{"id":7895,"date":"2020-07-03T10:39:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T09:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2020-07-03T10:41:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T09:41:24","slug":"all-about-our-orchards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7895","title":{"rendered":"All About Our Orchards"},"content":{"rendered":"

All About Our Orchards<\/span><\/h4>\n

What distinguishes the Welsh Orchard (Maes y Felin) from our other community orchards? \"\"Well, this year it has more fruit coming along than all the others put together. And why might that be? One major factor has got to be that it has bee hives and the others don’t. All the orchards had a mass of blossom but unless insects are around to ensure pollination takes place then the fruit will not follow. For instance the Community Orchard on the Playing Fields is surrounded by little in the way of flowers – the odd daisy and that is about it – so there is nothing to attract pollinators. In contrast, at the Welsh Orchard we have had to cut off some branches which are so heavily laden with apples that there is a risk of the branch tearing off or even the tree toppling in a high wind. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lockdown continues to limit what we can do but individuals and couples have been helping out when they are able to. Visitors to the Welsh and Elizabethan Orchards will have noticed that the grass has been cut, thanks to the landowner and farmer Robert Reader. Strimming, brush-cutting and weeding has continued and noticeboards refurbished and painted, our main problem being getting the wood treatment products that are currently in short supply or exorbitantly priced. <\/span><\/p>\n

One positive development has been the number of<\/span> residents sending in photos of wildlife they \"\"have come across which we have managed to identify in most cases. These include wildflowers, insects, beetles and moths and you can see many of them if you look at our Facebook page – Wenvoe Wildlife Group. Not only is it satisfying to identify the species but these are also recorded on the Biodiversity database for South East Wales. One of our wildlife cameras located by a small pond we installed at the beginning of the year saw a procession of birds, bathing, drinking and squabbling and including Wrens, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Chiff-chaff and Jay. Particularly during the hot, dry spell it was a hub of activity in the day and at night frequented by Rabbits and Field Mice. The photo is of an Ichneumon Wasp spotted locally.<\/span><\/p>\n

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All About Our Orchards What distinguishes the Welsh Orchard (Maes y Felin) from our other community orchards? Well, this year it has more fruit coming along than all the others put together. And why might that be? One major factor has got to be that it has bee hives and the others don’t. All the orchards had a mass of […]<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[46,48],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-23l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8019,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8019","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":0},"title":"Discover our 5 Community Orchards","author":"Alan Williams","date":"11th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nature Notes Discover our 5 Community Orchards With more and more people discovering one or more of our 5 Community Orchards, all designed and planted by the Wenvoe Wildlife Group, the question is often raised - What has this got to do with wildlife? Orchards are a priority habitat in\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\/2020\/08\/5-300x283.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6803,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6803","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":1},"title":"Pottering in the Orchards","author":"Alan Williams","date":"10th December 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The odd dry day has allowed us to get out and potter in the orchards. Even in mid-November we were picking apples in the Welsh Orchard. However, the main activities were pruning the fruit trees, strimming and re-locating plants in the herb garden that were becoming invasive, such as Comfrey.\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":8726,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8726","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":2},"title":"The Welsh Have No Use For Orchards!","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Welsh Have No Use For Orchards nor Gardens! (The Welsh) have no use for orchards nor gardens'. So said Gerald of Wales, the 12th\/13th century historian and archdeacon of Brecon. We described in the previous two issues something of the background and history of the sweet apple - so\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\/2020\/11\/Picture7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12087,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12087","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":3},"title":"\u00a0Seven Green Flag Awards","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group \u00a0Seven Green Flag Awards for 2022!! This is a tribute to all involved with the community sites. The landowners - The Reader family and Vale of Glamorgan Council - make it possible. Without the land we would not have the orchards and meadows for everyone to enjoy.\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\/2022\/08\/Picture7j-300x242.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8497,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8497","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":4},"title":"More Apple History","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"NATURE NOTES More Apple History We left last month with apple-growing in Britain at its peak and several thousand varieties available, many of them developed and bred in Britain. Wenvoe had at least 15 orchards in 1900, clearly shown on the Ordnance Survey map. Whilst the odd relict tree may\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture9-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15798,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15798","url_meta":{"origin":7895,"position":5},"title":"The Sites Are In Tip-Top Condition.","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group The Sites Are In Tip-Top Condition. Activities this month included strimming the Welsh Orchard, continuing to clear the Upper Orchid Field and working on the Community Orchard. We attended the Playing Fields Open Day but had very few visitors to the Community Orchard - not surprising as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for August 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for August 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=424"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895"}],"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=7895"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7899,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions\/7899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}