Category: Wenvoe Wildlife Group

‘A Fungi competition was held in the Autumn of 2018 run by the Wildlife Group and sponsored by Grow Wild/Kew Gardens. There were three categories – photography, art and craft and there were over 100 entries. Here are some of the prizewinners’ 

On a gorgeous day we had a good turn-out to put the Elizabethan Orchard to bed for the winter, weeding the beds, strimming, pruning the fruit trees and digging the hole for the new pond – just under 6 inches to go and we should be able to get it in position. Medlars seem to grow very well in our climate and soil despite originating in Asia Minor and South East Europe and we get consistently good crops from our four trees. A local producer of preserves, Daisy Craze, has used some of our medlars this year to produce Medlar Jelly which you can buy at Griffiths the butcher in Dinas Powys. They are also sold at local food and craft events – for more information, check out the Facebook page – daisygrazecaketoppers

In another link with local enterprise, Barry-based Mark Jones has just published a new book for children, The Adventures of Dixon Vole: Woodland Detective. Mark has included a reference to the Wenvoe Wildlife Group in his Introduction. Copies of the book sell for £8.99 but Mark will deliver to Wenvoe without charge. For more information go to https://fizzypopcreative.co.uk/

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.