Country Diary: Butterflies, Battle Re-enactments, and Ancient Oaks 2026

Country diary entries often capture the essence of rural life, and this one weaves together a tangle of butterflies and battle re-enactments in the Welsh Marches. From the ruins of Oswestry Castle to the ancient Pontfadog oak, history and nature intertwine in a captivating narrative.

The Setting: Oswestry Castle and the Marches

I'm telling the story from a pub in the bailey opposite the ruins of Oswestry Castle. There in 1165, Henry II, the Angevin king of England, gathered troops from the Marcher Lords to advance on an alliance of Welsh princes for control of the Marches. The previous Sunday, 861 years later, we went the same way as Henry's army to Chirk Castle, Castell Y Waun a'r Ardd, to see a re-enactment of the Battle of Crogen.

The Battle of Crogen Re-enactment

The present castle wasn't built back then and the battle at Crogen was in the Ceiriog Valley below. Henry had sent woodsmen to raze woodland in the valley to remove the Welsh advantage, but he left one oak, Quercus petraea, at which Owain Gwynedd gathered his army. That tree became the Pontfadog oak – a giant, the oldest British oak, and survived as the National Tree of Wales, much loved and storied until it blew down in a storm in 2013 at an estimated 1,600 years old.

I have a small fragment of it given to me by the longtime Guardian environment editor John Vidal. The battle re-enactment, with crashing swords and shields in the colours of Marcher lords and Welsh princes, fine horses and boinging arrows, was fun to watch with a running commentary giving a sense of what was happening and who was doing what. Histories vary about whether this was a great battle, isolated harassments or no fighting at all, but the outcome was the same: the Welsh won.

Butterflies and Nature's Resilience

Amidst the clashing swords and cheering crowds, a tangle of butterflies danced over the wildflowers. Their delicate presence contrasted sharply with the simulated violence, reminding us of nature's resilience. The Pontfadog oak may be gone, but its legacy lives on in the landscape and in the stories we tell.

Key Takeaways

• Battle re-enactments bring history to life, but they also highlight the interplay between human conflict and the natural world.
• The Pontfadog oak, a symbol of Welsh resistance, stood for over a millennium before its fall in 2013.
• Butterflies and other wildlife continue to thrive in the Marches, offering a peaceful counterpoint to historical battles.
• Country diaries capture the small, intimate moments that connect us to the past and to nature.

Comparing Historical Accounts and Natural Observations

Historical records of the Battle of Crogen vary, but the natural world provides its own record. The table below compares key aspects of the battle with the ecological features observed during the re-enactment.

FAQ

As the re-enactment ended and the crowd dispersed, the butterflies continued their own dance, oblivious to the human dramas that had unfolded. In the end, it's these small, living details that make a country diary so compelling – a reminder that nature and history are forever entangled.

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