• Not to be confused with the Afon Brân
  Afon Brân
  The Afon Brân is a tributary of the River Towy in mid Wales. Its headwaters rise in Irfon Forest in the northeastern corner of Carmarthenshire as the Cynnant Fawr and Afon Lwynor and the river assumes the name of Afon Brân at their confluence to the north of the village of Cynghordy. Its major...
  
  in Carmarthenshire.

The Nant Brân is a short river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 which rises on the southern slopes of Mynydd Epynt

Mynydd Epynt

Mynydd Epynt is an upland area of Mid Wales within the county of Powys, Wales. It is bounded to the south by the upper section of the valley of the River Usk, to the north by that of the Afon Irfon and to the east by the valley of the River Wye. Its western boundary is less distinct but lies...

 in Powys

Powys

Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The word 'brân' means 'crow' in Welsh: the name may therefore allude to the dark colour of its waters.

Its upper reaches are within the military training area of SENTA

Senta

Senta is a town and municipality on the bank of the Tisa river in the Vojvodina province, Serbia. Although geographically located in Bačka, it is part of the North Banat District...

, the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

's Sennybridge

Sennybridge

Sennybridge is a village in Powys, Mid Wales, situated some from Cardiff and from Swansea. It lies west of Brecon on the A40 trunk road to Llandovery, at the point where the River Senni flows into the Usk...

 Training Area. It flows through the hamlet of Llanfihangel Nant Brân

Llanfihangel Nant Bran

Llanfihangel Nant Brân is a small village lying next to the Nant Brân river in Powys, Wales about 12km west of Brecon.It is largely a farming community. Llanfihangel includes a church, dedicated to St. Michael, which was probably built in the 16th century and was substantially reconstructed in...

 en route to its confluence

Confluence

Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 with the River Usk

River Usk

The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain of mid-Wales, in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east by Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and...

 at Aberbrân, three miles west of Brecon

Brecon

Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...

. Along with other tributaries of the Usk, the Nant Brân has been designated as a special area of conservation

Special Area of Conservation

A Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...

 for various fish amongst which are three species of lamprey

Lamprey

Lampreys are a family of jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers...

, the twaite shad and the European bullhead

European bullhead

The bullhead is a freshwater fish that is widely distributed in Europe, mainly in rivers. It is a member of the Cottidae family, a type of sculpin...

.