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The Upper Orchid Field<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Last\u00a0month we discussed Meadows – how important they are and yet how they are fast disappearing. This month we shall give some background on the Upper Orchid Field and how we got to where we are today. The history of the Upper Orchid Field beyond around 15 years ago is unknown although if anyone has any information or memories about it please get in touch with the Wildlife Group. At that stage it was known as the Sledging Field and on the odd occasion that snow still falls it is great that people can use it for that purpose. The field was purchased by the Vale of Glamorgan Council at the time they purchased Whitehall Quarry for landfill along with some other adjacent fields. The Public Right of Way along the bottom of the field has been used, probably for centuries as an important link between Twyn yr Odyn and Wenvoe. A decade ago some who walked along the path noticed that the field was becoming increasingly overgrown and at this point most of the slope was covered in Ash trees. Left to its own devices it would have become woodland.<\/p>\n It was suggested that an approach be made to VoGC to take over maintenance of the field and with a sympathetic response from the Council the Wildlife Group was started. In 2013 a formal licence was agreed. This licence stated that the Council would cut the field and the Wildlife Group would help with recording wildlife, creating and maintaining paths, and helping to restore the meadow. A few years later the Council indicated that they could no longer afford to cut the field and this role was taken over by WWG. Currently a contractor cuts the hay meadow annually and the costs are shared between WWG and the Community Council.<\/p>\n Over the last 10 years noticeboards and benches have been installed, new paths and accesses created; bird and bat boxes put up and trees planted around the periphery. Over 400 species have been recorded and the meadow is designated a SINC – a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. This does not give legal protection but it means this designation should be considered in any land use planning decision. However no-one should be under any illusion that the site is safe from development or take-over by a third party. The site has received 8 Green Flag awards and numerous other certificates and accolades. Not least it is enjoyed daily by a large number of walkers, joggers, dog-walkers and other visitors.<\/p>\n Other than the shared cost of the annual cut referred to earlier WWG receive no financial or technical support in looking after the field and rely wholly on volunteers, a significant proportion coming from<\/p>\n outside the Parish including Dinas Powys, Radyr, Penarth and Cardiff. This year the Working Party have made inroads into the steady spread of brambles on the edges and hopefully the annual cut will help to consolidate this progress. Wildflower seed will also be harvested this year and used to create new meadows elsewhere in the Vale of Glamorgan. There is always masses of work to be done so if you can spare the odd moment to help out, do contact the Wildlife Group and help to ensure that we continue to get the benefit of this local treasure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Upper Orchid Field Last\u00a0month we discussed Meadows – how important they are and yet how they are fast disappearing. This month we shall give some background on the Upper Orchid Field and how we got to where we are today. The history of the Upper Orchid Field beyond around 15 years ago is unknown although if anyone has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-10345","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":712,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=712","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":0},"title":"GROUP NEWS","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Green Flag Award Ceremony \u00a0 The photo shows Sue Hoddell receiving our Green Flag awards at a ceremony for Vale of Glamorgan winners. We have decided that our fourth entry next year will be the Welsh orchard near Maes y Felin. This is our largest orchard and includes fruit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13714,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13714","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":1},"title":"The School Nature Club","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st October 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group The School Nature Club continues to flourish. This month they learned to identify Horse Chestnut which gives us Conkers and distinguish them from Sweet Chestnut which we love to roast. They assembled two more planters and will be filling them with Bee-friendly shrubs such as Escallonia, Mahonia,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Picture13.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9189,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9189","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":2},"title":"All About Trees","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Despite wet and then freezing weather this has been a good month for planting trees. Firstly Keep Wales Tidy donated 28 fruit trees to us (4 for every Green Flag Application site). An apple has been planted in a garden close to the St Marys Church and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Old-Oak.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Old-Oak.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Old-Oak.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6706,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6706","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":3},"title":"Upper Orchid Field","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th October 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Upper Orchid Field Visitors to the Upper Orchid Field will have noticed that the field has been cut and the cuttings removed which is essential to keep the meadow in the best condition for wildflowers to flourish. It is just over 10 years since some residents expressed concern that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10165,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10165","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":4},"title":"National Meadows Week","author":"Alan Williams","date":"24th August 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We celebrated National Meadows Week in July with a 'walk and talk' around the Upper Orchid Field. We are fortunate to have this facility on our doorstep and it is well used by visitors, dog-walkers and joggers whilst providing a haven for wildlife. The UK has lost around 97% of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/OrchidField.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16687,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16687","url_meta":{"origin":10345,"position":5},"title":"Community Orchard Works","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group Community Orchard Works The wet weather has delayed much of the activity we had planned to do by now. The Community Orchard is waterlogged, and the annual cut of the Upper Orchid Field has been delayed by the muddy conditions. Despite this, the Welsh, Goldsland and Elizabethan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for March 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for March 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=431"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WWG.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10345"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10349,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10345\/revisions\/10349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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