Parc Heddwch

A floodplain meadow that’s rare to RCT, Parc Heddwch supports an array of beautiful wildflowers and insects that take advantage of this bounty.

Golden-Ringed Dragonfly - © Wayne Withers

Habitat

Before you is a beautiful floodplain meadow, kept wet by the River Cynon. The great majority of floodplain meadows have been drained and agriculturally improved over the years, so Peace Park is a rarity. Its looked after by ‘cut and collect’ management, which means we leave the grassland to flower and seed all summer before cutting and removing the hay in early autumn. This naturally encourages wildflowers to thrive.

When to Visit

In the spring enjoy an abundance of lilac cuckoo flowers, the foodplant of orange-tip butterflies. In summer the marsh and hay meadow plants are at their flowering best, humming with hoverflies and bees. At night barn owls hunt for mice and voles, and in milder months bats skim the grass heads catching moths.

Biodiversity

There is a fantastic wildflower display, most notably with greater bird’s-foot trefoil, black knapweed, meadowsweet, red clover, southern marsh orchid, water forget-me-not, and greater burnet.

This is excellent insect habitat, so look out for large skipper and ringlet butterflies, burnet moths, Roesel’s bush-crickets and azure damselflies. You may also spot a magnificent golden-ringed dragonfly, Britain’s longest dragonfly. They spend most of their lives as ferocious nymphs in the river before emerging as adults in early summer.