Natur Cymru's Crowdfunding appeal



Iolo Williams, giving heartfelt support for Natur Cymru

There are big changes here at Natur Cymru HQ. If you're a subscriber you'll be getting a personal letter from us this week explaining what's happening, but here's a summary.

Earlier this year we learned that important financial support was being withdrawn. Since then we have been working hard to find ways to keep the magazine going. Without it, unfortunately the magazine will have to close after Issue 60 (Autumn 2016).
 
More time is needed to find a long term solution, and so we have decided to ask for donations to raise enough money to keep afloat until March 2017. We are seeking £12,000 to fund a further 2 issues – Nos 61 (Winter 2016) and 62 (Spring 2017). This will be used to fund staff time and office costs.

Supporters can donate online via the the Crowdfunder website, where Iolo Williams speaks from the heart about what Natur Cymru means to wildlife in Wales.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/natur-cymru-nature-wales

Cheque donations are also very welcome - please make your cheque payable to Natur Cymru Ltd and post to Natur Cymru, Maes y Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DW.  Please remember to include your name and address.

Please note, cheques and pledges will not be cashed unless we reach our target.

WHAT ELSE CAN PEOPLE DO TO HELP?

• Subscribe to NC via our website www.naturcymru.org or by writing to us
• Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/naturcymru.natureofwales/ and Twitter @NaturCymru and share to interested parties so we can reach a wider audience
• Write to us with letters of support which will help with our bids for funding (or email info@naturcymru.org.uk)

 

If you belong to an organisation which might be able to help meet any of our needs, please contact us info@naturcymru.org.uk

 

Thank you everyone, and keep your fingers crossed!

Lifetime Award for North Wales Naturalist

I was delighted to be present last week for a very special event, when Iolo Williams presented Peter Hope Jones with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Welsh Ornithological Society. Peter has made a major contribution to Welsh ornithology, over at least 50 years. Way back in 1960 he was Warden at Newborough Warren NNR, just when the conifers were growing up and Montagu’s Harriers were nesting. Later he worked for the Nature Conservancy in Meirionnydd, carrying out bird surveys in the mountains as well as looking after National Nature Reserves in the area.

He has had a lengthy involvement with Bardsey and its Bird Observatory; his book ‘The Natural History of Bardsey’ published in 1988 remains the best account of the island and its wildlife. He is an excellent photographer and this book is illustrated with his own photographs. And we mustn’t forget his latest, and largest, book – the bilingual ‘Birds of Anglesey’ by Hope Jones and Whalley, published in 2004.

The presentation took place in Peter and Joan’s small house in Menai Bridge, not the previously selected venue on Church Island which Peter visits nearly every day. Earlier sleet had encouraged the group to remain indoors.

Iolo in the Vale of Ffestiniog

The third episode of Iolo’s Great Welsh Parks, recorded in and around Plas Tan y Bwlch, will be broadcast on Sunday 20^th January at 17:35 on BBC Wales. Tune in to see what he finds. The fourth and final episode, filmed at Stackpole, will be broadcast the following week. Details of the programme and viewing via iPlayer can be found here.

The series was produced by Cardiff based Aden Productions who also filmed the series Wild Wales.

Wildlife Trusts Wales - Natur Cymru summer edition

Artwork by Chris Chalk

• Wildlife Trusts in Wales - how did it all begin? Kate & Geoff Gibbs
• Cors Dyfi - one of nature’s jewels. Emyr Evans
• At the bottom of the garden - wildlife surveys in Cardiff. Rob Parry
• Wildlife gardening in north Wales. Anna Williams
• Running a Wildlife Trust. Huw Jenkins
• Dandelions of Cardiff. Tim Rich
• NATUR. Celia Thomas
• Fifty years ago - great black backed gulls on Skomer. David Saunders
• Lady Park Wood - the loss of ground flora. Kathleen Vanhuyse, Pieter Vangansbeke and George F. Peterken
• Coedwig ffosil Brymbo. Raymond Roberts                            
• The Denbigh plum - threats to native varieties. Oliver Prŷs Jones
• Is Pwyll y felin a turlough? Gareth Farr
• New Dyfi catchment and woodland research platform. Huw Evans
• Marine Matters - Protected or not? Mick Green
• Mammal news. Frances Cattanach
• Green bookshelf. Book reviews on bumblebees and slime moulds of Cheshire.
• A review of the Iolo Williams DVD box sets - The Secret Life of Birds and WildWales.

Publication date 22nd June (there was a slight delay as our printers, based in Aberystwyth, were victims of the recent flooding). Cover price £4.00. Quarterly by subscription £16 p.a. or £15 by direct debit. For further information visit www.naturcymru.org.uk or call 01248 387 373. If you would like to download an A4 poster for this edition please click here.

Wildlife Trusts – Natur Cymru special edition summer 2012

Original oil painting by Chris Chalk

·         Wildlife Trusts in Wales - how did it all begin? Kate & Geoff Gibbs

·         Cors Dyfi - one of nature’s jewels. Emyr Evans

·         At the bottom of the garden - wildlife surveys in Cardiff. Rob Parry

·         Wildlife gardening in north Wales. Anna Williams

·         Running a Wildlife Trust. Huw Jenkins

·         Dandelions of Cardiff. Tim Rich

·         NATUR. Celia Thomas

·         Fifty years ago - great black backed gulls on Skomer. David Saunders

·         Lady Park Wood - the loss of ground flora. Kathleen Vanhuyse, Pieter Vangansbeke and George F. Peterken

·         Coedwig ffosil Brymbo. Raymond Roberts                            

·         The Denbigh plum - threats to native varieties. Oliver Prŷs Jones

·         Is Pwyll y felin a turlough? Gareth Farr

·         New Dyfi catchment and woodland research platform. Huw Evans

·         Marine Matters - Protected or not? Mick Green

·         Mammal news. Frances Cattanach

·         Green bookshelf. Book reviews on bumblebees and slime moulds of Cheshire.

·         A review of the Iolo Williams DVD box sets - The Secret Life of Birds and WildWales.

                                                                                               

Publication date 15^th June. Cover price £4.00 or quarterly by subscription at £16 p.a. or £15 by direct debit. ISSN 1742-37400106 Format: 170 x 220mm, 50 pages, full colour.

For further information visit www.naturcymru.org.uk or call 01248 387 373.

If you would like to download an A4 poster for this edition please click here.

Iolo on the Ffestiniog Railway

Iolo at Campbell's Platform

We welcomed Iolo onto Campbell’s Platform as he stepped off the first train of the day with film crew in tow – actually, the main cameraman was already there.

They are working on a new series commissioned by the BBC called Iolo’s Great Welsh Parks. The series will have four programmes, each thirty minutes long, and this programme is based on Plas Tan y Bwlch. We saw and filmed some great wildlife, in oak woodland once owned by The Plas, but it’s up to the executive producer to decide what goes in and what gets cut - fingers crossed they’ll keep the footage of the goats which were on their best behaviour.

The series is due for broadcast in 2013 and is being produced by Cardiff based Aden Productions. This is the same company that produced Secret Life of Birds and Wild Wales and which are now available as DVD box sets. There is a review of both in the next edition of Natur Cymru. 

Iolo's Wild Wales - series preview

The Wild Wales series was broadcast in three, one hour episodes: The Beautiful South, Heart of Wales and The Rugged North. It includes spectacular footage of hen harriers passing prey and an osprey diving into the Dwyryd estuary - after several attempts a fish was caught then repositioned mid flight, to be head first aero dynamic, as the bird flew at eye level past Portmeirion’s visitors seemingly oblivious to the natural spectacle. Did you know the red deer on Ramsey are bigger than those in Scotland? What comes across in the series is the immense range of plants and creatures for what is a relatively small piece of geography.

The series was first shown on BBC and is now available as a DVD box set.  

Iolo's Wild Wales

FREE COPY of Iolo’s Wild Wales 3 disc DVD box set RRP £17.99 [WE HAVE RUN OUT OF COPIES SO THIS OFFER NO LONGER AVAILABLE. You will need to order elsewhere.]

The first five people to phone through and order a new Natur Cymru subscription will receive a copy of Wild Wales, first shown on BBC in three, one hour episodes, which is being released as a DVD box set on 9^th April.

Here’s what one reviewer said about it:

The series was broadcast in three, one hour episodes: The Beautiful South, Heart of Wales and The Rugged North. Much of the most spectacular footage from Secret Life of Birds made its way into this production interspersed with red deer on Ramsey, bats, stoats, waxcaps, the Radnor lily, jumping salmon, red squirrels, sand lizards, otters, Risso’s dolphins, arctic charr, purple saxifrage, bottlebrush mosses, fallow deer, feral goats and seals on Bardsey.

New footage on birds included spectacular dives of an osprey into the Dwyryd estuary. After several attempts a fish was caught then repositioned mid flight, to be head first aero dynamic, as the bird flew at eye level past Portmeirion’s visitors seemingly oblivious to the natural spectacle.

It’s the sort of programme that makes you feel Grand Slam proud to be Welsh!

CALL 01248 387373 to take advantage of this offer: if you leave a message, please remember to give your phone number and mention Wild Wales.  Five copies available. Please have your credit / debit card details ready. 

Iolo's Secret Life of Birds

Free copy of Iolo’s Secret Life of Birds 3 disc DVD box set RRP £17.99 [THIS OFFER NO LONGER APPLIES. ALL 5 COPIES HAVE GONE. You will need to order elsehwere.]

The first five people to phone through and order a new Natur Cymru subscription will receive a copy of the Secret Life or Birds, first shown on BBC2 in five half-hour episodes, which is being released as a DVD box set on 9^th April.

Here’s what one reviewer said about it:

For me there were plenty of secrets, some more spectacular than others: such as the aerial passing of freshly caught prey between a pair of hen harriers, or a tree creeper hollowing out a cosy sleeping hole in the bark of a giant redwood. More harrowing though was the story of the pigeons; diligently building their nest in Cardiff, taking turns to sit on eggs for three weeks, despite the rain, then four days of feeding until the sparrowhawk arrived - cruel curtains for the chicks as the helpless parents watched on. I think it makes a fantastic introduction or a great reminder of the rich variety of our bird life across Wales and aspects of behaviour most of us miss; both an inspiration and a snapshot in time.

CALL 01248 387373 to take advantage of this offer: if you leave a message, please remember to leave your phone number and mention the Secret Life of Birds.  Five copies available. First come, first served. Please have your credit / debit card details ready.