Category: Wenvoe Wildlife Group

A busy month started with the village craft fair where it was good to meet many Wenvoe residents who visited our table which was shared with beekeepers Barbara and Howard. We gave away 100 packets of wildflower seed and 30 tress including Downy Birch, Oak, Ash, Bay Sycamore. The proceeds from the raffle were generously donated to the group and we shall be using the money to produce a leaflet showing the locations of our sites along with a project with the school covering life cycles. Thank you also to individuals who made donations.

In association with Keep Wales Tidy and Wenvoe Primary School we painted a number of Yellow Fish alongside street drains in and around the school. This nationwide campaign which was described in a previous issue of Whats On is aimed at reminding people that anything that goes down these drains goes directly into our streams, rivers and oceans causing potential pollution and poisoning fish and other wildlife. Detergents from cars cleaned on drives and litter commonly contribute to these problems.

The specimen tree walk we arranged at Insole Court as part of its Heritage Open day was well-attended. Led by Chris Powell around 40 trees were identified and described including several champions. Amongst these was Kowhai, Myrtle and a stunning Benthams Cornel. The Loquat is also unusual although you can see one in Wenvoe close to the library. If you have not visited this gem of a house in suburban Cardiff (with a cafe!) it is well worth finding the time. New rooms are being opened up in the next couple of months.

Open Farm Sunday at Goldsland Farm attracted its normal sunny weather along with many visitors thanks to the tireless efforts of the Reader family. Our stand was again shared with Barbara and Howard who talked about bees and beekeeping. We led wildlife and lichen walks and set up a colouring table for younger children. This is Wenvoe's biggest event and needs our full support.

Improving weather has helped us to get out and about and we were very lucky to have ideal walking conditions for our Orchard walk which took place as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival. 32 walkers (plus 3 dogs) joined us for the day coming from all over South Wales as we wandered up to Burdons Hill, down to Goldsland and back via the St Lythans Burial Chamber and the Welsh and Wild Orchards. A grass snake at the Elizabethan Orchard and Oak Apple not far from New Wallace Farm were both new wildlife records for the area. It was nice to have with us a good number of Wenvoe residents who were keen to see how things were progressing in the orchards.

We have been concentrating on keeping the sites tidy for Green Flag judging and we await the results with interest. More recently we have been planting up the new Farm Orchard at Goldsland and its surrounding hedgerow. We have planted wildflower seed in a number of locations and donated seed to groups in Dinas Powys and Cowbridge along with over 100 packets to individuals who turned up for the Craft Fair. With funding from Grow Wild we are planting wildflower plug plants at Goldsland Farm and setting up areas where we shall be growing fungi – not for consumption but to help to tell the story of how important fungi are to our lives. If you come to the Open Day at Goldsland on Sunday 10th June you will be able to see what we are up to. And what a free day out for families with lots of other things going on!

By the time you read this the Upper Orchid Field should have been cut. We are delighted to be working in conjunction with a local contractor and by ensuring that the field is not only cut but the vegetation removed this will help the wildflowers to flourish. It will be cut again in late September and thereafter annually in the Autumn. We have heard that we have been successful in obtaining a grant from Grow Wild. This money will be used up at Goldsland farm where we shall be planting wildflower plugs and creating an orchard meadow – a relatively rare habitat in Britain. Our main focus will be on the creation of fungi beds which will enable visitors to understand and get close to fungi. We have started planting a new orchard at Goldsland which will include some rare and interesting fruit trees such as Gabalva and Kenneth. Cadwallader is an example of a cider apple and we have three varieties of specially grafted Perry Pears, namely Gwehelog, Gwehelog Red and Blakeney Red. Work continues around the Watercress beds where we have pushed back the brambles and cut down some willows – see photo. The latter will regrow from the base and produce material that can be used for basketry and other woven goods.

We were delighted to be offered £356 by Waitrose in Cowbridge and this will be used to buy wildflower seed for planting on our existing sites. We also hope to give away small packs of seed at the Craft Fair and Open Farm Sunday. If you voted for us with your green tokens, many thanks. And if you missed out on that, don't worry as you will have another chance, this time at Waitrose Barry during March. Look out for the Vale Wildflower project. Not only do we plant our own seed but we distribute to many other groups including the Vale Council and those who look after Old Hall Gardens in Cowbridge. We continue to clear the undergrowth around the watercress beds at Goldsland Farm (see photo) and have started planting the new orchard. The pace hots up with Spring coming so there is always plenty do if you would like to come and join us.

A good turnout of 29 attended the Wildlife Group AGM in January. It is encouraging that so many residents are willing to turn out to ensure we have a quorum when other much larger groups often fail to get this level of support. It is also worth noting that a third of our members come from outside the parish including Barry, Penarth, Dinas Powys, Cardiff and even Clydach Vale. The meeting was followed by a talk by Linda and Rob Nottage who are so knowledgeable about the local wildlife and have an amazing array of photographs to complement what they have to say. In an increasing era of specialism it is nice to listen to people who like Darwin or Attenborough can see the broader picture. Our 5 Green Flag applications have been submitted, the newest being the Wild Orchard at St Lythans so we have plenty to do to get that ship-shape before judging takes place. During January we were one of the three nominated charities at Waitrose in Cowbridge but we only heard during the first week of the month so could not forewarn readers of Whats On. However if you did cast any green tokens in our direction we are most grateful. The money will go towards wildflower seed which we hope will result in our best ever year for wildflowers. Some patches we planted last year were disappointing with little or no seed germinating – we shall not be using that supplier again. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook or, better still, join us.

It is great that so many new members of the group are coming from people who have recently moved into the village. Whether you are a specialist or generalist, whether you prefer digging and planting or spotting and recording, there is plenty of opportunity for everyone who cares about wildlife to do something positive. In the last month, when weather permits and it has not been wonderful, we have been strimming the vegetation, thinning out trees, planting bulbs in the wildflower planters, digging out self-sown trees, weeding vegetable patches, planting trees, trimming our hedgerows, treating our timber structures, putting up notices and leaflet dispensers. In the coming weeks we hope to plant up our fifth orchard, dig in some new Bullace trees, cut back a small wildflower meadow and generally get on top of things before Spring arrives and it all starts over again. For more detail follow us on Facebook – Wenvoe Wildlife Group.

To those of you, particularly those moving into Wenvoe, if you have an interest in wildlife and would like to help our furry and feathered friends, not to mention flowers, trees, lichens and insects, do get in touch with the Wildlife Group. We now have 7 sites and there is always plenty to be done. Over the coming months we shall be planting an orchard (yes, another one – our fifth!), putting in 3 ponds, opening up a sunken lane, pruning our 100+ apple and pear trees, creating a lichen trail, strimming, clearing and mulching. We shall be planting Bullace and Mulberry and preparing the wildflower beds for next year. We are already beginning to see more wildlife moving in – especially small mammals such as voles and shrews and the butterflies were also enjoying the windfalls. The caterpillar in the photo is a Yellow Tail moth.

During October we hosted a visit from members of Cadoxton Conservation Group and it is great to see the progress they have been making in Barry – follow them on Facebook. And talking Facebook, don't forget to check our Facebook pages – it is often the most up-to-date and visual means of keeping in touch.