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 away 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, the aerial perspective was stunning: the rippling purple heather, the still blue of the pond, and beyond that, the patchwork of fields down in the Usk Valley. I flew the drone towards the Foxhunters.

The Foxhunters carpark

The Foxhunters Car Park is a perfect starting point for exploring the top of the Blorenge. A short, gently inclined path leads you up to the broad summit, where the views sweep across Abergavenny, Sugar Loaf, and, on a clear day, even as far as the Brecon Beacons.

A beautiful purple carpet

The drone footage captured the Heather bloom in all its glory. From ground level, the scent was faint but sweet, humming with the activity of bees stocking up before the cooler months ahead. It’s a reminder that this landscape, while wild and windswept, is also a finely tuned ecosystem that thrives on seasonal rhythms.

If you ever needed an excuse to climb a mountain in late summer, let it be the Heather in bloom on the Blorenge. And if you can see it from above, all the better – it’s a sight you’ll never forget.