Category: Nature

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

Despite wet and then freezing weather this has been a good month for planting trees. Firstly Keep Wales Tidy donated 28 fruit trees to us (4 for every Green Flag Application site). An apple has been planted in a garden close to the St Marys Church and 12 in a new orchard on the outskirts of Wenvoe. 12 have also been planted in a new orchard at Twyn yr Odyn and the last three in the Community Welsh Orchard near Maes y Felin. There are 4 different varieties – three apples, Irish Peach, Herefordshire Russet and Laxtons Superb, none of which have been planted in the Community Orchards previously. The 4th variety is Victoria Plum, featured in the photo.

We also received native broad-leaved trees which we had ordered mainly for the Upper Orchid Field including Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry, Black Poplar, Aspen, Beech, Small-leaved Lime and Purging Buckthorn which are all new to the Upper Orchid Field and some of which are new to the Parish as far as we know. These are being planted on the perimeter of the Upper Orchid Field, keeping as much of the meadow free for wildflowers as possible. They are being put in the ground as we clear the bramble which had been starting to invade the field. We have been successful in applying for a small grant from the Places for Nature scheme. This involves the purchase of a moth trap, small, pond water butt and bug hotels for the Bee Loud Glade plus a wide range of native plants including Southern Marsh Orchid, Betony and Birds Foot Trefoil.

We have started measuring and recording the large trees in the parish, starting with the large oaks on the road to the golf course. We shall be covering those where we can get access but if you have a large tree which is not accessible to the public but would like to have it recorded on the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Tree Register, do get in touch. We shall let you know in a future edition of What’s On what we believe to be the largest in the parish but if you want to have a guess as to which it might be, do contact us.

Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

‘Mighty oaks from little acorns grow’ and we have many fine oaks in the Parish. The recent decision to remove two of the immature oaks on the Upper Orchid Field has prompted some questions on the best ways to promote and enhance biodiversity. So, first some thoughts on the oak tree. They take around 150 years to mature and produce a good crop of acorns at which point they will typically have a girth of around 3 metres 50 cms. An oak with a circumference of 5 metres will be about 300 years old and take us back to the reign of George l. The oaks being removed on the Upper Orchid Field varied between 70cms and 110cms.

Wenvoe has many oaks, whether you are looking in the school playground or wandering around the Playing Fields. There are some good-sized oaks still left in and around the new Grange development. The best collection are on the fields either side of the road to the Golf Club where there are around 20 in a typical Capability Brown landscape. Not that Capability Brown was ever involved but his son–in-law, Henry Holland, did work on the design and development of parts of Wenvoe Castle. The girth of some of these trees would put them at 200-300 years old. The Wildlife Group will be measuring and surveying these trees and recording them on the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Register – this does not guarantee their survival but increases the chances of the wider community at least being aware of them. There are two types of native oak – the English and Sessile oak. The former is the main one to be found here and is distinguished by having the acorn on a short stalk. The Sessile Oak has a stalkless acorn although, just to complicate matters, they can hybridise so the tree you are looking at could be a bit of both.

The oak tree can support a wider range of wildlife than any other native tree so plays an important part in the ecology of an area. However two oak trees will not have twice the variety of species as one although it may well have double the volume of them. To increase the range of species in an area it is necessary to plant a range of different tree varieties each of which will attract a number of species which favour that type of tree. Many species are almost exclusive to a particular tree-type, such as the White Letter Hairstreak on Elms or the Four-spot Lift Moth on Dogwood. It is difficult to estimate how many trees we have lost just in the last ten years but road-widening, housing development and natural ageing will have accounted for several hundred. Whilst some losses are inevitable it is noteworthy that there is little evidence of any plans to replace them in this parish by the local authorities.

On the positive side a number of residents have been planting trees whether as individual trees, fruit trees or hedgerow and these include donated packs from the Woodland Trust. The Wildlife Group have planted 190 trees this year, including 15 Oaks, and including many varieties that, although native, are probably not found in the area at the moment such as Black Poplar, Aspen and Purging Buckthorn. It is planned that the Upper Orchid Field will have 30 native tree species growing by the Summer of this year which will make it almost unique locally. We do have our wonderful parks such as Bute and Roath but most of the trees are non-native specimen trees. Tree walks will be held once the trees are in leaf and a Tree Trail is being developed for the Upper Orchid Field.

It is around 13 years since the Wildlife Group first got involved in looking after the Upper Orchid Field.

At that stage it was quite neglected and the sloping area was covered in self-seeded Ash trees. At first the Vale of Glamorgan Council were prepared to cut the field but financial issues soon meant that they could no longer help. Currently the field is cut by a contractor with removal of debris and the costs are shared between the Wildlife Group and the Community Council. The field is important because it is one of the last wildflower meadows in and around Cardiff and Britain has lost around 97% of its meadows in the last 100 years. We have plenty of fields but these are mainly just grass with a few nettles, creeping thistles and docks and relatively devoid of wildlife. In contrast the Upper Orchid Field has records of over 400 species of plant and animal and that is without having any expert surveys done. Also the field is a popular spot for walkers, joggers and families with great views and plenty of colour from Spring on, including several thousand orchids in the Summer.

We have noticed that Bramble has been creeping in from the perimeter and we have lost in excess of 5% of the area of the field to this recently. Hence the combined efforts of the Wildlife and Environment Groups to reclaim this land in the last few months and the large bonfire piles awaiting a good dry spell.

There are also 7 immature Oak trees (see this month’s Nature Notes) in the middle of the field and as these grow larger we estimate that we will lose 25 square metres of wildflower area each year. We decided to remove three of these to maximise the space for wildflowers although we are planting 16 more trees on the perimeter of mixed species which will greatly increase the biodiversity on the site – including Black Poplar, Cherry, Buckthorn, Aspen and Rowan.

However, with some creative work by Mike Tucker we now also have a small area set aside for young families where you can picnic.

We shall celebrate National Meadows Week with a tour of the site on 6th July – check What’s On nearer the time for more details

WILDLIFE GROUP

As we head into a New Year it is worth pausing to review how we got on in 2020. Covid managed to affect many people’s lives and for those who had friends or family catch the virus it may well have been a difficult year. However, one consequence has been the number of people who have started exploring the countryside and discovering our Community Orchards and Nature Reserves. These have been created by the Community and for the Community and without the following we would not be where we are today. First a thank you to the landowners, principally the Reader family who have allowed us to create several wildlife oases on their farms. Then there are those who donate and in the last few months this has included 4 benches (Tricia, Ann and Abi), some tools and a small pond (Pat) and not least, the Tuckers who managed to raise a fantastic sum for the group from the Reindeer event. We refurbished and installed two new noticeboards donated by the Village Hall Committee and Community Council. Some individuals have donated plants (Sue & Mike) and many have volunteered for the Group either by clearing bramble, cutting back trees, planting hedgerows and fruit trees, painting noticeboards and repairing benches. Lee and Dominique walk all the way from Barry before working hard at the Goldsland sites. John Smith cut the Goldsland Orchard for us saving goodness knows how many volunteering manhours. Many helpers are from outside Wenvoe (Peter from Radyr, Pat and Roger from Llanishen, Phil and Shirley from Dinas Powys). So to all those who have helped, particularly those who have not been mentioned but do sterling work for us, a sincere vote of thanks. We hope to be in touch with you all again this year.
And for those who wondered about the photo we included in our article last month, this is East Orchard castle near St Athan – a surprising ruin complete with house, barn, chapel and dovecote.