Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - January 2005 - No 71
George Hutchinson, Ian Morgan and Richard Pryce

Leaders George Hutchinson And Ian Morgan

Despite the threat of rain, a good-sized party gathered at the small lay-by (SS507984) on the coastal road south of Delta Lake and just east of the turn-off to the new coastal housing development.  As it turned out the weather remained dry all afternoon and there was sufficient interest at the site to remain there for the whole meeting.

As members were getting ready, Andrew Stevens showed the caterpillar of an Elephant Hawkmoth which he had discovered feeding on willowherb.  Proceedings commenced with Richard Pryce giving a brief history of this area of former docks and industry.  The linear water-body now irrelevantly named ‘Delta Lake’ was once the entrance channel to the New Dock, located to the east.  It was known as ‘The Channel’ to local people.  Llanelly Copperworks was located on its northern shore and an even greater industrial concentration to its south, between ‘The Channel’ and Machynys Farm, on top of its low hill.   These works included the ‘South Wales Tin Plate Works’ and the ‘Richard Thomas Mills’ (R T Mills) next to the channel and other steel and tinplate works further south.  Readers may wish to refer to the excellent aerial photograph and text on pages 263-264 in ‘The Industrial and Maritime History of Llanelli and Burry Port 1750 – 2000’ by R.S. Craig, et al (Carmarthenshire County Council, 2002).  The old industrial site has been levelled and surfaced with limestone chippings as a foundation for future development.  Box-leaved Honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata), had become established, a constituent of the landscape plantings, adjacent to the trampled path over the embankment, from the top of which a good view of the whole development plateau about to be explored, could be observed.  Until recently it had been occupied by travellers and had numerous small rubble mounds with varying amounts of vegetation, each of which was examined.

The ridge of industrial slag just north of the ‘lay-by’ placed in the last two years to prevent unauthorised access to the site, presented the first puzzlers: the identity of its Fleabanes (Conyza).  Careful examination of various characters was needed before some of the larger plants were shown to be the spreading alien Guernsey Fleabane (Conyza sumatrensis), a second record for the county, the first having been found the previous year at the nearby roundabout by IKM.  There was also a scattering of the far less pubescent but far more common Canadian Fleabane (C. canadensis).   It was important to examine plants that hadn’t had their main stem severed at an earlier date resulting in irregular branching giving them an atypical outline. Further plants of both were found to the east of the ridge on flatter ground.  Eminent botanists of the BSBI who visited the site in August were of the opinion that a third Conyza species was present, possibly C. bonariensis, and certainly, some plants seen during the Llanelli Naturalists’ visit did not all appear to fit easily with C. sumatrensis or C. canadensis.

A small strong-smelling mint was forcing its way through the chippings east of the ridge. This was checked by Tony Lewis using Stace’s Field Flora of the British Isles to be Common Calamint (Clinopodium ascendens) and confirmed later using a microscope by GH, thus eliminating Lesser Calamint (C. calamintha) with which it is sometimes confused.  Its growth was certainly stunted.  Further east the desiccated erect stems of Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola), stood up to 1m tall.  This was only the third recent county record (since Davies’ of 1858 (Llandeilo), Barker’s of 1911 (Carmarthen) and Hamer’s of 1912 (Llanelli & Kidwelly)).   When in flower the inflorescence would have oozed the sticky white latex containing the bitter principle lactucin and its derivatives, making the species one of the most bitter-tasting in the British flora.

Turning north the party was confronted by the piles of fly-tipped rubble and sub-soil, which proved to be the richest spot for the flourishing garden throw-outs.  Among these were Druce’s Cranesbill (Geranium x oxonianum), Himalayan Honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa), Hybrid Coralberry (Symphoricarpos x chenaultii), Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Reflexed Stonecrop (Sedum rupestre), Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana) and a yellow-leaved Wild Marjoram cultivar (Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’).  A large ladybird and a strange Christmas tree seen from some distance away, got some members reaching for their identification guides, but on closer examination proved to be fly-tipped plastic replicas!  A dwarf Michaelmas-daisy (Aster cf.‘Little Carlow’) with its lobed leaves was a good late flowerer nestling under a rapidly spreading thicket of Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), recklessly planted by the landscape architects commissioned for implementing the South Llanelli re-development scheme.  In copious orange fruit,  it had the look of Firethorn (Pyracantha) from a distance.

Slightly further west the open, orange flowers of Californian Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica), Hydrangea macrophylla and the tall white plumes of Pampas-grass (Cortaderia selloana) proved focal points. Jointed Rush (Juncus articulatus) here had the tassel gall caused by the Rush Sucker, the nymph of the small aphid-like bug Livia juncorum (Homoptera). 

The group turned to walk to the edge of Delta Lake, well-camouflaged by a landscaping bund, but the short trackway to it proved a photographic curtain-raiser with two spikes of a small galingale (Cyperus sp.) on the eastern side, each having a compact dark golden-brown inflorescence.  Similar material found nearby in 2003 was tentatively determined by Eric Clement as Purple Nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus) but was thought by Arthur Chater, definitely to be another species as the plants are not stoloniferous.  They were later determined by David Simpson at Kew as Cyperus congestus (Dense Flat-sedge), a 1st  record for Wales! (photo p.2).  To cap this, in the taller grassy vegetation on the west side of the track a small plant of Pale Galingale (Cyperus eragrostis), with much lighter coloured inflorescences, lay well hidden: this was the first Carmarthenshire record.  Finally arriving at the lake-side formed by the old dockside wall, the party was greeted by a rather sleepy Heron on the islet, quite tolerant of our presence.  Closer at hand, the lake edge was being colonised by Common Reed (Phragmites australis) and Sea Club-rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus), while several clumps of Common Broomrape (Orobanche minor) were seen on the old dock apron.

The return took a more westerly route with the Hawkweed Hieracium vagum, Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) with its divided leaves, and Flattened Meadow-grass (Poa compressa) with its flattened stems, growing through the limestone chippings.  The final stretch was eastwards along the shrubby landscaped roadside embankment where the Red-fruited tall hedging here proved to be Tibetan Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster conspicuus) with its tiny elliptic hairy leaves.

The last highlight was to gaze on the autumnal habit of a solitary plant of Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria) with a blackish-brown raceme of symmetrically arranged solitary spherical seed-heads, reported here a couple of weeks earlier by Viv and Tony Lewis.  The surprise was a few pinkish-white unopened flowers remaining lower down the stem, on what is usually a yellow flowered species.  If it were to be offered in a garden centre it would probably have been labelled as ‘forma albiflorum’.  This is only the second record of the species in the county, the first being included by Barker in his Natural History of Carmarthenshire, published in 1905.

There was more out there than just a carpet of grey chippings!  The leaders were thanked for their authoritative guidance and Richard Pryce was also thanked for assisting with the meeting.