Nature of Snowdonia: A Beginner's Guide to the Upland EnvironmentThe first complete field guide for the mountains of Snowdonia through the seasons, its plants, animals and rocks. Everything you're likely to see in the hills at that time of year is here in one volume. Follow the seasons of Snowdonia; winter is the perfect time for studying rocks and lichen; in spring the bog flowers flourish and beautiful orchids bloom; summer brings fruits and flowers, and the trees are in full leaf; in autumn an amazing display of funghi appear, the hill farms are busy again in preparation for winter and as the nights draw in it is time again to sit beside the fire and tell tales of local myth and legend. A little knowledge of thyme, tormentil and thrift will enhance your day in the hills. Fossil trilobytes and roche moutonn'e (rock sheep), bogbean beer and caterpillar fungus, are just some of the fascinating things you will discover. |
Contents
Acknowledgements | 6 |
Winter plants | 41 |
Mammals | 59 |
Mountain birds 83 8555 | 83 |
Amphibians reptiles | 95 |
Reptiles | 96 |
Insects | 99 |
Spiders | 100 |
Trees shrubs | 129 |
Ferns | 139 |
Invaders | 143 |
AUTUMN | 147 |
Fungi | 149 |
Hill farms | 159 |
Myths legends | 165 |
THE LAST WORD | 173 |
Common terms and phrases
acidic adder Afanc Arthur’s ash fall beetle Bell heather berries bilberry birch bird bracken breccia bumblebee Capel Curig Carneddau caterpillar cattle Cladonia cliff climbers Clogwyn clubmoss colour common lizard Common valerian crystals Cwm Idwal damp Devil’s-bit scabious distinctive Dunawt dung easily recognised English stonecrop eruptions female fern flowers Fly agaric fragments fungi fungus Glyderau Goat willow gorse grassland grassy areas ground grows habitat heath hills hillsides Hygrocybe igneous rocks insects iStockphoto.com Juniper known lake lambs leaves lichen Llyn Idwal Llynnau Mymbyr look magma male mat grass Meadow pipit metamorphic minerals Moelwynion moorland moss moth mountains North Wales numbers pale plant pyroclastic quarries red kite rhododendron roots sedimentary seeds seen sheep grazing slate Snowdonia species spider spotted stem summer tail tree Tryfan tuff Twll Tylwyth Teg uplands usually volcanic waxcap Welsh name winter wood woodland yellow