dawn. In May the females form maternity colonies and each gives birth to a single pup.
WHITE WATER LILY
Tethered to the lake bed, the leaves and white blooms (which flower in June) float, providing shelter for frogs and nectar for insects.
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
These blackbird-sized birds can be heard ‘drumming’ in spring. Look for their red, white and black plumage as they ‘bounce’ through the air and cling to trees.
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