Category: Nature

WENVOE BUTTERFLIES

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

The weather has not been kind to our conservation work but thanks to some of our observant residents we continue to record species which have not previously been registered in the Parish. An example is the Mint Moth which is probably not uncommon but easily overlooked. This small day-flying moth tends to inhabit patches of mint so one to look out for. We have now recorded 40 wildlife species in the School wildlife patch but expect the numbers to increase steadily, particularly if we get some better weather. The grass, Timothy, shown in the photo is doing very well – this is the foodplant of the caterpillar of the Essex Skipper (recorded in Cardiff and Barry) and the Marbled White butterflies.

THE GRANGE AVENUE GARDENERS

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

The Grange Avenue gardeners share some of their thoughts

Joyce Hoy

  1. Go to specialist nurseries where the owners are usually on hand to give advice about which plants will do well in your plot.
  2. Unusual plants will give you a different experience and create extra interest.
  3. A dense shrub next to the bird feeders will give protection against predators while the birds are waiting to feed.
  4. Putting bright tape on your hand tools will make them easier to find when left in borders.
  5. Take cuttings and collect seed, it is so satisfying to see the results.

Pat Davies

  1. Next Spring I will be heading to the supermarkets early to build up my bedding plants collection, the plants are usually healthy and reasonably priced.
  2. Growing bedding plants from seed hasn’t given me my greatest success but will help fill in the gaps when the shops run out.
  3. If you’re stuck on what would be the best way to get the most from your garden, just ask a gardener. They can’t wait to to tell you what you should be doing. You don’t have to take their advice though.
  4. For early Spring colour plant tête-à-tête. They have short, strong stems and don’t get bashed by strong winds.
  5. Each to their own but for me the garden needs to be full of colour for as long as possible, it’s a tonic.

September brings the bulb planting season upon us. The most important thing to remember when planting is to put them deep enough, especially tulips. They need to be at a depth of 3 times the height of the bulb. Daffodils and crocus will need to be put in this month. Tulips will perform better when planted in November. If you are placing bulbs in borders consider planting them up in plastic pots first and then digging them into the ground. This way you can remove them when flowering is over and put them aside for the foliage to die down, which will give you room for the summer bedding.

Speaking to a lot of gardeners this year, the consensus is that the cold start to Spring held the plants back and this was not helped by the fact that we are struggling to find good seed and cuttings compost. Since the use of peat has stopped the alternatives have not been good. There are numerous reasons for this. Firstly, when these companies produce compost it has to be heated to certain temperatures to decompose properly and to kill off pathogens that cause pest and diseases. If the temperatures are not reached this will increase the amount of damping off of seedlings and cuttings. This will also allow weed seeds to germinate amongst your plants which happened a lot this year. The R H S say that if this happens you must take it back to your supplier. If you buy seed compost it should be very fine and not have bits of debris visible, which has been the case with a lot of brands this year. Seed compost has to pass through a fine screen mesh which takes time. The composts are expensive and companies should produce a usable product. Buying sterilised soil to start your plants off especially in early spring will help but you will then need to feed them as they start to come on because the soil will have no nutrients.

Start off some sweet peas in a cold frame this month to give yourself some earlier flowers next year, once they’ve sprouted they will be quite happy outside in a sheltered spot. Take cuttings of your favourite shrubs, even if just a few take root it doesn’t cost anything to try.

Farmers and market gardeners have struggled to get good yields this year mainly because of the absence of rain in June. The Wenvoe allotment holders have the benefit of a constant water supply, albeit with buckets and cans, to have good crops. This takes quite a lot of effort to reap a good harvest but nothing tastes as good as growing your own. Even without an allotment, growing some veg in pots is so worthwhile. I’m sure we will see some of the fruits of our villagers labours at the village show on the 9th Sept.

Take care and happy gardening

 

MORE SPIDERY CREATURES

More Spidery Creatures

It is that time of year when we start to see more spidery creatures around, both in the house and garden. The insect in the photo is the Harvestman – commonly called a Daddy Long Legs but not to be confused with a winged insect also called a Daddy Long Legs! It is not a spider but is closely related. They cannot spin webs or are venomous but usually catch their prey with hooks at the end of their legs. They are quite common and may gather in groups, the largest of which numbered 300,000. But don’t panic as they are harmless to humans. They are called Harvestmen because they tend to be around in the late summer when the traditional harvest was gathered in. The Latin name for them is Opiliones – Opilio meaning shepherd after the early European shepherds who walked around on stilts so that they had a better view of their flock.

 

Through a Glass of Malt

VILLAGE ENVIRONMENT GROUP

A Busy Wenvoe Womble

According to Big John the weather would be in spate on the morning the team were due to meet. So, he decided to monitor the situation through a glass of malt. The rest of the team got wind of this so consequently were difficult to prise out of their homes. When they were herded on to the village green, they became difficult to manage, going off in all directions. Once they’d settled down, work commenced in tidying up the roses and hedge around the memorial.
All was ok until Gareth ‘sing song’ turned up wearing a rubber ring, followed by a drop of rain and told them to go home before they drowned. So that was it. A man and his dog were nearly wiped out in the rush through the gate (pictured).

If we can find them all again, we’ll meet at Pound Lane on 14th August at 09.30. I hope to goodness it’s not too hot, wet, cold, sunny or there’s bad light!

 

 

LOOKING AFTER A LARGE BORDER ETC

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

LOOKING AFTER A LARGE BORDER

Angela Flynn, on LOOKING AFTER A LARGE BORDER.

  1. Dead head daily during the flowering season.
    2. Fill any gaps, so that most of the soil is covered, this helps keep weeds at bay.
    3. Don’t put up with plants you dislike.
    4. Keep any shrubs under control or they will merge into one mass.
    5. Take cuttings of your favourite tender perennials and propagate for next year.

Beryl Richards gets to the point.

  1. Don’t bother with no mow May, your lawn will provide for wildlife even when very short.
    2. Make your own compost, if at all possible, as most of what’s on offer wouldn’t grow weeds.
    3. If someone offers you a plant you don’t want, kindly decline, or they will keep checking that you still have it.
    4. Don’t be kidded into thinking those small tunnels just below the surface of your lawn are made by moles. They are rat runs which are mainly built over the winter.
    5. Probably best not to save those ice cream containers and yogurt pots, you’ll never use them.

If you don’t do much else this month, please make sure you water camellias and rhododendrons thoroughly to make sure next year’s buds develop. Time to trim the lavender after flowering (not the French plants they just need deadheading) but be careful not to cut into the old wood. Dahlias are coming into their own now and will need strong stakes and a feed. Roses will become more prone to black spot as the season goes on. Spraying is not what we want to be doing but for this disease I use rose clear. There must be some other remedies, but I have found this spray works well. Cut the seed heads off lilies before they set, this will give you bigger blooms on the parent plant next year. This month and next are the best times to spray perennial weeds especially ground elder and bindweed before they start to die back.

Using a high nitrogen feed on your lawn will have a detrimental effect, as it will encourage rapid green growth which has been proved to weaken the grass over the Autumn and Winter. Use a preparatory Autumn fertiliser. If you have leatherjackets in the lawn, then now is the time to start a nematode treatment.

Allotment old-timer Herbie will, on a good year, get a second crop from his broad beans by cutting them off to a leaf joint about 6 inches from the ground. They will then shoot and give a lighter crop. Harvesting beans, courgettes and salad will go on for quite a while as long as you keep picking. Tomato plants seem to need a lot of care to get the best out of them. We need to keep taking the top growth off and remove any leaf below the first truss as well as taking some of the leaves off the rest of the stem. We don’t want the plant putting any energy into growing greenery.

The Village Show on September 9th will hopefully encourage you to show off your produce and encourage others to take up gardening.

Take care and happy gardening

 

 

 

 

NATURE NOTES – AUGUST 2023

AS  LOVELY AS A TREE 

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree

So wrote the American poet, Joyce Kilmer. In Wenvoe we are lucky to have a wonderful collection of trees which, if you removed the houses, would make a respectable arboretum in its own right. Dominated by the massive Horse Chestnuts and Pines around Grange Park, many of our gardens also have an amazing variety and range of, often smaller, trees. You do not need a huge garden to plant a tree in – there are species to suit every size and taste. And each one will, in its own way, help the environment, capture carbon, cool its surroundings and provide shelter and, often, food for wildlife.

Take Walston Close, for example. In the front gardens of this small cul-de-sac of 9 houses you can see Black Lace Elder, Eucryphia Nymanensis, several Acers, a couple of Cabbage Palms, Liquidamber, Weeping Purple Beech, Variegated Sycamore, Magnolia, two Apple trees, a Wedding Cake Tree (see below) and even a small Handkerchief Tree. One garden alone has 14 Acers and another 17 trees including Crabapple, Hop Tree, 4 Italian Cypress, Amelanchier, a Claygate Pearmain Apple, Silver Birch, two Blue Sausage Trees and a Judas Tree. Other trees known about in the Close include Gingko, Purple Beech and Indian Bean Tree. There are no doubt several others in back gardens which are known only to the householders. And not to mention all the conifers which are often not so easy to identify.

The Tree Trail covers many of the other interesting trees in the village such as Persian Ironwood, Laburnum, Walnut, Loquat, Clerodendron, Mulberry, Corkscrew Hazel and Bird Cherry. There is an ancient Yew in the churchyard considered already very old in 1700 and a Beech by the war memorial supposedly planted to celebrate the end of the Boer War. However, the trail does need updating as a number of trees have been removed for whatever reason and not replaced. These include Walnut, Tulip Tree and Balm of Gilead Poplar. Port Road is lined with a variety of mature trees including many Hornbeam which are not that common in the wild around here. The fields either side of the road to the Golf Club have some magnificent old oaks probably dating back to the Constable era.

How many new trees are being planted? Precious few, alas, although we were delighted to see those recently planted on the village green by a local family. The school has ambitious plans with 5 apples already in the ground and a hedgerow waiting for Autumn to enter the ground. Three new oaks went in on the fields on the way to the Golf Course. The Wildlife Group have planted around 200 fruit and other trees over the last decade. Looking out at the woodland around Wenvoe one could be forgiven for thinking that our level of tree cover is good but with England at 10% when the European average is 38%, we are near the bottom of the pile. TV presenter Iolo Williams has said more trees are needed to prevent a “collapse in wildlife”.

With Global Warming threatening, temperatures increasing and the countryside disappearing planting a tree (or two!) is one of the easiest ways in which you can make a difference. And please write to What’s On and let us know how you get on.

 

CAN YOU SPARE A FEW MINUTES

Wenvoe Wildlife Group

We continue to work on our sites but (and we are not alone as far as village groups are concerned!) we do need more residents to get involved and spare a few minutes helping out with simple jobs. We held a session at the Elizabethan Orchard during July encouraging new volunteers to spare an hour in the evening but no new helpers turned out. Meantime we do what we can and recently have started refurbishing our noticeboards. Elizabethan Orchard noticeboard has been completed – next we shall focus on the Wild Orchard board. At least we have been awarded with 7 Green Flags again which is a tribute to those who help to care for the sites and the landowners who make it all possible. An important function of the Wildlife Group is to record species that are seen within the Parish of Wenvoe and St Lythans. Many of our records are firsts for this area such as the Common Purple and Gold Moth shown here which was spotted by members at the Elizabethan Orchard. They do not have to be rare and many common species are under-recorded. It is unlikely that anyone else is recording wildlife in the Parish and an apparent absence of wildlife can have a bearing on planning applications, especially for large-scale development. You do not have to be an expert but a photograph can usually help with identification. Do get in touch if you would like to get involved.

 

ENVIRONMENT TEAM

ENVIRONMENT TEAM

The team were on hand to clean up the rose bed in front of the community centre. There were some dubious excuses for not attending this month from some of the silver fox brigade; one of them said it was too hot to be working outside. Obviously I can’t name this person but let me just say he is further from the sun than most of us. Those that were there did a brilliant job and made plans to improve the area at future meetings with council approval of course.

On the afternoon of the same day some of the group helped with installing a memorial bench, to replace the one flattened by a tree some 18 months ago. The seat is in memory of Audrey May Rees and has been organized by her daughter Esther (pictured). A perfect place to sit.
The Environment team were saddened to hear of the passing of Trevor Case who organised this group for many years; he really was a good man.
The next meeting will be at the junction of Pound lane and Walston Road on the 10 July

 

 

WILDLIFE GROUP

 

WILDLIFE GROUP

Turning out with other volunteers on the School’s Big Help Out we installed two planters, filled them with soil and planted them up with pollinator-friendly plants. A bird feeder was erected which will really come into its own in the Autumn and through Winter. Mike Tucker created a log pile which will be good for small mammals, beetles and amphibians as well as fungi and lichens. If you have a spare log or two feel free to add it to the log pile.

It was nice to see that solitary bees are using the bee hotel and small amounts of collected pollen are visible through the viewing screen. Autumn projects agreed include two more planters and a small pond. Already we have recorded the Red Tailed and Buff Tailed Bumblebees and the Common Carder Be. All species are reported to the Biodiversity recording database.
The Wenvoe Gardens Open Day provided an opportunity to see the wildlife patch but also all the other gardening and horticultural projects being carried out by the school. They are making a great effort to reconnect children with nature and deserve our full support.

 

 

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

THE VILLAGE GARDENER

 

Two expats, Sean Connor and Penny Wise, give their thoughts on aspects of gardening.
Sean Connor
1. Consider turning a small area of your front garden into a veg patch, it will create interest and, if kept well, will be an asset.
2. Do not overdose when feeding plants, it’s a complete waste of money.
3. If you see totally green leaves on a variegated shrub, remove them or the plant will revert to type.
4. Pull suckers off from the base of roses or they will weaken the parent plant.
5. A battery powered hand pruner makes life so much easier in the garden.
Penny Wise, on how to negotiate a garden centre.
1. Do not buy small pots which are on offer, they are never big enough when you get them home.
2. The farm shop must be run by Fortnum & Mason
3. Check the limit on your Visa card before entering cafe.
4. Avert your eyes when passing the charismatic man selling conservatories that you can’t live without.
5. In July be careful driving in as the car park is full of lorries bringing in the Christmas stuff.
The gardens are in their second flush now after the Spring flowers have faded, so dead heading is a regular pastime. Peter Beale the rose grower advises that when taking faded blooms off roses you should cut back to a leaf joint but most just snap the the bloom off just below the spent flower. The recommended way to dead head delphiniums, foxgloves and Canterbury bells is to cut off the flower stalks just below the spent flowers but Sid & Lyn Cottle always take the individual flowers off and leave the spike and have good results. Plants like lady’s mantle and herbaceous geraniums can be cut back to the ground, they will recover well enough to give you another flush.
On allotments and veg patches the first crops will be ready to harvest. Beans, lettuces, spring onions and early potatoes will be waiting to be picked. The main problem at this time is the fact that most people take their annual leave and go away which leaves some gardens without someone to water, so be nice to your neighbours and they may assist.
Parsley is notoriously difficult to germinate outside but this month is known to have the highest success rate. They can then be potted up and brought indoors later in the year.
The village show in September will be your chance to show off your wares, to keep this event going we need plenty of entries. Anne Daniels might be in with a chance with her secret tomato food blend.
With a lot of May and a big part of June being really dry it is essential that we save as much dirty water as possible to use on the garden. Water butts don’t have to cost the earth any vessel that holds water will suffice. According to the people who know about these things we are going to have long spells of dry weather and when it does rain this will be prolonged so make use of the down pipes on houses and outbuildings. If you can cover these containers, it will stop evaporation. We are also going to have to consider which plants we grow if this is to be the norm. If you have unglazed or terracotta pots water will dissipate through these quickly, it is good practice to line the inside with plastic, bin bags will suffice, or paint the inside. Putting some weed fabric on the top around plants then some bark or stone will slow down the evaporation considerably.
Sadly, Trevor Case passed away at the end of May. Trevor wrote the gardening column in the What’s on for many years. He also led the environment team and was a driving force when Wenvoe competed in the best kept village competitions. A good man.
Take care and happy gardening

 

 

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