Dernol Valley website now live.

This new website is about the Dernol Valley in mid-Wales, particularly the wildlife – animal and plant – that lives here, but also the landscape and history, and artworks inspired by it.

The initial intention was for it to be somewhere to keep my insect photographs in an organised and easily-accessible way, but once I started making it, it kept growing as I thought of other things I’d like to add to it …

I am not an expert on any of the sections on the site, so always welcome people letting me know if I have wrongly identified anything, or giving me advice if I have not identified something at all. At the moment, I’d particularly welcome help with the text in the ‘sub-order Auchenorrhyncha – Leafhoppers, Froghoppers & Planthoppers‘ section of the ‘Beetles & True Bugs‘ page, as I’m finding it difficult to explain the differences between the various types.

At the moment, some sections have more content than others; the ‘Insects and other Arthropods’ section has a lot of photos in its galleries, most of the plant sections do not, but this is an ongoing project and many more photos will be added. The ‘Gardening’ and ‘Cats, Dogs, Horses and Hens’ sections currently have no photos in them, but these will be added in the next few weeks.

I intend to concentrate on trees, mosses, grasses and lichens in 2021, but I am also likely to get waylaid by other things I see along the way, so no promises! Once it is safe to mingle again, I’d also welcome any experts who would be prepared to accompany me on a ‘field trip’ in Dernol  to help me learn more about identification of lichens (particularly crustose), mosses and grasses in particular.

Please do look around if anything takes you interest!