If you go down to the ancient woodlands today ....

Red-eyed shingle lichen - photo from Plantlife

Dolmelynllyn is for lovers of the lower plants. The ancient woodlands around Dolmelynllyn are a Mecca for lichens, liverworts and mosses; the so-called ‘lower plants’. Students travel hundreds of miles to see the rare specimens, just a few miles north of Dolgellau, many of which have disappeared elsewhere a long time ago.

The magic formula is an abundance of rain, the temperate Celtic rainforest, fresh air and sensible management by the National Trust with help from Plantlife and Natural Resources Wales.

Rhodri Wigley, the lead ranger for the National Trust at Dolmelynllyn, and Dave Lamacraft, from Plantlife Cymru, explain what’s so special and how they care for it.

Breeding Birds of North Wales

The Breeding Birds of North Wales book was launched last night at RSPB Conwy. Guests included the four editors (tired but happy – see picture), Anthony Cond from Liverpool University Press and Graham Appleton (BTO Director of Communications).

Photo by Richard Gallon of Cofnod

The next Natur Cymru will have an article by Graham about the BTO’s work on satellite-tagged Cuckoos which has produced such incredible results on where and when our Cuckoos go, outside the breeding season.

The book launched yesterday is the first on the birds of the whole of North Wales since Forrest in 1907. It is based on 5 years fieldwork (2008-12) by hundreds of volunteers, enabling the mapping of all breeding birds in North Wales at the 2x2 km scale. Each species account has this tetrad map, plus three 10x10 km maps showing how the distribution has changed in the last 40 years. And of course photos of all the birds and an excellent selection of habitats, plus introductory chapters about our changing birdlife.

Species accounts are written by the four editors and other knowledgeable individuals. Each species account is sponsored by individuals or businesses which raised the money for publication by LUP. The introductory chapters are fully bilingual as are the Red Kite and Greylag Goose accounts; all other species have Welsh summaries. Copies of the book are available this week (only) for £20 +delivery (£3.50 for first copy, 50p per copy for extra copies). £45 after this week (but no doubt less on Amazon). If you would like to place an order, ring Janet at LUP on 0151 794 2233 (office hours) and say Anthony said the offer is still on until Friday!

Talks from north Wales

I provide illustrated talks in north and mid Wales to groups such as U3A, Rotary, WI, Garden Clubs, National Trust Associations, Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Ramblers and so on. The fee for a talk depends upon the size of the audience and my travelling distance. Current talks on offer are:

Snowdonia and Triglav

Chamois; shammy leather?

In the early 1990s I was living and working in former Yugoslavia as it broke apart into separate countries including Slovenia. I spent many happy times in the Triglav National Park, in the north of Slovenia near the Italian border. To move to Snowdonia many years later and discover that two of my favourite places had been ‘twinned’ since 1993 was a great coincidence. They have much in common; both countries are small with their own languages and mountainous landscape. The talk compares and contrasts these two national parks - we’ve got wild goats, they’ve got chamois and ibex.  We used to have an alpine farming tradition, they still have. We’ve got a few arctic alpines but they’ve got masses.

Not Just a Pretty Place (updated)

Not Just a Pretty Place: Survival in Snowdonia is a book of 32 stories linked by the theme of survival. Some things are thriving whilst others, like the Snowdon Lily, are just hanging on. 'The stories link landscape, people and wildlife into an optimistic view of the future with subjects as diverse as the rare and elusive pine marten, freshwater pearl mussels and local foods.  Underneath the humour and optimism, however, there are serious messages about the viability of our lifestyles' - Iolo Williams.

I am always adding new stories and film clips into this talk to illustrate the central themes of the book i.e. if you heard it a couple of years ago it is significantly different today!

The House on the Black Hillside

We live in an ancient house where the modern extension was added in 1605. Built for a family of minor nobles, tracing their descent from Llywelyn the Great, it’s packed full of history and character. This talk explains the background to the house and the people who have lived in it including the charismatic Colonel Campbell. He brought the place back from dereliction in the 1960s and commuted to work in his private engine from Campbell’s Platform on the Ffestiniog Railway. Also included are the neighbours such as the ghost (the house was used as a location for filming an episode of Most Haunted), William Joyce or Lord Haw-Haw, who allegedly  was resident half a mile away at the outbreak of WWII and the wild mountain goats that roam the mountains and play havoc with some gardens. We have just had the house tree-ring dated as part of the project Dating Old Welsh Houses.

Plas y Dduallt

HuwTubeable in North Wales

This is based on film rather than photo for illustration. I love making short films and have published over 250 on YouTube under the names of HuwTubeable and NaturCymru. A typical talk would include 15 to 20 films of between 1 to 3 minutes which are grouped into themes and separately introduced. The choice of films depends upon what I think the target audience would appreciate; for example, Grass Snake in the Greenhouse might be good for a garden club. The formula works well with a much higher degree of interactivity than  normal – each film tends to provoke short comment and discussion whereas in a conventional slideshow there are usually just  questions at the end. No-one has fallen asleep in this one!

If you would like to make a booking please contact me by email h.jenkins@btinternet.com or phone 01766 590272.

Huw

Bodnant - not gardens but food

The butcher, the baker and the candlestickmaker, rub a dub dub, are all on site at Bodnant Welsh Food. Furnace Farm, ‘home farm’ of the 5,000 acre estate, most famous for its gardens, has been repurposed into a showcase for Welsh produce. I didn’t see candlesticks being made but I did meet people at the new National Bee Keeping Centre, just across the farmyard from the shop. There is also a dairy, making amongst other things, fancy ice creams squeezed out of Italian machinery.

During the press event rain poured down on contractors racing to finish work ahead of the royal opening on 9^th July; the show must go on. £6.5 million has been invested, about half by the owners (Michael and Caroline McLaren) and half by Welsh or European government, creating sixty jobs. It is hoped that there will be 200,000 visitors a year and this is what it looked like on the day:

For me my highlight was a sausage-making lesson from Miles the master butcher. Not any old sausage but a breakfast chipolata made with rare breed Gloucester Old Spot pork and Miles’s secret seasoning. No artificial collagen casings but traditional sheep’s intestine stuffed with a state of the art hydraulic sausage filler.

As well as a top class restaurant, complete with executive chef Peter Jackson, president of the Welsh Culinary Association, there is a tea room in a cow shed and a beautifully equipped cookery school. Sandy Boyd is managing director, probably the only non-local to be employed, who brings to the table his experience at Chatsworth and in setting up the Ludlow Food Centre.

Good luck - it looks and tastes great.

We need your dragonfly and damselfly records

The British Dragonfly Society (BDS) is planning a new atlas of British and Irish dragonflies and damselflies for 2013. Though recording across North Wales has intensified since 2000 there are still many gaps in our recording of all species and your observations are greatly needed to help fill these. Please note that this is the last year to contribute to this atlas and I would encourage you to send in your observations before it is too late. I have the task of processing all such records and making sure they go into the national system. A copy of all BDS records for North Wales also goes to COFNOD.

Mating Blue Emperor (Anax imperator).This species
was a rare sighting before the late 1990s when it moved
north and north-west into the region. It is now widespread
and even breeding in the mountain tarns of Snowdonia.
Is this due to climate change?  

Dragonflies and damselflies, which breed in either running or still water depending on species, are under increasing stress from habitat loss and pollution. They are extremely sensitive indicators of water quality as they are also of Climate Change and worldwide there are many changes taking place in their distribution. Nationally, new species are moving north and entering Britain from the continent and, even for the relatively small region of North Wales, several species have extended their ranges to become resident here since around 2000. So it is important to establish just where each species is currently breeding so we can monitor future changes. Your records will also shed light on the phenology of these intriguing insects.

Female Large Red Damsel (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). This 

year the species was observed to emerge on the 6th April 

which was a record for the earliest emergence. 

Is this due to climate change?

Though lively and beautiful, sun-loving dragonflies and damselflies have never been as popular as, say, butterflies and moths but the publication of several new field guides has led to a surge in interest. Currently 35 species have been recorded from North Wales although four of these are occasional migrants from the Continent and are not known to have bred here. They are particularly popular with wildlife photographers as they pose an interesting challenge in technique. As they are very active flying creatures, identifying adult dragonflies can appear daunting but in reality, and with a little practise, it should not prove that difficult if one is patient enough to wait until they settle up. Their colours are sexually dimorphic: males are more brightly and distinctively coloured and the easiest to identify; females are typically cryptically coloured and with some species of damselfly there may be a bewildering array of colour forms. Poorly coloured emergent and immature adults (tenerals) are difficult to identify and are therefore best avoided by beginners.

Male Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea). Llyn Tecwyn
Isaf is the only known site in North Wales where
this species is known to breed. The larvae live
 amongst the leaf litter of tree-lined lakes.
Are there any other lakes with this species in North Wales?

As regards where to record, I’ve attached a map showing what the state of recording is for each 10 km square across North Wales. This is the resolution that will be used in the new BDS atlas. The numbers refer to the potentially ‘missing’ species for each square. The squares with red numbers are my target areas. But records from anywhere are most welcome as we also need to understand the distribution at more detailed scales and it is hoped to publish a more detailed account for North Wales at a later date. The actual ‘missing’ species are shown in the attached Excel chart with the use of abbreviations.

As regards what details to give, the minimum criteria would be date seen, location name, 6- or (better) 8-figure grid reference and the name of the species seen (with photos if possible to confirm identification – quality is not that important). Of more help in recording would be numbers seen of each stage: adults (males and females), copulation pairs (including tandem pairs), oviposition (egg-laying), exuviae (larval skins), emergent adults. The latter two stages are really the most important as they indicate positively that the species has bred successfully at the water body. The best way of estimating numbers of each stage is: A = 1, B = 2-5, C = 6-20, D = 21-100, E = 101-500, F = >500.

An image showing the potentially missing species in North Wales can be viewed by clicking here.

Please send the records in anytime (much better late than never!) but if it was a really interesting sighting, for example an indication of a migration underway, a prompt response would allow me to say something in a current ‘North Wales Dragonfly Newsletter’; this is copied onto the Cofnod website. More detailed records are best sent in using Excel format with separate columns for each stage entry. Examples of the way to send records in is provided by the BDS website page: http://british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/recording-dragonflies-and-damselflies-british-isles. Send records to me at my e-mail address: allanrowenconwy@sky.com.

Dr Allan Brandon, North Wales Dragonfly Recorder for the British Dragonfly Society. (all images and content from Allan Brandon) 

Limpets and the stone age rock shelter

Above Pont Garreg Hylldrem, where the road from Llanfrothen turns a leftwards right angle towards Beddgelert, there’s an overhanging cliff popular with climbers. It was popular with stone age hunters too, not for climbing but for the welcome shelter of the overhang on a platform about ten metres up from the sea or estuary below.

Local resident Clive Hudson was climbing there on Christmas Day 2007 (I didn’t ask why or whether it was before or after lunch) when he spotted a limpet shell wedged within a crevice. How had it got there?

Subsequent excavation, under the supervision of Bangor University, has uncovered several hearths and many shells: oysters, cockles and winkles as well as limpets. Mixed in were pieces of bone, probably deer, and so far 42 pieces of worked flint. Three limpets from different parts of the site have been carbon dated as being from 7379, 9281 and 9349 years ago.

Under normal soil conditions the high levels of acidity in north Wales would have caused the shells and bones to disintegrate but lime, seeping out of the overhanging rocks, has altered the chemistry thereby preserving these relics. Just a short distance beyond the overhang and normal acidity returns. 

Dr Gary Robinson, lecturer in archaeology at Bangor, describes the site as a hunting camp used on a regular basis for a few days at a time before returning to the home base. ‘It might have been for three or four hunters out on an expedition, maybe pursuing deer or spawning salmon on their way upstream. ‘

The low volume of shellfish remains suggest that these were snacks as opposed to the main diet of the hunters. Strangely one of the mussel shells is a species never before found in Wales but present in the Mediterranean. Was the sea warmer all those years ago?

Towards the end of the dig, in April 2012, a flint arrowhead was discovered, probably dating back to the bronze age. If that's the case, then this rock shelter was used for 5000 years. 

Nature Writing Course October 10-15, 2011

Nature writing is an attempt to draw together in one literary form the realms of science, art and personal memoir. What better place to reflect upon all these themes than in wild Wales and the glorious coastal landscapes of the Llŷn Peninsula. We will examine the natural forces that create this beautiful environment but we will also consider how you find a language to express encounters with living places and wild things. Outdoors and indoors, this is a course where your walking boots are as essential as your laptop.

The tutors are Nigel Brown and Mark Cocker.

Nigel is a Lecturer in Biological Sciences at Bangor University and curator of the University’s botanic garden. Nigel has both a professional and lifelong interest in natural history. He has lived in northwest Wales for four decades and cherishes the region’s rich variety of landscape and wildlife.

Mark is one of Britain’s foremost writers on nature and contributes regularly to The Guardian. His seven books include Birds Britannica and Crow Country, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature 2009. 

Residential: £525 (single); £300 (shared); Non-residential £275. 10% off for members of Naturalist Trusts or other nature and conservation groups. For further details contact Tŷ Newydd Writers’ Centre, Llanystumdwy, Cricieth, Gwynedd LL52 0LW 01766 522811 tynewydd@literaturewales.org

One of the students is the runner up in Natur Cymru’s Inspired by Nature writing competition.