Category: Wenvoe Wildlife Group

 

Our latest project involves a piece of land made available to us by the Reader family which we shall use to benefit pollinators – bees, butterflies and other insects. We are all aware of how serious the future is for those insects which help to pollinate crops, flowers and fruit trees so we shall be planting trees, shrubs and wildflowers that are particularly beneficial to them. If you are concerned about the future of the planet you are very welcome to get involved with the project either as an individual, a family or a group. Just get in touch with us and we can discuss what you could do – the photo shows one tree we shall be planting which is so good for bees that it is called the Bee Bee Tree! We have already had our first donation from Mike and Glenys Tucker and that will go towards a couple of these trees.

On 29th June we shall be leading a walk looking at poisonous plants in the countryside so if you fancy coming along just turn up outside the Village Hall at 1pm. The walk will be around 4 miles and will include visits to the Elizabethan and Welsh orchards. Dogs welcome but there will be some stiles they will need to navigate.

Green Flag judging took place in May so we hope that we will be able to boast 6 Green Flag sites this year. The Easter Egg trail took place, but we had very few children doing it so will not be repeating this in future years.

Open Farm Sunday is on 9th June at Goldsland Farm and the Wildlife Group will be leading a couple of walks into the surrounding countryside – a short walk in the morning for families and a slightly longer one in the afternoon. Check our Facebook pages for updates and times.

 

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Year 1s from Gwenfo CW Primary School joined us to spread the wildflower seed on our bed in Grange Park. You can see their personalised labels in the ground on their chosen patches. We were lucky with the weather which meant that for the first time they could choose an area anywhere on the bed rather than having to stick to the perimeter. We are using a different brand of seed mix this year so it will be interesting to compare results. It is not an ideal site as it is shaded by the pines and Horse Chestnuts which are still growing but we have spent many hours preparing the site so, fingers crossed!

Penarth and Sully Scouts spent a couple of hours up at the Goldsland Orchard and worked very hard. They cleared rocks and stones from the ground and then scattered a wildflower meadow mix under the trees. They also cut back the branches of over-hanging trees and created log and brush piles. They saw plenty of wildlife including a frog, Bluebells, Wood Anemones, Yellow Archangel and plenty of lichens. Robert Reader has installed a fence around the orchard to keep the inquisitive cows at bay and we have erected some bug hotels on wooden posts. The warm weather over Easter certainly brought out the solitary bees in numbers so it should not be long before the new hotels are in use.

We continue to have thefts from the Community Orchard on the Playing Fields – this time a newly-planted Victoria Plum. The Police have been notified and any relevant images from the wildlife cameras will be forwarded.

 

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Annual Easter Egg Trail

Upper Orchid Field

This is the 5th year that we shall be running the Easter Egg Trail on the Upper Orchid Field so why not bring the youngsters along for a bit of fresh air?

It will run from Tuesday 16th April so just turn up anytime from then on and take a form from the dispenser on the main noticeboard. Only the first 30 completed forms will get an Easter Egg.

In contrast to previous years you should now take your form to the Wenvoe Library which is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

As this is the Chinese Year of the Brown Earth Pig, all the clues will be linked to pigs or the soil.

Just bring a pen or pencil.

Wild Boar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our AGM, held in January, produced a record attendance of 35. These numbers reinforce the strong support for wildlife in the village boosted by members from Dinas Powys, Penarth, Radyr and Barry. Our visiting speaker was Peter Sampson who talked about Flat Holm island, its history and wildlife. Not only was it informative but Peter entertained us as well with tales of lighthouse keepers and the ingenious ‘goal posts’ which prevented anti-aircraft gunners on the island shooting the top of the lighthouse. For more on the island along with the opportunity to join the Flat Holm Society go to http://www. flatholmsociety.org.uk. We were also pleased to welcome Janine from Daisy Graze who has used medlars from our orchards to produce Elizabethan Medlar Jelly. These, and her other products, can be purchased from farmers markets and Janine plans to be at the next Open Farm Sunday at Goldsland which takes place on June 9th.

Meantime we have been in planting mode. The Goldsland Farm Orchard now includes a Medlar, giving us 6 in total, along with a Quince, which are becoming increasingly popular but very difficult to buy in the shops. Such is the aroma from Quinces that they were once placed in clothing drawers to make garments smell nice and it is said that adding a slice or two of Quince to an apple pie raised it from the hum-drum to the exceptional. Although Quinces can take some time to mature, the variety we have planted is Meeches Prolific and the fruit can weigh as much as half a kilogram. There is often confusion between the traditional Quince which we grow (Cydonia) and the smaller fruit which grow on the quite common garden shrub, the Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles). The picture shows a Quince growing in our Community Orchard off Station Road. Two St. Cecilia apples have been planted which came top of our taste test last year and 4 varieties of cider apple that are new to us have been included, namely Cummy Norman, Breakwells Seedling, Twyn y Sherrif and Perthyre. Finally two donated Victoria Plums complete the picture. Wildflower seed will be spread in the Spring as we hope to create wood pasture, a rare habitat for Britain. It is good to see some of the bulbs, such as English native Bluebells, which we planted last year, already poking through.

Visitors to Dyffryn Gardens may have noticed that their orchard planting has nearly been completed and this will be a useful addition to our Orchard Trail as it will be publicly accessible at some stage from an adjacent public footpath. The trail could then include 6 orchards with a possible extension to a seventh at Peterston.

 

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A big thank you to all who took part in the Fungi competition and to the judges who decided which should receive an award. Over 100 entries were submitted, most of these were in the photography and art categories with only two craft entries. The Primary School took part enthusiastically with both younger and older children involved. 14 prizes representing £150 in cash and vouchers have been distributed – one of the prizewinners is shown in the photo.

A display of some of the entries can be seen in the Wenvoe library starting during January. This project was funded by Grow Wild and Kew Gardens.We have been fortunate to be granted 60 native hedging shrubs which will be used to create a hedgerow around the new orchard at Goldsland Farm. We are not sure when these will be delivered but we will then need to get them planted or heeled in as they will be bare-rooted. These have been donated by the Woodland Trust

 

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‘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’ 

 

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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/

 

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