Category: Nature Notes

‘The Gentleman In Velvet’

‘The Gentleman In Velvet’

He was toasted as the ‘gentleman in velvet’ by the Jacobites. A recent classic book was called ‘The Boy, the ?, the Fox and the Horse. In Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas wrote:

‘The houses are blind as ? though ? see fine tonight in the snouting velvet dingles’

He was a leading character in the Wind in the Willows. The answer and missing word is, of course, Mole.

The Jacobites, who supported the deposed King James II, were delighted when in 1702 the then King William, died after his horse stumbled on a molehill. He suffered a broken collar bone when he fell and died a few weeks later. The Jacobites then traditionally raised a toast to ‘the wee gentleman in the velvet jacket;’ who had brought about his downfall.

These days moles tend to be seen as a nuisance when they create molehills on pristine lawns, cricket pitches and bowling greens. But for many centuries moles, once called ‘mouldywarps’, were valued for their fur which has a short, velvety texture. Particularly in Victorian times it was used for garments and accessories. So they were trapped in large numbers. The Molecatcher of Wenvoe is recorded as having killed 3,000 moles in 1932 and 3,400 the year before. (Nigel Billingham research).

The mole has a cylindrical body and very powerful forelimbs with claws like shovels making them strong diggers capable of tunnelling 20 metres a day. The tunnels help to aerate the soil and mix up the soil levels which is beneficial to other animals and plants. Their main diet is worms which they consume in large numbers but they also paralyse some with their saliva and stash them alive in ‘larders’ for later consumption.

So whether you are a Jacobite, nature or literature lover, why not drink a toast to our velvet friend?

A Fierce Asian Carnivore

A Fierce Asian Carnivore

They are all over the media and all over Wenvoe! Think of a Channel Island and a fierce Asian carnivore. If you haven’t guessed it, it is the Jersey Tiger – a type of day-flying moth.

They have been seen recently on Walston Road, in Clos Lanfair, Twyn-yr-Odyn, Walston Close and Church Rise. We are being urged on TV and in many of the newspapers to look out for it as part of the annual butterfly count. It is reported that it has increased by 78% in the last year – reversing the trend of most other species which are in decline. In Victorian times it was considered a rarity but in the last 10 years has been spreading from the South and throughout Britain. Originally mainly known from the Channel Islands – hence its name. The prominent stripes are reminiscent of a tiger.

If you see one with the wings open it reveals a bright red or yellow underwing. Most moths are nocturnal, but this one is diurnal as it is out and about during the day – another reason why it is seen more often.

Trees, All Is Not Well

Trees, All Is Not Well

 

Walk past the top of Walston Close and you will see, next to the pavement, this magnificent tree – a candidate for Wenvoe’s Favourite Tree – although you may well have your own nominations! It is Eucriphia Nymanensis and it is covered head to foot in blossom with an attendant army of bees taking in the pollen and nectar. We are fortunate in the village to have a range of interesting and mature trees. Those of us struggling in the hot spell will have appreciated our mature trees, not least in and around the Village Green. Trees, as we know, keep us cooler, absorb carbon and help our sense of well-being.

However, all is not well with the regular cutting down of trees which are seldom replaced. Examples of losses in the last couple of years include a Walnut in Station Road, Tulip Tree outside the Community Centre, Weeping Silver Lime in Gwenfo Drive, Loquat near the library and Balm of Gilead Poplar in the churchyard. There may be reasons for their removal but what reasons can there be for not planting a replacement?

Things look a bit brighter in Grange Park where the Vale Council have planted several trees to replace losses and on the Village Green and small patch of land outside the Church Hall there have been individual plantings and trees donated by residents. The Wildlife Group have planted around 150 fruit trees in the orchards and on the perimeter of the Upper Orchid Field around 30 native trees have been placed over the last 15 years.

How do you feel about our trees and is it now time, as some are suggesting, for residents, councils and businesses to take concerted action to reverse the trend? As Persian singer/songwriter Sina Shahbazi sings in his song, Protect The Trees

From the roots to the sky

Their spirit will rise

A beacon of hope

When nature cries

Let’s honour the trust

For the ones yet to be

A legacy green

As far as we see

Protect the trees

Protect our home

Together we stand

We’re not alone

Wenvoe’s Favourite Tree

Wenvoe’s Favourite Tree

Regular sightings of one or more Polecats on the wildlife cameras near the village has now confirmed that we have an established population of this rare and elusive mammal. It was once heavily persecuted and was on the verge of extinction. They were declared as vermin during Elizabeth I’s reign and the word was used to describe a vagabond.

By 1915 it was just hanging on in mid Wales and some border counties. However, it is now protected by law and making a comeback but there were only 896 confirmed sightings for the whole of the UK during 2024. Interestingly, there are no records in the last 5 years for Cardiff and Wenvoe – until now!! Most will be familiar with ferrets, but these are the domesticated version of the Polecat.

Polecats have a long history in mythology and folklore. Associated with the God Dionysus of wine, fertility and revelry fame but also the Norse Goddess Freya representing love, fertility and beauty and often depicted alongside her. They were valued by farmers and villagers for their pest control abilities, keeping down populations of rats and mice but also for their fur which was particularly warm and durable. Great to know that not only do we have a species coming back from the brink, but they can be really useful to us in helping to control our rodent population.

Hedgerows Are Invaluable

Hedgerows Are Invaluable

You can stand anywhere in the village with a view of the countryside, and you will see hedgerows. Along Port Road, Old Port Road and around the school as well. You could be forgiven for thinking they are common and unthreatened. Yet since 1950 the UK has lost 118,000 miles of hedgerow. This is what the Woodland Trust says:

Hedgerows are invaluable. Who doesn’t love seeing a hedgerow, brimming with blossom and alive with pollinators? Thousands of species depend on hedgerows for food, shelter and moving through the countryside. Hedgerows are also extremely beneficial for the land, reducing soil erosion and flooding, storing carbon, extending growing seasons, providing shade, sustaining pollinators and providing natural pest control. Over 500 plant species, 60 species of nesting birds, hundreds of invertebrates and almost all our native small mammal species depend on hedgerows. Many are ancient landmarks, some of the oldest and steadiest semi-natural features in our landscape.

The Wildlife Group, with the help of the Woodland Trust, WWG members and groups such as the Scouts, have planted new hedgerows which you can see on the Community Orchard, around the Goldsland Orchard, the Bee Loud Glade and Cae Ysbyty. These are increasingly full of fruit and berries such as Rowan, Damson, Guelder Rose (see photo), Hawthorn and Wayfaring Tree. But we need more if wildlife is to flourish so if you have sufficient land, a large garden, farm, smallholding or even allotment areas, consider planting a hedge. They cost little and in the right circumstances you can get free trees from the Woodland Trust.

Wenvoe Bird Watch Results

Summer Garden Birdwatch

After the success of the Garden Birdwatch just completed, we are planning a Summer Garden Birdwatch run along the same lines as the Winter Birdwatch but potentially including our summer visitors such as Swallows and House Martins. It will take place between Sunday 18th May to Sunday 25th May. This is a purely Wenvoe-based initiative. Full details will follow in the May issue of What’s On.

In the lead-up to this we have organised a Bird Walk which will be of interest to both complete beginners and more experienced wildlife watchers. This will take place at Goldsland Farm on Saturday 3rd May starting at 9.30. It will be led by Rob and Linda Nottage who have knowledge of both birds and other wildlife and will be an ideal opportunity to find out more about local fauna and flora. No dogs as we shall be going into sensitive areas.

To help our feathered friends we have put up around 15 nest boxes around the village from boxes for Robins and the smaller songbirds to Tawny and Barn Owls. These are in a variety of locations including the Village Green, Grange Park and the churchyard. Thank you to Mike Tucker for installing the boxes. And next a number of Swift and Swallow homes will be going into Goldsland Farm which should be visible on the Bird Walk. And, finally, Nigel Billingham has asked if you could drop him a line (nigelrbillingham @yahoo.co.uk) when you see your first Swallow, House Martin or Swift. You never know exactly when they will appear because the weather can affect their journeys from different parts of the world.

Happy Birding!

Wildlife Camera of a Woodcock

Wildlife Camera of a Woodcock

Those who follow our Facebook page, Wenvoe Wildlife, will have seen a clip from our wildlife cameras of a Woodcock in a patch of woodland near the village. With only one previous record in the Parish the bird is rare and classified as RED, i.e. threatened with extinction. It also has Protected status in the UK. Although a wading bird it spends much of its time in woodland as with our example and is mainly nocturnal. Most of the birds that breed here are residents but we often receive large numbers of migrants from Finland and Russia in the winter. In Spring and Summer male birds perform a display flight known as ‘roding

Amazing Photo Of A Honeybee Nest

Amazing Photo Of A Honeybee Nest 

Sent in by a resident was this amazing photo of a Honeybee nest in the wild. A local beekeeper pointed out that this will probably not survive the winter. Bee colonies in a hive and sheltered from the elements stand a fair chance of getting through. So if you come across one outside a hive, get in touch with a local beekeeper and they will try to recover the nest and bring it to safety.


The Honeybee is not a native of Britain but was introduced because of the honey it produces and most honeybees that visit your garden will have flown from a nearby hive. Several residents keep bees and one of the Wildlife Group orchards is host to a couple of hives.
Not only do they produce honey, beeswax and royal jelly but they help to pollinate our crops and flowers.

It Was A Brock,

IT WAS A BROCK,

It was a brock, a grey, a pate or a bawson. They were around in Britain between half a million and three quarters of a million years ago where they co-existed with wolves, brown bears, arctic foxes and wolverines. They live underground in setts and a group of badgers living together is called a clan. To those of you who follow our Facebook Page (Wenvoe Wildlife) you will have seen some great shots of badgers in the parish. We do not reveal where they have been seen as badger baiting (using dogs to hunt and kill badgers illegally) is still a problem.

Badgers are at the centre of a major debate between those farmers who believe badgers can help spread TB (bovine tuberculosis) to cattle and those who believe killing the badgers will not cure the TB problem. In the last 10 years it is believed that around 230,000 badgers have been culled. However in Wales the Government have put an end to culling whilst other options to eradicate TB are considered. To find out more about the pros and cons go online.

Badgers have played a significant role in literature including the Wind in the Willows, the Redwall series, Watership Down and Beatrix Potter books. Sometimes they are friendly, sometimes less so. Going back further, they appear in both European and Asian folklore – Chinese and Japanese tradition have them as shapeshifters. They are meticulously clean animals having latrines a little way away from the sett and changing their bedding of straw, grass or bracken periodically. At times they will take their bedding outside to ‘air’ and kill off any bugs and parasites. They have even been known to bring garlic leaves into the sett to help deter unwanted insects.

Along with the poet, John Clare, 200 years ago we can celebrate:

The badger grunting on his woodland track

With shaggy hide and sharp nose scrowed

With black roots in the bushes and the woods

 

The Arnolfini Wedding and Wenvoe

The Arnolfini Wedding and Wenvoe

What connects this famous painting – the Arnolfini Wedding by Jan van Eyck – with Wenvoe?

The garment the bride is wearing is edged with white fur but more on that later. Whilst we prefer our wildlife to be alive and flourishing these days, history confirms how animal fur from earliest times kept us warm and, later, fashionable. Peers of the realm often wore and can still be seen wearing at big state events a white fur with black spots. This is the fur of the Stoat recorded not so long ago near Burdons Farm. The white fur is its winter coat and is called Ermine. The stoat has a black tip to the tail, hence the black spots on ceremonial gowns. Sable is another fur from a weasel-like animal.

Less well-known is Miniver although you may have come across Mrs Miniver, a wartime film of 1942. Miniver is the white fur from the Red Squirrel, and it is this that provides the edging to the bride’s dress in the painting featured. The Grey Squirrel was only introduced to the UK in the nineteenth century, some say from 1876. Whilst there are no Red Squirrels anywhere near Wenvoe these days we do seem to have reasonable numbers of weasels as they have been appearing on our wildlife cameras.

 

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