Photo Journal
23rd June // Drizzle in Ffestiniog
Afon Cynfal // N 52.9503 W -3.9238
On days where progress on my Uplands project is deferred, I have set myself the more sizable challenge of photographing Wales’ Temperate rain forests. These are woodlands influenced by the high humidity of being close to the sea, with high rainfall and a damp climate. With this criteria it’s not hard to imagine a time where the entirety of Wales’ lowland environments was blanketed by luscious temperate rainforests.
Today however, the range of this rare habitat is limited mostly to the Vale of Ffestiniog in the middle of the national park.
Ferns, moss and lichens are typical of this environment.
In the vale of Ffestiniog its typical of these patches of scattered woodland to have a river running through them as this in turn adds to the humidity of the woodland.
The experience of walking through the temperate rainforests is primordial. Green hangs to every surface and any sense of the modern world are lost in the thick air, drowned out by the sound of rushing water as it winds through the twisted gullies.
As I emerged from Cynfal Gorge I was surprised by the variety of wildflowers on the farmland on the way back towards where I’d parked. Photographing what was a new discovery for me, Yellow Rattle, a semi-parasitic plant. Yellow Rattle is one of the most important pioneer species in establishing a wildflower meadow, as it suppresses the grown of grass by stealing it’s nutrients allowing other wild flowers to have a chance at outcompeting the otherwise veracious grass.
Then as I headed home along the A55, I left behind the rainclouds that help create such luscious zones of woodland, and I stopped off for a golden sunset overlooking Ynys Mons and Puffin Island.
