Coedarhydyglyn

What an absolute delight today was !

I'm certain that a full write-up will appear in due course in the newsletter and it will be written by someone with a much better botanical knowledge than me. However, for now, and maybe to whet your appetite for other events this summer here are some pictures and some thoughts from what was a fantastic day out for the 30 or so of us that made it to this event

First off the location. we were honoured to be allowed to walk around these private gardens and admire the house as well. This is a private house on land which has been owned by the Traherne family back to Henry VII. Most notable of the family were the Reverend John Traherne, who during the 19th Century was a scholar and collector of scientific manuscripts, and Sir Cennydd Traherne, who was Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan from 1952 to 1974. We were lucky not to see any Cybermen on our visit

Next the trees and the leadership - Tony Titchen (in red shirt below) is rightly recognised for his excellent leadership of such events

Third the weather .. mind you we had to shelter in the shade sometimes as the skies were almost unbroken blue which at this time of year can be a little too much.

Thank goodness this was a tree walk as they provided the necessary shade in abundance. You can play spot the CNS member in this picture

And the trees were magnificent as well including this filbert (Corylus maxima)

And these fascinating resin oozing cones of Abies kawakamii

Regards
Andy

Book Availability

In a recent post we told you of a new book Footpints in the Sands of Time telling the fascinating Life story of Colonel Morrey Salmon

A couple of updates to this are that there is a review of the book in the latest edition of Nature Cymru magazine by Well known Welsh ornithologist David Saunders, and we've also been told that the book is on-sale in the National Museum of Wales bookshop in Cathays Park so if you want to browse a copy it's now possible to get your hands on a copy more easily

We also still have copies of some of our society and May Gillham's publications - if you want to contact us you can see what's there by looking at the Publications Order Form

Regards
Andy

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:

Coryton Orchid in Flower

Regarding the post made recently about the unusual orchid at Coryton roundabout I made a return visit to see if the mystery orchid had flowered this lunch time and here it is in it's full glory. 

It is indeed looking like " Common Spotted Orchid Var.rhodochila" ! 

Rhian

Unusual Orchid at Coryton

Regualr readers of our newsletters will remember the highlights that we've found on the Coryton Roundabout Nature reserve

This very unusual place in the middle of the largest roundabout in Wales has turned out to be one of the riches places we've surveyed and keeps throwing up surprises every time we visit.

What with Long Winged forms of Short Winged Conheads some years ago, and now Common Spotted Orchid Var.rhodochila being found and confirmed it's a waiting game to find out what is next.

We had wonderful sights of the Bee orchids and the white form of the Common Spotted Orchids around the roundabout this year as well as the usual sightings of the Twayblade and the Broad Leaved Helleborines.

Hybrids abounded with many Common Spotted / Southern Marsh crosses, and we found the Pyramidal as well, but for unusual, a candidate from this year's walk is this specimen which was unfortunalty not yet in flower, but had such vibrant purple leaves that it stood out from the surrounding specimens quite clearly

The upper leaves show some blotchyness reminiscent of the Common Spotted Orchid, but the lower leaves are almost completely purple

But their undersides are green

If anyone can shed any light on this and whether it's truly as unusual as those of us on the walk felt it was, we would be pleased to hear from you via email or simply add a comment to this posting

Regards
Andy

Mutant Foxglove

Hi all,

thought you may be interested in the attached photograph. It's the top flower of a Foxglove spike in our garden .In fact we have three other Foxglove plants in the garden all showing the same aberration.

Anyone out there have any ideas as to the cause?

Footprints in the sands of Time

Just published ... A new book about one of our most famous members

Colonel Harry Morrey Salmon is fondly remembered as one of our most illustrious former members, however many of us are now too young or recent a member to know him (including me which is a situation I regret because he seems to have been a truly inspirational figure)

As the book flyer says, he was Hailed as "Welsh Ornithologist of the century" and "Father of British Bird Photography". He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1971

We are therefore very happy to be able to promote a new book that has been published by members of his Family

You can download a flyer with full details of the book and how to order a copy by clicking here

He was treasurer of the National Museum of Wales which is an organization that the society has always had close links with and they now house his photographic collections

Having just read his obituary which can be found online here and a number of other on-line references to his illustrious military career (in both world wars) I can say that I will be getting a copy and hope to be able to bring you a review fairly soon

Regards
Andy