Parc y Darran

In the spring the ground flora is at its beautiful best with carpets of bluebell, wood anemone, dog violets, ramsons, dog’s mercury, primrose, hart’s tongue fern and hard fern. Visit early in the morning to hear the dawn chorus. In the autumn this is a great place for woodland fungi, and stalks of lords and ladies will be full of glorious red berries. Do not be fooled by their beauty, these berries are poisonous.

Hazel dormice live here but these tiny ginger mammals are hard to see. Look instead for hazelnuts with smooth circular holes that the dormice have opened. Nuthatches can be seen scurrying up and down tree trunks in search of food. You may notice that you are followed around by a curious robin, hoping to feast on tasty insects you might disturb. On hot summer days, iridescent purple hairstreak butterflies settle on the leaves of oak trees and drink honeydew (a sweet secretion from aphids).