The blue BayBus – a long bendy bus – heading down Lloyd George Avenue towards Cardiff Bay
It is now nearly a year since I started working in Cardiff Bay and every day my bus ride takes me down Lloyd George Avenue, a broad, mile-long road linking the city centre and the bay.
For many months I had been meaning to walk the tree-lined avenue but it is only now in autumn that I have finally made the effort – hoping to identify the trees before the last leaves fall and identification becomes difficult again.
The red pin marks the middle of Lloyd George Avenue – click on the image to explore – with thanks to Google Maps
Lloyd George Avenue is one of the main links between the city centre and Cardiff Bay. Originally this area was a grey industrial area called Collingdon Road and then for a while it was known as Bute Avenue. But it was renamed after Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 2000 after landscaping was completed.
David Lloyd George was Prime Minister of the UK from 1916 to 1922
Lloyd George Avenue runs parallel to Bute Street and the Butetown Branch Line. The original plan for this redevelopment saw the rail line removed to be replaced by a continental-style boulevard with a Light Rapid Transit system, but this never happened because it was too expensive.
The railway still runs alongside Lloyd George Avenue, beyond a row of hedges and trees – you can just see a train in this picture
But on to the trees, which I think must have been planted around the year 2000 when landscaping work was completed. These are the species on the west side of the avenue, heading from south to north…
I think this is some sort of maple (Acer)…
…the red-edged autumn leaves
A red oak (Quercus section Lobatae)
See those tower blocks on the left of the previous picture? This image from 1969 shows Loudoun House and Nelson House – which still remain after redevelopment of the Docks – see a link at the bottom of this post for more old pictures
Red oak leaves…
…and the fallen leaves on the grass below
An anchor is part of Cardiff Bay’s maritime heritage
There are areas of hedge breaking up the line of specimen trees along the avenue – I hastily identified this as beech (Fagus), but thanks to Rafael Gallo for correcting me – it’s hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and I should have known!
A member of the cherry (Prunus) family…
…and its leaves
I thought this was poplar, with catkins ready for next spring, but thanks to Rafael Gallo for suggesting it is a hop hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) – I will keep an eye on this one for confirmation when it bears its hop-like fruits next year
This is a funny one – the tree looks like it has been there longer than the avenue…
…I think it’s a field maple (Acer campestre) but I am willing to be corrected…
…some of the fallen leaves among the grass, and a daisy
It’s possible to cross under the railway line to Bute Street…
…through this underpass
Another bushy area…
…with berries – is it by any chance Cotoneaster lacteus?
Another sort of maple…
…again with unusual three-lobed leaves – is it some sort of trident maple, Acer buergerianum?
…the keys
A different maple with three-lobed leaves…
…and another – possibly Acer rubrum?
Another reminder of the dockland past
A multi-stemmed tree with white papery bark – possibly Himalayan birch (Betula utilis)?
This looks like another tree that pre-dates the avenue…
…I think a sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
As we near the north end of the avenue there are many beautiful tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera)…
…with all-seeing trunks
Tulip tree and blue sky
Rusty brown tulip tree…
…and fallen leaves
Golden tulip tree…
…golden leaves…
…a selection of tulip leaves in many colours
This tulip tree is still green – maybe it’s warmer near the city centre
Arches under the railway…
…and another shortcut to Bute Street
Looking across the avenue to the Church of St Mary and St Stephen in Bute Street
The top end of the avenue, with new high-rise student apartments reaching for the sky
The eastern side of the avenue is lined with apartment blocks – and all the trees are small-leaved lindens like the one I have been following this year
More apartments
Another piece of industrial heritage…
…and another – not quite the Angel of the North!
More conventional embellishments
A sculpture
Some of these blocks look like converted warehouses
The very red brick is eye-catching
I’m not keen on the concrete entrances to these blocks – they look a bit like something you might have seen in the Soviet Union – though pleasant inside, I am sure!
A direction sign as part of the National Cycle Network, designed by John Mills and cast by Taylors Foundry of Haverhill
I like the details…
…very apt with the South Wales Jurassic Coast nearby
More fishy decorations
Looking back up the avenue on the eastern side
Here, around the corner from County Hall, where I work, is one of our very successful bike hire stands
And finally we look south to the Cardiff Bay end of Lloyd George Avenue, which passes the Red Dragon Centre (cinema, bowling alley and eateries), screened by maples, and the iconic Wales Millennium Centre
There are some great old pictures of Cardiff Docks before their transformation on WalesOnline here.
The Squirrelbasket 
Not beech nor poplar , hornbeam or hop-horbeam.
Don’t speak english.
Thank you! I have corrected the captions. I should have recognised the hornbeam hedge, but the hop hornbeam is not very common here.
Best wishes 🙂
or
¡Gracias! He corregido los subtĂtulos. DeberĂa haber reconocido el seto de carpe, pero el carpe de lĂşpulo no es muy comĂşn aquĂ.
Los mejores deseos 🙂
or
Obrigado! Eu corrigi as legendas. Eu deveria ter reconhecido a sebe de choupo, mas o choupo do lĂşpulo nĂŁo Ă© muito comum aqui.
Muitas felicidades 🙂
Thanks for the links to the old pictures of Cardiff.
Interesting, weren’t they?
All the best 🙂
Neat to see so many photos of Cardiff — beautiful with the sculptures and trees! Not much of this in Wyoming, probably for lack of funding, and maybe limited growing season. Also public artwork can be controversial — whether worth spending money on and “appropriate”. Anything abstract generally doesn’t go over well … except on the University campus 🙂
Interesting to hear different points of view!
Many of our abstract pieces of street art are paid for by the building developers as a condition of the planning permission they are granted by the local council.
But we also have many statues of famous local heroes (usually men) in the city centre. For example we have Nye Bevan, father of our National health Service, John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (a rich philanthropic Victorian aristocrat) and John Batchelor, a Victorian businessman and politician who campaigned against slavery.
All the best 🙂