Category: Nature Notes

We often refer to the Marble Gall at our talks and on our walks and usually comment that they are regularly confused with Oak Apple Galls which we have never seen. On the Orchard Walk in May we saw one for the first time and this was on the border of a patch of woodland near New Wallace Farm. Seen in the photo it was as described in the books – much larger than the Marble Gall (about 4 to 5 times its size) and soft and spongy rather than the hard and smooth of the Marble Gall. Parts of England still celebrate Oak Apple Day and this is often associated with the restoration of the Stuart monarchy after the Commonwealth period under Oliver Cromwell. Towns and villages like St Neot in Cornwall, Upton Gray in Hampshire and Upton upon Severn all celebrate the occasion in different ways but often involve parading through the village, wearing or carrying oak sprigs and ending up at the local pub. It is sometimes referred to as Shick-shack day (a term for the Oak Apple) or Oak and Nettle Day. The gall is caused by a wasp which lays its eggs in the tree and the larva injects chemicals which cause the gall to form and provide the larva with a food supply.

 

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The discovery of a small plant of Mistletoe growing in a front garden in Wenvoe was quite notable as it is only the second recorded for the Vale of Glamorgan. That is not to say that there will not be some growing elsewhere but if it is, it has not been officially recorded. Whilst the Wildlife Group have been trying to get mistletoe to grow on apple trees (so far unsuccessfully) this one turned up on a Japanese Maple. Mistletoe is often associated with Apple trees and therefore orchards and a drive through Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire will reveal many old orchards covered in it. A survey in the 1990s found it growing principally on Apple but also Lime, Hawthorn, Poplar, Maple, Willow and Crab apple. In fact between 70 and 100 trees and shrubs can act as host. Walking around the Brecons near Tretower we found a large area of Hawthorn heavily infested with it.

Everyone has their own theory on how birds help to spread the seeds of Mistletoe but research indicates it varies with the bird. The Mistle Thrush, hence its name, swallows the berries whole and secretes them in a half-digested berry pulp. Most fail to germinate but any landing on a branch stand a chance of getting established. By contrast the Blackcap separates the seed before swallowing and wipes it off its beak directly on to a branch making it a much more efficient Mistletoe-planter than the thrush. In London the Ring-necked Parakeets have been seen taking the berries so may play a role in spreading it around the capital.

Mistletoe was supposedly sacred to the druids and particularly when found growing on Oak although, if true, this presents something of a problem for the Welsh druids as it is not present in most of Wales, least of all in their final stronghold in Anglesey. It is also very rare on oak throughout Europe. But as the main source for this information was the Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, it may be of questionable validity.

The final question is what sex is our plant as only the female plants carry the berries – watch this space!

 

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We mentioned Lichens in a previous issue of Whats On and with the launch of the new Lichen Trail down at Goldsland Farm in the next few months it is worth reviewing why they might be on interest to anyone. As soon as you walk out onto the pavement you will find yourself treading on round or irregular white and yellow blobs. They are on walls, roofs, fences, trees and the gravestones in the churchyard. In fact they are the dominant species on 8% of the world's land surface whether on the frozen tundra, arid deserts or forests.

They have their uses. They are eaten not only by reindeer but by people – Iwatake is a delicacy in Japan. They have been used for dyeing for centuries and are mentioned in the Old Testament. They were once a considerable cottage industry with the lichens being scraped off rocks by people with metal hoops or even seashells and then processed in factories. One near Glasgow covered 17 acres and worked its way through 250 tons a year.

They have been used in the perfume and cosmetics industries since the 16th century and if you use Calvin Klein, Estee Lauder or Yves St Laurent you will have been applying some lichen extract to yourself. Some have antibiotic properties and were used in babies nappies in New Zealand. Popular in folk medicines and used to indicate pollution levels and the presence of metals, they are now being considered to help clear up or extract toxic or valuable metals.

Despite the fascination of lichens very few people study them so experts are few and far between. If you are a teacher, particularly at the Primary level, the topic opens up all sorts of possibilities linking into other disciplines such as design, medicine, art, environment and nutrition. If you are interested, get in touch with the Wildlife Group who will be happy to work with you to produce audio-visual presentations, teachers notes and short outdoor activities.

The Wildlife Group commissioned a survey at Goldsland in preparation for the Trail and this identified 21 different species close to the barns. Interestingly, there were no examples of the lichen featured in the photo which is an Usnea species. These are intolerant of high levels of nitrogen which is exactly what you would expect in and around a dairy farm. This photo was taken on the trees close to the library in the centre of Wenvoe.

 

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Yellow Fish? In Wenvoe? We hope so, sometime in April or May. So what is this all about? The Yellow Fish campaign involves using a stencil to spray-paint yellow fish alongside street or storm drains. This UK-wide project is already underway and its purpose is to draw our attention to street drains and the need to prevent them getting polluted.

Broadly-speaking we have two sorts of drain. Everything in your household should go into foul or wastewater drains – from your toilets, baths, basins, washing machines and dishwashers. The liquid is treated at water-treatment sites and then discharges in a purer form into our rivers and oceans, but street drains are there to carry surplus water off our roads. They do not go to treatment works but discharge straight into our brooks, our rivers and our seas. So anything you put down these drains or allow to flow into them will pollute our watercourses.

So the first issue is to have a think about what you might let get into a nearby street drain. Ever washed your car using detergents or been tempted to tip that surplus bit of oil, paint or antifreeze down the drain? Or allowed litter to slip through the grille? Car wash centres are usually better because the run-off is captured or processed. If you wash your car at home consider using biodegradable and phosphate-free products which are less harmful to the environment. Take that unneeded oil to the Barry Recycling centre at the Atlantic Trading Estate.

The next issue may come as something of a surprise but a significant number of home appliances are incorrectly connected and discharge directly into street drains. Welsh Water have estimated the figure at 20% and another survey found misconnections included many toilets. Next time you dip your toe in the sea at Barry Island remember than an estimated 9% of pollution in bathing areas results from incorrectly connected drainage. If in doubt, get your connections checked.

Does it matter? If you care at all about wildlife – yes! When oestrogen gets into the water it affects the reproductive cycle of fish. Untreated sewage uses up oxygen and our rivers can no longer support insects and fish and those that depend on them like birds and mammals. And if you are still feeling a bit indifferent, remember that, if you are caught causing pollution such as with misconnected appliances the fines can be severe, running to tens of thousands of pounds. So look out for the Yellow Fish which should be appearing in the early summer. And don't worry – a chalk-based spray is used to create them which is non-toxic and will wash away with our ever-so predictable rains.

 

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The last two years has taught me many things. We moved to a new house on a new estate almost at sea level without a single mature tree in sight. The only regular avian visitors were the gulls on the weekly waste collection day. Their cousins, the magpies paid occasional visits but the smaller birds were not tempted into the estate from the rail embankments in the middle distance.

In two months of late autumn at the Redrow Grange in Wenvoe there has been a return to the good old days. First to show were a pair of pied wagtails flitting on and off a neighbours roof taking insects in flight and then swooping away to another perch. My favourite garden bird the Robin struts his stuff on the eaves of the garage staking his territorial claim, then hopping and skipping along the fence and shrubs picking up seeds and grubs. His companion is little Jenny Wren, as small as the tip of my thumb, but neat and fast. Shy, yet cheeky enough to explore the potted shrubs on the patio particularly the Christmas fir even though smaller than the smallest bauble.

On my dog walks there are more wrens dipping in and out of the hedgerow above the Close while chaffinches and blue tits skip away from branch to branch in front of me and close in behind me reclaiming their territory. Our dog often pulls at the lead desperate to go play with the blackbirds that skit about at ground level.

In the bit of woodland near the garden centre I often hear the ratatat of a woodpecker and am fairly sure from odd glimpses that it is a lesser spotted. And I have also seen a creeper picking off insects as it hops upside down on the trunk. Too far away to be sure it’s a tree creeper.

The skies over Wenvoe were busy in October with echelons of geese flying southeast and honking away. Now it’s jackdaws and the occasional buzzards but my binoculars were too well stored to get in time to see the Ravens in January.

This all seems quite ordinary. But our time in the Quays has made me appreciate these everyday sightings.

 

AyJay

 

 

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Ash trees are one of our natives and are particularly common around the parish. In face we have spent 10 years trying to eliminate them from the meadow part of the Upper Orchid Field. But what would our countryside look like if they all went? This is not as unlikely as you might think. We have previously commented in Whats On about the rate of tree loss by human action what with new housing, cycle ways or action by individual householders. This is matched by a replanting record in Wales that is woefully short of the targets set by the Welsh Government. However this is as nothing compared with the threat created by Ash Dieback or Chalara, a lethal fungus first reported in Britain in 2012. In an experiment in 2013, 155,000 ash saplings were planted and only 2.5% remain disease free now. Not only is there a potential impact on the 955 mammals, birds, insects, lichens and fungi that use the trees but it will affect the council tax payer, through the additional cost of removing dead and dying trees, particularly where these overhang roads, parks or houses. And the most amazing thing is that even though it is a native species we imported 5.2 million ash trees from abroad between 2003 and 2011. Many of the pests and diseases our trees and plants are suffering from have been imported on shrubs and trees from abroad. It may be that we as consumers might have to consider asking our garden centres where the plants that we are buying have come from. Scientists are working on a variety of ways to help address the problem but timescales for developing disease-resistant strains can be measured in decades and Chalara is with us now. But, you might say, there are plenty of other types of tree around. The photo shows a veteran Sweet Chestnut tree near Cowbridge which we also have growing on Grange Park and in the woods near the Upper Orchid Field. Another killer fungus has destroyed 3.5 billion Chestnuts in the USA and last summer it reached East London, Devon and Dorset.

 

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Thanks to a donation from a Wenvoe resident the Wildlife Group has just planted a new Mulberry in the Community Orchard. Mulberries are not new to Wenvoe – there is a fine, mature tree at the top of the village that drips with fruit in late summer. But they are unusual and far less common than they used to be. The Community Orchard already has some interesting fruit in addition to the usual suspects, apple, plum, pear, cherry, greengage. You do not see Medlars too much these days but some new Medlar orchards are being planted around London and our 4 Medlars seem happy with our climate and soil and fruit regularly. Quince is also seldom seen but we have one fruit still persisting in the Community Orchard in mid November. So why not a Mulberry? It produces delicious fruit, the birds usually get to it first, but smaller mammals also find them irresistible. They have an interesting history and associations with our culture.

Our variety is called King James 1st (aka Chelsea) and it dates from the 17th century and thereby hangs a tale. King James was anxious to break the French monopoly on silk and the Mulberry is the main food of the Silkworm which produces it. Unfortunately he imported thousands of black Mulberries but it is the white Mulberry which the moths go for and these do not grow well in Britain. So the project did nothing for a British silk industry but the 4 acre Mulberry garden near Buckingham Palace was a popular recreational spot. Mulberries can be found in many of our stately homes, particularly those dating back to Jacobean times. We have fine specimens at St Fagans and near Llandaff Cathedral. They are incredibly long-lived – the artist Gainsborough who was born in 1727 had one growing in his garden which was already over 100 years old and is still there!

And who has not sung the rhyme 'Here we go round the Mulberry Bush'. There are many theories as to its origins but little proof so when you encourage your little ones to dance around the Mulberry bush why not come up with your own story. And if you think it is a good one, get in touch with the Wildlife Group who can publish it on the Community Orchard noticeboard.

 

 

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