Wildlife Group News
In October's issue we mentioned that we had been fortunate to have been selected as one of the three charities that you can vote for at Tescos with all three receiving grants. After the print deadline for Whats On we heard that Tescos had postponed the start of the scheme until the last week in October so you should find that by the time you read this newsletter the scheme should have commenced. So look out for the voting boxes in Tescos. It runs to around the 12th November and it should not be too long after that before we hear the results.
For our conservation work we have been planting Bluebells (native of course) and Primroses in the Elizabethan Orchard along the 'primrose path of dalliance'. On the Upper Orchid Field we have liberated the
wooden bench that disappeared into the undergrowth, given it a lick of timber preservative, and opened up other paths which had become blocked. You can see the 'spruced and scoured' bench in the photo. The two wild pear trees are growing steadily, the taller of the two now around 4 metres tall and, hopefully, we should be seeing some of its fruit before long. A few years back we planted an Elm as part of a UK-wide scheme to monitor how they were coping with Dutch Elm disease. Ours did little at first but this year it has taken off and gained about a metre in height. For those interested in trees ours was Ulmus minor.
Our bat walk in Grange Park indicated that a shower of rain does not stop the bats feeding. We saw (or heard) mainly Pipistrelles with one individual putting 
on a virtuoso performance up and down Pound Lane, often flying to within a few feet of us. We are gradually replacing fruit trees that have died; this year four out of the 88 we have planted. We are also beginning to see our first, albeit modest, crops. Outstanding this year has been Bardsey, originally discovered on the island of Bardsey, which is producing very tasty and very large apples. One cannot help noticing that at the time of writing it is difficult to find any British fruit in the shops. Apples from South Africa and New Zealand, pears from Italy and strawberries from the Netherlands.
If you are interested in taking part in our wildlife projects we would love to hear from you. Or if you just want to follow what we are doing take a look at Facebook – search for Wenvoe Wildlife Group.
