Encouraging Mistletoe To Grow
Wenvoe Wildlife Group
Project Balder has involved encouraging Mistletoe to grow on trees in the Village. Currently there are only two clumps of the plant recorded as being alive in the County – one in Dinas Powys and one in Wenvoe. There are several clumps in Cardiff and many more to the north-east and east of the City. Last year we invited residents to contact the Group if they wished to try propagating it and during February berries and instructions were distributed. This involved over 100 berries with an accompanying kit purchased from the English Mistletoe Shop. Mistletoe is notoriously difficult to grow and if we get just a couple of new growths, particularly if one is female it will have been worthwhile. With at least one male and one female we would hope that nature can take over. Our thanks to Chris, Vicar Lyndon, Annette, Shirley and Eleanor who have placed seeds on trees in the Rectory,
various Wenvoe gardens, one in Dinas Powys and the Elizabethan Orchard. There are several species of insect, beetle and fungi which are associated with Mistletoe. And Balder was the God of Light in Norse mythology who was associated with Mistletoe although not in a way that he would have appreciated!
Visitors to the Upper Orchid Field will have appreciated the annual cut and clearance of vegetation carried out by John Crockford. We can look forward to a grand display of Spring flowers, particularly Primrose and Cowslip. Rhys has been deploying wildlife cameras around our sites and early footage is revealing the hidden world of wildlife including Field Mice, Birds and Foxes. One particular fox, Stumpy, has no tail but seems healthy enough.