Natur Cymru is a quarterly magazine about the wildlife and environment of Wales. As of 1st April 2017 Natur Cymru has ceased publishing. We hope this is a temporary situation. Back copies are still available for sale, please see our website for full details and to find out more about Natur Cymru and its role in reporting on Welsh wildlife www.naturcymru.org.uk
The sound of Sunday morning rain warranted a lie-in, but by 7:30 the day was beckoning. I dressed and knelt down to peer out of the bedroom window at the nest of baby swallows, but it was gone. It had fallen 12 feet or so and 1 of the chicks was dead on its back. The other 2 were face down in the nest but breathing.
Still raining, no sign of the parents, what to do? I scoured the shed and found a shoe-box size plastic shelving tray, strapped a board over the top, wedged the nest with a block of wood and an old sock. Finally a stick across the front to stop anything falling out then placed it on the nearest windowsill.
When the rain eased off the parents returned, one with its beak full of flies, and flew repeated sorties into the corner where the nest had been. Frustratingly they perched nearby but failed to look at my impromptu haven.
I got a laptop to the open window and played back the sound of baby swallows crying for food, but still they didn’t get the message. After 20 minutes of pressing the play button I gave up and, feeling quite sad, took the dog for a walk.
But on my return what joy, there were the parents flying in and out with food and removing the poo sack. From the overlooking window I can see only 1 chick so I suspect the other must have died. Will it stay in the nest or will the parents throw it out?
In the meantime the 8 day old surviving swallow is getting lots of rations and parental care.
After 20 days of the mother sitting on the eggs our first baby swallows have hatched on 2nd July. I was beginning to think the recent cold weather might have damaged the chances of success. The nest is right above our front door so visitors please note to come round the back.
For Fathers Day my son took me out on a mountain ramble up and around Y Garn. It was beautiful to see so many and such variety of plants in flower including the Snowdon Lily which I thought would have been just a stalk by 19th June. See how many you recognise:
50 years ago there were 14 boats fishing for lobsters off Barmouth and, not surprisingly, the population declined. At that concentration it just wasn’t sustainable. Today there’s just the one, skippered by John Johnson, the man who also runs fishing charters on Viking II and supplies tackle from his shop on the high street.
He welcomed me on board to see how, with the help of veteran lobsterman Ray Lewis, he goes about his business. I was lucky to be motoring out of harbour with still water and blue skies – frequent high winds had meant slim pickings for most of May and June.
About a mile out we reached and hooked a marker buoy and winched up a string of 12 pots. 1, 2 and 3 were lobsterless, temporary home to small fish, crabs and jellyfish eggs. Pot number 4 produced the first lobster.
Like a production line, each pot was opened, emptied and baited with a chunk of plaice then stacked in sequence on a bench ready for launching off the stern. Maybe 15 minutes to raise and relay the dozen.
Some pots were empty whilst others were crammed full of life, not just lobsters but edible crabs, spiders, hermits, velvets, butterfish, blennies and whelks to name but a few. The Fisheries ruler was used to measure the length of the lobster’s main shell from eye-socket to the start of the thorax. Any less than 87 mm were returned to the sea, about 75%, and many of these were so frustratingly borderline.
After about 3 hours we had 36 decent sized lobsters in the oxygenated tank with their claws held fast by strong rubber bands. Not for fear of humans being bitten but to limit the injuries they would inflict on each other. Some were so brilliant blue whilst others had more of an orange tinge – the difference between those that blend into a background of rock as opposed to shale.
John’s mobile rang and 18 were sold to the Lobster Pond (01341 281234), the quayside shop for live or cooked lobsters. The other 18 would be buried beneath the waves in one of his chests, ready for the dealer from Bangor who sources up the coastline from mid Wales. From Bangor they go to Spain where lobsters reach respectable prices.
Before returning to port John switched to fishing prawns in a similar fashion. A string of tubular prawn pots baited with ripe herring. 4 or 5 kilos were harvested and secured in the submarine stash.
Back ashore, slightly lobster pink despite my factor 30 sunblock, I had much more respect for this noble crustacean. For summer occasions and anniversaries there’s nothing quite like a fresh lobster from Barmouth caught by John or Ray. So much better than supermarket lobsters from Canada.
200 years ago in the summer of 1811 William Madocks completed the Cob. Hopelessly over budget and in serious debt. But he did it.
In the winter edition of Natur Cymru there was a great article by Twm Elias about the Glaslyn Marsh and the impact of the Cob. If your Welsh was not good enough to fully understand it and you did not request a translation - here it is. Well worth the read. Diolch Twm.
Town centre location, short walk from bus stop, café just round the corner – sounds like a good location for a surgery. This surgery is in the heart of a delightful small town in the Vale of Glamorgan.
The ‘surgery’ is something rather special as it contains a range of medicinal plants which would have been used by the local population before 1800. We forget that, except for the last 75 years, we humans have relied almost entirely on plants to treat all manner of sickness, from coughs to TB and malaria; even today we rely on the curative properties of plants in over 50% of our medicines. Elsewhere in the world, people still rely on herbs as a primary source of medicine
There are 12 beds in the Cowbridge Physic Garden, each one relating to parts of the body or to a medical condition. Bed 9 contains plants for the liver, bed 2 the eyes, bed 4 the nerves, bed 10 infectious diseases and so on. Work on the Garden has transformed a derelict site into a place where passers-by pop in to relax and meet friends and into a very special place with history, beauty and a strong reminder of ‘what biodiversity does for us’!
Work began in 2005 to transform the half acre space, now maintained by an enthusiastic band of volunteers linked to the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust. They are only too happy to show you round and explain their story and that of our reliance on nature.
At this time of year the nut feeders empty fast. Experimenting with a time lapse camera the 720 images, taken every 2 minutes over 24 daylight hours, tell the story. A couple of the creatures have bushy tails instead of wings. Here it is:
