Category: Wenvoe Wildlife Group

38 walkers turned up at the end of May on a fine day to do the Orchard Walk which we had arranged as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival. The start coincided with the minute's silence held in memory of the Manchester terrorist victims so we were able to observe this in St Mary's church where we were made most welcome. The walk took in the Community Orchard, Elizabethan, Welsh and Wild Orchards but it is always good to talk about other village features such as the church, the ancient yew, the village green and the cattle pound. At least a dozen of the walkers were from Wenvoe but others had come from as far afield as Aberdare and Newport. As usual the Bee Hotel attracted a lot of interest but it was also good to find significant numbers of Early Purple Orchid and Common Twayblade in an area where they had not been recorded previously.

Green Flag judging took place the day before and we await the results with interest. The second bee hotel, shown in the photo, is now in place down at Goldsland Farm and the first occupants were moving in as the small units were being fixed in place. We have taken the opportunity to add some sparrow communal nest-boxes on the top shelf. Conservation work has concentrated on strimming, weeding and clearing. Two new gooseberries have been added to the heritage gooseberry collection at the Elizabethan Orchard and several new herbs (all donated) have been planted in the Physicians of Myddfai garden including Vervain, Betony and Valerian. This year looks promising for apples and plums and there should be plenty to share round if you fancy tasting some real old-fashioned apples fresh off the trees. Pears do not seem to have done so well.

We have been using the money raised by the Craft fair raffle to help out Wenvoe Primary School with plants, raised beds and compost. There are always jobs to be done so if you can spare an hour or two, do get in touch.

We were delighted to receive a donation from the raffle at the Wenvoe Spring Craft Fair. We hope to put this towards a project linked to Wenvoe Primary School. We have also received donations of plants and herbs from a variety of sources both within and outside the parish for which we are very grateful.

Some of our machinery rolled into action in May which involved topping up the water level of the pond in the Community Orchard and using our new wheeled strimmer to cut the grass at this location – this was the first time it had been cut and some of the grass tussocks proved to be quite formidable. Now that most of the trees are starting to get established we intend to keep the grass shorter to encourage wildflowers although we will leave a patch untended to benefit small mammals such as field voles and shrews.

Judging took place for the Green Flag awards and we hope to publish the results in the next issue. We are already the only village in Wales to have received awards for three locations and this year we are going for four. Work this month has involved constructing four new raised beds at the Community Orchard for vegetables and salad crops and we hope that youngsters will be able to help with the planting. Wildflower meadow seeds have been spread around the Wild Orchard, Elizabethan Orchard and Welsh Orchard.

Scope Sully brought a small team along to the watercress beds at Goldsland Farm and helped to clear brambles and nettles, to spread wildflower seeds in two new raised beds and to decide on a location for a hedgehog home. We hope that they will visit on a regular basis as it appeared to work well for both us and them.

There will have been many new residents coming into the village in recent months so if anyone reading this is interested in wildlife and would like to get involved do get in touch. There is always plenty to be done and roles go way beyond bracken-bashing and could involve planning and design, habitat creation, wildlife monitoring, planting and working with children. We now have seven sites – one for every day of the week!

If you are at a loose end during May and fancy some outdoors activity why not try the Fiery Rooster challenge? It is the Chinese Year of the Rooster and at each of the following five sites you will see a poster on the noticeboard with a question. To get the answer go to the next site. The five locations are The Upper Orchid Field, The Community Orchard, The Elizabethan Orchard, the watercress beds at Goldsland Farm and the Wild Orchard. You can start at any point but then need to follow them in order. First correct answer wins £20 of Garden Vouchers; second gets £10. Check Facebook to see if the prizes have been won. Take pencil and paper or some other means of recording the answers.

On Thursday 25th May we shall be leading an orchard walk as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival. We start at 11am outside the church and the walk of around 5 miles will take in the Community Orchard, Elizabethan Orchard, Wild Orchard and Upper Orchid Field. No booking necessary but bring lunch and wear stout footwear. If you know your way around the area and 5 miles seems too much you can join us for a while and then make your own way home.

Pupils from Wenvoe Primary School helped us again this year to spread wildflower seed on the bed in Grange Park. They were impeccably behaved and found out, amongst other things, how bees are saving wild elephants in Africa. Elephants have an aversion to bees so by placing hives around the perimeter of the village the elephants are deterred from muscling in and consuming the crops, hence reducing conflict and the prospects of villagers taking retaliatory action.

This month the group has arranged for the erection of another noticeboard and bee hotel, this time at Goldsland Farm (featured on Radio 4's Farming Today). We have put up four new raised beds, 2 insect homes, 3 butterfly boxes, 3 nestboxes, 4 hedgehog homes and planted 3 Rowan, 3 Wild Cherry and 3 Crabapple along with the native Yellow Water Lily, Flag Iris, Flowering Rush and Purple Loosestrife.

As always there is masses to do around the sites so if you fancy doing a bit of conservation work, do get in touch.

Goldsland farm has a great story to tell. A working farm of around 200 acres producing milk with a herd of 180 mixed Holstein Friesians and Dairy Shorthorns and regularly winning awards at the Vale of Glamorgan Show, such as Best Holstein Exhibit and First, Second and Third in the Best Dairy Cow category (2016). It is farmed by Abi Reader who was Welsh Woman Farmer of the Year in 2016. The farm has a viewing platform above the milking parlour and regularly receives visits from school parties and other groups.

But there is also plenty of history. Excavations at a nearby cave in the woods revealed the 5,000 years old remains of humans along with a flint saw blade and other tools. One of the barns is a Grade ll listed building dating from the 1800s and described as a larger than average early to mid 19th century barn from the age of agricultural improvement. Around the same time watercress beds were introduced, fed bys. The three sections could be split into different habitat types, possibly one of mainly open water, a second with water plants and the third reeds. Two benches have been put in along with a noticeboard and large bee hotel.

With the help of money from Tescos a Nature Trail is being created which takes you from fields to ponds, to woods via a sunken lane, to meadows and finally an orchard. The orchard will consist of old varieties planted traditionally, many dating from Victorian times and including a variety we have not planted before, Gabalva, a cooker from Cardiff. We also have a couple of appropriately named Holsteins. Some Perry pears are being grafted for the autumn. The wildflower planting will include a small meadow and raised beds with annual arable flowers.

Also in the pipeline is a project to create a series of reed-beds to process slurry from the farm. The outflow will be much cleaner water and this will help to improve the water quality in the Goldsland Brook which runs through the farm and the Weycock River which the brook feeds. It also creates yet another habitat which should benefit wildlife in the area.

A Public Right of Way runs through the farm and if this has whetted your appetite to see more the farm opens its doors to the public on Open Farm Sunday which takes place on Sunday 11th June. This popular event which attracted 2,000 visitors in 2015 gives an opportunity for everyone to see the farm in action, to watch the cows being milked and for children in particular to get close up to animals. For more information about the wildlife and history projects, contact the Wenvoe Wildlife Group.

We are doing the Easter Egg Trail again this year so from Good Friday why not take the youngsters up to the Upper Orchid Field to follow the trail and answer the questions. Take your completed form to the Wenvoe Village Shop – the first 30 correctly completed forms will earn you an Easter Egg or similar. Thank you to Kam and Punna for supporting this event for the third year.

With our Tesco’s money we have installed two benches at the watercress beds at Goldsland farm along with a noticeboard and bee hotel. We have placed 4 hedgehog 'homes' around the orchards to help these rapidly declining animals. Why not put one in your garden? – they cost between £20 and £30 and come with full instructions on what to do. They are not just for hibernation but can be used all year round.

More nest boxes are being put up along with insect homes and also butterfly boxes. All of these can be bought for around £3 or £4 each and are in local shops. With 5 ponds to keep an eye on we now have pond-dipping nets, trays and magnifying glasses. This is a great activity for children so if you are interested in learning what to do either with children in your family or as part of group activities run by the Wildlife Group, please contact us. We shall be arranging training sessions in the coming months.

Members of the Group helped out with a litter-pick in Barry in an area known as Tree Tops, near Holm View Leisure Centre. Over 120 bags of rubbish were collected in just under two hours. Clearing litter is not just about making places look better. Many animals both wild and domestic suffer or are killed by plastic bags, cans, glass jars, plastic can holders, rubber bands and balloons. Whilst Wenvoe has nothing like the litter problem that some areas have, we still have litter and it only takes one misplaced item to maim or kill a hedgehog, bird or your cat or dog. It is great to hear that the Community Council are considering the issue of litter-picking and we look forward to joining an event in the parish in the coming months.

We held our 10th AGM in January with 28 attending – not many organisations get such a good turnout. However we still need practical help from people who might be able to contribute the odd hour here and there. So if part of your New Year's resolution is to get fitter and healthier and help to Save the Planet, do get in touch. Absolutely no experience necessary.

Much of our work in January was concentrated on the Wild Orchard – so where and what is it? This orchard runs along the edge of a field at the eastern edge of St Lythans. It is a public footpath that runs from the road between Twyn yr Odyn and St Lythans (metal kissing gate by metal gate and ST 1115/7324 if you have a GPS) and eventually reaches another footpath which connects Wenvoe Woods and St Lythans Church. From the road, walk through one field, over a stile and the orchard starts just beyond this point. It is a linear orchard running along the edge of the field and currently has around 60 trees planted, marked with bamboo canes. There is a bench and noticeboard.

The orchard is called 'Wild' because all the trees are of native fruit, including Crab-apple, Wild Pear, Wild Plum, Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry, Bullace, Cherry Plum, Chequers Tree and Hazel. We are gradually introducing a labelling code where each bamboo cane will have a colour tape corresponding to the type of tree and the code is on a notice on the noticeboard. The canes are there so that we can find the trees throughout the year – there are some vigorous nettles growing here and in the past we have lost some of the shorter trees in the vegetation. Hopeful-ly we now have it under control. The public footpath is becoming more and more popular with walkers and it is nice to see the bench being used regularly

If you find yourself in Tescos up till around 9th October you will have an opportunity to vote for us under the Bags of Help scheme. We were delighted to have been one of the three charities to be supported in the latest round and our project involves the development of wildlife habitats and education at Goldsland Farm near the Golf Course. So you are looking for the charity that is likely to include ‘Goldsland’ in the title. The scheme works by offering you a token at the check-out and you can then vote for the charity of your choice. There should be containers normally near the exit.

If you have not been to Goldsland Farm (the annual open day has attracted thousands of visitors), it is a working dairy and arable farm with a lot of history. One of the barns is a Grade 2 listed building dating back to mid- Victorian times and the ponds which extend to just under an acre are referred to as watercress beds on old maps. There is a viewing area where visitors such as school parties can watch the cows being milked. Our project will involve putting up a notice board and bee hotel like the one on the Community Orchard, installing benches, creating a nature trail and planting wildflower areas and an orchard. We hope to put in a nest-cam and install equipment to monitor the local bats. Much of our conservation work will focus on clearing the undergrowth that is covering the watercress beds.

If we come last in the voting we will still receive £8,000 making it the biggest grant we have received. Second is worth £10,000 and first is £12,000. If we are lucky enough to be first or second the additional money will be used for visiting school parties and special needs groups of both children and adults who we are already working with.

In a separate project, Abi Reader, who farms Goldsland is working with the Welsh Government on a project which hopes to install reed-beds to process the slurry from the farm-yard – an initiative with potential major ecological significance. This provides an opportunity to tell a fascinating story starting with the pollinators who ensure our crops grow and wildlife prosper, through the dairy herd which provides the milk and ending with how the waste products are safely disposed of and the processed waste put to good use. As with all the Wildlife Group’s activities if you would like to get involved in any way (no knowledge or experience is necessary) do get in touch. You can follow us on Facebook (Wenvoe Wildlife Group), check our notice boards of which we have 5 or look at our website wenvoewildlifegroup.co.uk