I was given detailed instructions on how to get to this site and they were exactly what you'd expect for such a rarity. The footpath started from the side of a very minor road and disappeared completely only a few feet on the other side. Using a walkers map and clues from nearby landmarks I picked the path up again near a farm. Shortly after that the footpath led across a small field with nine bullocks and a very large dairy bull so that had to to be circumnavigated. Unusually, the path became better defined the further up the hill and when I arrived near the site, the instructions were superb. The fern itself likes caves and waterfalls and this one, quite a healthy specimen, was in a small cave the entrance to which was protected by a curtain of drips. There were different species of ferns all around and a large one at the entrance (possibly Athyrium filix femina The Lady Fern) made me think I'd got the wrong site. But there at the back of the cave was a fern with the right shape, veins finishing before the ends of the leaf margins and above all I could see my hand through it so translucent and thin were the fronds.
Near Beddgelert, North Wales 8th September 2004
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Added on September 8th 2004, amended on February 5th 2005