Old Red Sandstone is the most common rock type in this region of the national park. It makes up the high ground with steep escarpments and almost flat topped moorlands as well as creating the red cultivated soil seen in the valleys. Glaciers from successive ice ages have created spectacular steep sided valleys running up into the mountains enhancing the rugged look of the scenery. To the south limestone and millstone grit have created a distinctive landscape of caves, potholes and waterfalls.

Our Beacons - in the heart of the National Park - are renowned for the pastoral quality of the valley meadows, the verdant hillsides with ancient stone walls and hedges and for deciduous woods and hills rising to over 700 meters. This almost unique combination of rock types and altitudes gives the area a special role as a habitat for plants and animals. Saxifrages, stonecrops, bluebells and ferns of many varieties are found in our Beacons.

The oak woods are home to many birds including wood warblers, woodpeckers, nuthatches and tree creepers. The Usk and the canal are the favoured habitats of otter, water vole, heron and sand martins.

Brecknock Wildlife Trust

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