Purple carpets on the Blorenge – Heather in Full Bloom
Last weekend, I headed for the Blorenge Mountain – one of my favourite haunts in South Wales – armed with my DJI Mini 2 drone. My goal was to catch the Heather in all its late-summer glory, and I wasn’t disappointed. From the moment I crested the brow near the Keepers Pond car park, the view opened up into a breathtaking sea of purple. The summit plateau was draped in carpets of flowering Heather ( Calluna vulgaris ), rolling away into the horizon like some Highland tapestry. This plant is a stalwart of acidic, open moorland and heath, and it waits until the latter part of summer – usually from late July through September – to truly come into its own. The blooms shift in shade as the season wears on, from delicate lilacs to deep, almost royal purples. I launched the drone in a quiet spot about 300 meters a way from the Keepers Pond, or Pen-ffordd-goch Pond, as it’s known in Welsh. Originally built in the 19th century to supply water for a nearby forge. From above...
