Newsletter 117 Now Online

As our latest newsletter (117) has been with members for a few weeks now we are also now making it available online

This edition includes articles about the following: -

• Poisonous Plants: Wenvoe Field Trip
• The Colonel Morrey Salmon Project
• Howardian Local Nature Reserve
• Gigrin Farm Red Kite Feeding Centre

Howardian Nature reserve is definitely looking good as you can see from the picture below

As an update the lecture that was still to be arranged when the Newsletter went to print has been arranged and there is an update on the Programme page

You can find a link to the Newsletter and all of the ones available digitally HERE

Lichens - short course in Wenvoe

Wenvoe Wildlife Group have organised a short course on Lichens on Saturday 14th November.

It is just two hours: from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

It will start with an indoor introduction to Lichens, before we go out to see which ones we can find in Wenvoe.

No experience necessary - this is ideal for anyone wanting to find out about these fascinating life forms.

It will be led by Barbara Brown of the Natural History Museum's OPAL project.

Anyone can come and the course is free, but places must be booked.

To book and for further details e-mail: bruce7@btinternet.com

Gall Update

by Bruce McDonald

In the December 2013 newsletter we published an introduction to galls, including those we had encountered on some of our field trips. This is an update on some that we have come across more recently.

This slightly cashew-shaped gall (above) is Taphrina pruni and it has altered what started out as a sloe. It is caused by a fungus and the common name of Pocket Plum derives from the action of the fungus which destroys the stone and seed leaving an indentation. These were abundant in 2014 along the stretch of sea-wall from the Britannia Inn at Llanmadoc on Gower and down towards Whiteford Point around Grid Ref SS 4466/9416. The gall starts off greenish and ends up shrivelled and blackish - it is closely related to Taphrina alni, the tongue-like gall on alder cones (see last newsletter for photo). It has been a good year for sloes and despite extensive foraging to produce Sloe Jelly, this was the only location at which I noticed it. The sloes were spotted in June - a few months later the sea-wall was breached and the footpath closed.

The next one is Andricus grossulariae (above), one of the Oak Tree's many galls, especially Turkey Oaks. It is similar in appearance to the Hedgehog Gall or Andricus lucidus but the latter has each spine tipped with a small knob. With grossulariae the projections are flatter. This was spotted at RHS Wisley and was first found in the British Isles in 2000. It is spreading rapidly and has been found as far north as Cheshire, although SEWBReC does not have it recorded on their public database. One to look out for, as it should not be long before it is found in South Wales.

 

 

On Esher Common was a pear tree dripping with fruit but it also sported the gall seen above. This has the instantly-memorable name of Gymnosprangium sabinae although European Pear Rust is probably easier to cope with. This rust fungus was once confined to mainland Europe and seldom seen in the UK, but is now becoming more common. It infects both Pear and Juniper and needs both to complete its life-cycle. It is a biotroph with the spores from the pear unable to re-infect the pear directly but needing to find a juniper through wind-born dispersal. Having infected the stems of juniper the spores from this can then seek out a pear to infect.

 

The final one was found on the Community Orchard at Wenvoe, which we visited in early September. Galls on grasses are not easy to identify and Redfern and Shirley in their key ID guide British Plant Galls comment: “Galls on grasses are not well known; they are difficult to find and their host associations are often unknown”. Having said that, the photo above shows a gall which tends to fit the description, “stalks of panicle and of individual spikelets shortened, spikelets broad and bunched together, their parts thickened, green and leaflike”. So Aceria tenuis caused by a mite is a potential candidate.

 

Photos by Bruce McDonald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wenvoe orchards: Sat 6 September 2014

Bruce McDonald led this fascinating walk in the Wenvoe area, attended by around ten CNS members, which took in four newly-planted orchards, a community nature reserve, two churchyards and an ancient burial chamber.

Orchards are a priority habitat and relatively easy to create, so the Wenvoe Wildlife Group is currently focusing on them to promote local biodiversity. The trees in commercial orchards are regularly replaced, often within a decade of planting, and are subject to numerous agrochemical sprays every year; so they have become a very poor habitat for wildlife. The Wenvoe group planted traditional tree varieties in four diverse locations last year that should provide a haven for wildlife for many years to come. These orchards are being primarily managed for wildlife biodiversity and not intensive fruit production; although they should eventually yield abundant fruit for community picking.

The first stop was the Community Orchard, on the edge of the playing field to the east of Wenvoe. A mixture of trees has been planted here, including traditional varieties of apples (e.g. Bardsley Grenadier, Ribston Pippin, and also crab apples), pears and plums (including greengage), along with medlar, quince, mulberry and hazel. The orchard has an impressive bee hotel, with a noticeboard on the back. Bruce mentioned that it would make a good research project for someone, investigating the species using it. Bumble bee nests are also being created, using buried flower pots, and Bruce is on the lookout for mouse droppings (so they can better mimic the abandoned mouse nests favoured by bumble bees). A pond has been dug, which in its second year is supporting a range of aquatic flora and fauna.

Taking the underpass, the next stop was St Mary’s churchyard in Wenvoe. Here we saw the old yew tree and a Balm-of-Gilead.

The tour continued along Pound Lane and through Wenvoe Woods to the farmland beyond, where the Elizabethan Orchard is located, in a fenced-off corner of a field. This was part-funded through the Glastir programme, whereby farmers get paid to increase biodiversity on farms. Using a National Trust listing of fruit trees in an Elizabethan orchard, the Wenvoe Wildlife Group planted medlar, quince, and apple and pear varieties that would have been familiar to the Elizabethans. Trees are widely spaced, up to 10m apart, based on old orchard records. The group is also constructing a Shakespearean garden here, with herbs that are mentioned in the Bard’s plays. A log pile and a pond are among the other habitats being created.

The walk continued along the golf course, through more woods and up to the St Lythans burial chamber - an ideal spot for a picnic lunch. This megalithic dolmen was built around 6,000 years ago, as part of a chambered long barrow (so it’s significantly older than Stonehenge). Current thinking suggests that corpses where put into a cave in nearby Goldsland Wood, and the skeletons moved to the St Lythans burial chamber (and the nearby and larger Tinkinswood burial chamber that is of a similar age).

The third orchard – the Welsh Orchard – is just around the corner from here on a triangular area surrounded by farmland. All the 28 trees planted in this area last year have Welsh connections, either having their origins in Wales or being varieties popular over long periods in Wales. They include the Nant Gwrtheryn Golden Russet variety, which has just been put on the market after its rediscovery on the Llŷn Peninsula. Two flower beds are being created here with medicinal herbs described by the Physicians of Myddfai, who were influential herbalists who lived in the twelfth century in the Carmarthenshire settlement of Myddfai. At least 40 plants they used were noted in the literature; and a selection is being planted here, including wormwood, tansy, angelica, marsh mallow, agrimony, henbane and others that you won’t find in the Cowbridge Physic Garden because of Health and Safety concerns! Beehives are also present in the Welsh Orchard and a new pond will be put in place this winter. The numerous insects (including grasshoppers and crickets of note), birds (e.g. willow warbler) and scuttling small mammals seen attest to the site’s value to wildlife.

A walk along the road took us to St Lythans village and its churchyard. From here it’s a short walk to the fourth and final orchard: the linear Wild Orchard. Here, trees have been planted along a field edge to enhance the existing trees and shrubs, which includes crab apples and other wild-type fruits. Among the trees planted last year were hazel, wild cherry, bird cherry and plum.

We continued towards Twyn-yr-Odyn. By the quarry monument we took a path, which had only been opened a few weeks previously, and soon found ourselves in the Upper Orchid Field. This 5-acre Community Nature Reserve is, like the new orchards, managed by Wenvoe Wildlife Group. The sloping meadow contains over 300 species of flowers, grasses, insects and birds. The seven orchid species recorded here are best viewed in June. There is one annual mowing to encourage meadow wildflowers. This is a habitat type fast disappearing in the UK. The field is surrounded by woodlands and hedgerows. Here you can explore and find Molluscopolis, a secluded area with information boards, where snails and slugs are positively encouraged.

The path at the bottom of the field continues down into Wenvoe.

Text and photos: Stephen Nottingham

WENVOE ORCHARDS - Saturday 6th September

Our next field trip takes us around the 4 newly-planted orchards surrounding Wenvoe and ends with a walk through the Community Nature Reserve. This is a chance to see the pond, the Bee Hotel, St Lythans burial chamber and the new access to the Upper Orchid Field through Whitehall Quarry. A rural walk of 4 to 5 miles taking in whatever wildlife is around. Walking gear a good idea as recent rain has made some of the paths a bit muddy. If the weather is not good the walk will be shortened. Bring lunch. Dogs on leads are welcome but there are a few stiles.

 

Meet at 10am in the middle of Wenvoe village outside the Village Hall (large white building) at the junction of Old Port Road and Station Road West which is next to the school. For Satnav users the Village Hall does not have a postcode but CF5 6AG gets you close. 

 

 

Wenvoe

Members of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, led by Bruce McDonald, strolled down the lanes around Wenvoe to see the hedgerow flora yesterday evening. An interesting range of plants were identified, including the Spiked Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum). This is its only established site in Wales, and flowering spikes were observed along a length of verge: