THE FRIENDS OF TREBORTH BOTANIC GARDEN

CYFEILLION GARDD

FOTANEG TREBORTH

NEWSLETTER CYLCHLYTHYR

Number / Rhif 46 January/ Ionawr 2013

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COMMITTEE

Judith Hughes (judithhughespyb@btinternet.com) Chairman Dr David Shaw (shaw@sarvari-trust.org) Vice-Chair Sarah Edgar (sarahedgar70@hotmail.com) Secretary Liz Lemin Treasurer Nigel Brown (n.brown@bangor.ac.uk) Curator Rosie Barratt (bss009@bangor.ac.uk) Horticulturist Angela Thompson (act.celyn@gmail.com) Membership Secretary Dr John Gorham (johnandchris.gorham@btinternet.com) Events Secretary Enid Griffiths Committee Member Deborah Wieland (deborahwieland@gmail.com) Committee Member Tom Cockbill (thomasjames83@hotmail.com) Committee Member David Evans (david.evans1939@zen.co.uk) Committee Member Jamie Stroud (jamie.a.stroud@gmail.com) Committee Member Ann Illsley (pencefn@rhiwlas.org.uk) Committee Member Berta Rosen (bertarosen@waitrose.com) Committee Member Natalie Chivers (natalie_chivers@hotmail.com) STAG Representative Matt Kent (bsuc3f@bangor.ac.uk) STAG Representative

NEWSLETTER TEAM Pete Wieland (formatting, photos) petewieland@gmail.com Grace Gibson (adverts, articles) grace.gibson@btinternet.com Angela Thompson (commissioning articles, act.celyn@gmail.com planning, editing)

Cover Photos Front: Sarracenia purpurea flower (Mark Long) Back: The Chainsaw Gang, left to right Jamie Stroud, Gerry Downing,

Rosie Barratt, Adam Cross ( Phil Dunford of Phil Dunford Chainsaw Training)

Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are copyright of the article author

mailto:judithhughespyb@btinternet.commailto:judithhughespyb@btinternet.commailto:shaw@sarvari-trust.orgmailto:sarahedgar70@hotmail.commailto:n.brown@bangor.ac.ukmailto:bss009@bangor.ac.ukmailto:act.celyn@gmail.commailto:johnandchris.gorham@btinternet.commailto:deborahwieland@gmail.commailto:thomasjames83@hotmail.commailto:david.evans1939@zen.co.ukmailto:jamie.a.stroud@gmail.commailto:pencefn@rhiwlas.org.ukmailto:bertarosen@waitrose.commailto:natalie_chivers@hotmail.commailto:bsuc3f@bangor.ac.ukmailto:petewieland@gmail.commailto:grace.gibson@btinternet.commailto:act.celyn@gmail.com

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Issue No. 46 Jan 2013

CONTENTS

AGM Report 3

News in Brief 4

Curator’s Report 6

Weather and Wildlife 8

Carnivores in Cumbria – The Removal and Rescue of Sarracenia purpurea 12

The Lady’s Slipper Orchid 17

Membership Renewals 19

The Slovenian Karst 20

Eithinog - the North Wales Wildlife Trust’s Newest Reserve 22

Visit to Bangor by Dr Natasha de Vere 26

The Collections Committee – what is it? 28

Treborth Botanic Garden’s Wales Coast Path 30 Student Plant Conservation Project 32

RBG Kew Student Visit to North Wales 34

In Memoriam – Tony (AJE) Smith 35

Chainsaws are Us! 36

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AGM Report October 2012 by the Chairman

We continue to have Nigel’s vast biological knowledge which he applies for the

benefit of the Friends, the students and many other organisations. He has led three

walks for the Friends this year: the first, which was blessed with sunshine, to

Newborough in November, the second to the Foryd in February, which was not, and

the third to the Great Orme in May, once again in good weather.

Four of us attended a PlantNet conference at Ness Gardens in February, at

which we learned of the opportunities and challenges facing the eleven or so

university-owned gardens. Natalie, one of our student representatives, was asked

how much she was paid for her post!

A very successful social evening was held at the Tafarn y Bont in March,

and we also held a coffee morning and silent auction to raise funds for Wild Science

day. This was again a very successful public event, also in March.

We interviewed four people for the post of horticulturist. There were

about 30 applicants, which was a lot of work for Sarah, but in the end we chose

Rosie Barratt, who has now been with us for six months. Those six months were

paid for by the Friends, a significant amount of money, but worth every penny as

Rosie is a great asset. She is being employed by the university for another six

months, and we hope for much longer as we feel she is essential for the future of

Treborth.

We started our lunchtime lectures last autumn. They are designed to be a

‘thank you’ for volunteers, students and graduates. They are free and they also

bring other Schools in the university to Treborth. I’m slowly working my way round

the university to find speakers and we do have many in-house lectures. So far they

have been very popular.

We are branching out into marquee hire for members, as you will know if

you’ve read your newsletter.

We organised a Latin Taxonomy workshop and had 30+ students – we hope

to repeat this in the future. Various members and volunteers have overseen

projects paid for by outside funding, most notably our lovely wooden signs.

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Our plant collections group, now well-established, really has made a

difference to how we think about, plan and plant the Garden. We had two very

successful plant sales in the spring: April’s raised just under £2000, and May’s just

over. The October one raised about £1300. These have become mini-Open Days

over the years and always have a good atmosphere.

Our graduates are an ever-increasing group in number and importance to

us. They really do go the extra mile to support the Friends and the students, and we

in turn support them as much as we can. Likewise, our students: they work very

hard for Treborth and become involved in our lives and we in theirs. Their work

parties form an integral part of Treborth’s life every year.

Again, we counted up the volunteer hours over the last year. This time we

really made an effort to record every hour worked for Treborth. With time worked

at home taken into account, it came to a staggering 10,000 hours, as again you will

know if you read your newsletter. I would appeal to you to keep a note of any

hours you work for Treborth at home, and remember to sign the register (in and out

please) when you are there. Let me know your home hours after Christmas.

The newsletter goes from strength to strength and is the result of a lot of

work by a small team of people.

Treborth wouldn’t function without its tea and biscuits at all events and

special thanks must go to our tea team for keeping us refreshed.

It is six years now since we were under threat, and Sarah and I pledged to

stay until we had a secure future for Treborth. We’re on the way but not there yet,

so I hope you’ll be able to put up with us a while longer. Here I must say a big

‘thank you’ to Sarah for being the best secretary and financial planner ever.

Judith Hughes

And…

News in Brief

Treborth was featured on Radio Cymru in November when Jamie Owen from

BBC Wales came to Treborth to interview people in September about the section of

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Gwynedd’s Coast Path that runs through the Garden. Nigel Brown spoke

about the cascade that falls to the Strait near the path (one of the Paxton features

in the Garden), and Gerry Downing about the dogged clearance of invasive alien

plants especially laurel either side of the path. Tom Cockbill explained about the

development of the Forest School – an outdoor environmental classroom – for

children that utilises the surrounding woodland as an educational resource. At the

time, an excited group of children were searching for minibeasts. Presently two

schools in the area are involved in this scheme and Tom hopes to spread the word

further.

Donations: Many thanks to Margaret Thompson and Joan Bennington for

their donations to the Garden’s funds. We are also very grateful for all the cakes

that were provided for the autumn fair and plant sale. We were able to sell slices of

cake with the refreshments, as well as selling whole cakes on the produce stall; this

has proved to be a popular addition to our plants sale events, and a very useful

boost to our funds.

The Students for Treborth Action Group participated in a community tree-

planting day for the Maes y Pant Action Group in Gresford, Wrexham on

Wednesday 21 November. The planting was televised on BBC1’s The ONE Show that

evening. STAG rep Natalie Chivers says, ‘Although we didn't manage to get our

faces on TV, it was a fun and rewarding day working with a local community’.

How miraculous that growing on my own little plot of land are plants that can turn the dead soil into a hundred flavours as different as horseradish and thyme, smells ranging from stinkhorn to lavender. John Seymour

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Curator’s Report: August – November 2012

During the last four months, Treborth has hosted 17 events for local organisations

ranging from regular users such as the Gwynedd Guild of Spinners and Weavers to

occasional users such as the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and visiting special interest

groups such Mold Garden Club. The Friends arranged another very successful Plant

Sale and organised an interesting programme of events including an evening walk

through the botanic garden woodland.

A three-day fungus identification course for Aberystwyth University’s

Department of Life-Long Learning run at Treborth by the curator proved very

successful as did events provided for Distance Learning Foresters as well as the

annual week-long field trip for final year horticulture students from Kew’s

prestigious Horticultural Diploma course (see Sheila Das’s article elsewhere in this

newsletter).

Philip Snow led an introductory wildlife art class in October and the Garden

hosted two fine art student work days. Practical classes for a wide range of

undergraduate and postgraduate courses were held during the first Semester

including an environmental audit undertaken by Environmental Management

students who study jointly with the School of Environment and Natural resources and

Geography and the School of Business Studies.

Visits to Treborth were made by Dr Natasha de Vere, Head of Conservation

Research at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, and Dr Diane Reynolds,

Environment and Sustainable Change Manager for the Welsh Government. These

visits provided opportunity to discuss some longer term plans for Treborth involving

the academic development of a new MSc in Plant Conservation, and the potential for

Treborth to become more involved with promoting the value of plants in the wider

Welsh countryside.

The Plant Collections Committee met 7 times to discuss botanical and

horticultural issues and continues to provide invaluable expert practical and strategic

support for Treborth.

Treborth links in with several other Schools within the University including

the provision of specialised plant display material for special events such as a major

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chemistry conference in August. Next summer we look forward to taking this

involvement further by providing the venue for the chemistry conference reception.

It has been a busy period in the Garden with plenty of essential maintenance

work carried out by the Friends and students for which I am extremely grateful; it is

no easy matter keeping on top of grass and leaves and basic border work when the

elements always conspire to save their worst effects for ‘volunteer days’. Despite the

difficulties caused by often inclement conditions, Treborth’s many ‘friends’ have

stuck to their tasks and more. The lower arboretum continues to delight as week by

week new vistas open up as unwanted undergrowth is cleared. The rock garden looks

more and more purposeful combining amenity planting with significant conservation

interest. As ever the South African bed provided grace and colour as the summer

slipped into autumn thanks to dogged attention to weeding and tidying. Strimming

was undertaken at appropriate intervals in the orchard much to the enhancement of

the grassland’s diversity and appearance. The old pond was officially declared

‘Crassula free’ after a two year battle to root out every little thread of the invasive

pond blight which is Crassula helmsii. These and many more horticultural victories

marked a successful gardening campaign this late summer/autumn – well done all

you ‘hands on’ Friends! And thank you!

My thanks too to all of you who have helped with the many events including

the ones mentioned above which all added to the variety and value of Treborth

throughout the period.

Finally, just to say that as well as pouring a week’s worth of energy and

enthusiasm into her three days at Treborth, Rosie Barratt now spends the other two

days replicating her energies for the Wildlife Garden Project run by Anna Williams at

the North Wales Wildlife Trust where she has recently become the Volunteer Co-

ordinator.

Nigel Brown

The true gardener, like an artist, is never satisfied. H. E. Bates

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Weather and Wildlife August – November 2012

Month Rainfall Temperature °C Number Of Days

mm inches Max. Min. Rainfall ≥ 10°C ≥ 15°C ≥ 20°C ≥ 25°C

August 10.3 4.07 23.0 9.5 27 31 31 7 0

September 163.9 6.45 18.5 3.0 23 28 12 0 0

October 150.4 5.92 12.25 1.5 25 17 0 0 0

November 183.0 7.20 11.75 -1.25 26 7 0 0 0

A total of 600mm (23.65 inches) of rain fell in this period, which was also notable for

relatively low daily temperature maxima and dull conditions with rain falling on 101

days (out of 122, ie 83%). Temperatures only exceeded 20 degrees in the period 9 –

15 August inclusive, bringing the total number of days above 20 degrees in 2012 to

just 13 – pitifully few! The only other week to contain days >20 degrees was the last

week of May. Rainfall has been the most significant feature of the second half of the

year, and it is the first time in 25 years where every month between June and

November has recorded over 100mm (4 inches) of rain. It is no wonder then that by

mid autumn the ground was saturated and flooding was so widespread. 22 – 26

November inclusive saw 107.5mm (4.23 inches) fall at Treborth, a record high for a

five-day period, and included 3 days with over an inch of rain. Gale force winds

accompanied rain on 22 Nov and caused damage to the glasshouses and trees.

Not surprisingly, insect activity has been poor. Moth numbers for 2012

were depressed until the relatively warm period in August when they suddenly

jumped to over 200/night with a maximum of 425 moths of 54 species on the night

of 11/12 August. They fell back again as the weather deteriorated in the early

autumn. There were no migrant moths of note. Butterflies struggled with relatively

few nymphalids. Dragonfly numbers were also lower than average.

Resident bird numbers seem about normal; several pairs of Jay (Garrulus

glandarius) bred and have been prominent. Buzzard (Buteo buteo) bred on adjacent

land and hunted regularly over the Garden. Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) bred in

the Strait on Ynys Welltog though several nests were washed out by heavy rain, and

their chicks were disturbed unnecessarily by parties of youngsters landing there from

their kayaks during adventure trips from the Conwy Centre at Plas Newydd.

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Redwing (Turdus iliacus) arrived on 13 October but dispersed quite rapidly.

A month later there was an influx of Blackbirds (Turdus merula) which have

remained. Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) have flown over the Garden on a number of

occasions during October and November. Siskins (Carduelis spinus) have been

fewer than normal and Redpolls (C. flammea) decidedly so. There have been a few

sightings of Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) overhead. One pair of Sparrowhawks

(Accipiter nissus) bred successfully in the woodland. Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)

have been present in small numbers throughout the period. A single Brambling

(Fringilla montifringilla) on 10 November was notable but the undoubted avian

highlight was 6 Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) on 23 November, only the second

record for Treborth. These gorgeous passerines alighted briefly in a birch (Betula

grossa) opposite the curator’s house but the curator was not at home – instead the

joy of seeing these beauties was restricted to the curator’s son, Dan. There is no

fairness in this world when you learn that Dan had had 500 Waxwing in his street in

Glasgow just two days before, every TV aerial adorned with crested sentinels and

the air filled with their pretty trills.

This has been a good year for Waxwing countrywide as they irrupted on

the Scottish scene in October and pushed south. It is presumed that a dearth of

rowan berries (Sorbus spp.) in their breeding areas in the far north of Fenno-

Scandinavia and western Russia has forced them to seek food in the UK. From the

remotest regions of taiga forest where they raise their young in nests most

beautifully sculptured out of moss and lichen far away from human habitation,

these vinaceous birds descend to feast on ‘take-away’ food foraged for in gardens

and urban retail parks adorned with work-a-day amenity plantings of Cotoneaster,

Pyracantha and Sorbus. There, in full view of shoppers, they swing from fruit-laden

branches and trill in harmony. Though confiding, they never drop their guard and

will quit feeding in an instant and regroup on elevated perches overlooking the

town and city streets they have seasonally adopted. In close-up their plumage is

scintillating – soft shades of pinkish buff shot through with cinnamon envelope

every part of their plumage and this back wash is punctuated by a sharply defined

bib and equally well-etched face mask both the colour of dark clotted blood. Tail

tipped with a rich yellow band and wing feathers finely edged bright yellow and

white with decorative red waxy blobs complete the finery of a bird that radiates a

class of plumage which might seem uncalled for in a forest so far away but which

delights the urban eye.

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Of mammals I can report that Stoat (Mustela erminea) and Weasel (M.

nivalis )have been seen quite regularly and smaller mammals too, even a Shrew

(Sorex sp.) boldly toddling down the main drive one day; but sadly Hedgehogs

(Erinaceus europaeus) have virtually deserted the Garden with no sightings of live

animals during this period and only one scat. Sadly there have been no reports of

Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in the past four months but Grey Squirrels (S.

carolinensis) have been increasingly seen in the Garden and woodland.

We have been fortunate indeed to receive from Dr Tim Blackstock

(recently retired from post as senior scientist at the Countryside Council for Wales

and an authority on bryophytes) a list of mosses and liverworts which he has

recorded at Treborth during the last 12 months. The 100 listed species include an

interesting assemblage of epiphytic mosses on the boughs of the older apple trees

in the orchard. Among these are Cryphaea heteromalla and Colura calyptrifolia

both associated with moist, luxuriant sites in the south and west of the British

Isles. Such a list will be invaluable for reference and for highlighting the multiple

advantages of retaining older specimens in the Garden and woodland. Tim has

kindly provided students with two master classes in bryophyte identification using

the grounds and the lab area at Treborth.

Mycologically, it has been a somewhat puzzling season with surprisingly

few fungi in evidence until mid October when there was a belated flush of larger

agarics including the notorious Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea). Hundreds of

toadstools of Honey Fungus appeared in a rush throughout the woodland and

worryingly for such a fearsome pathogen, in the main Garden. The strangest

phenomenon occurred in the middle of the parkland area where a 70 metre long

line of Honey Fungi stretched between the sorbus and alder collection and the

Wild Service tree (Sorbus torminalis) and Griselinia littoralis – presumably

following an underground thread of mycelium. David Evans’ image of the colony

shows it well.

The dreaded ash die-back fungus, Chalara fraxinea, has not been

recorded here and there are grounds for optimism as we have never imported any

ash saplings – no need of course as ash (Fraxinus excelsior) happily regenerates

from seed throughout the Garden, as indeed it does throughout much of the UK.

This emergency highlights the need for more stringent phytosanitary procedures

for the horticultural and arboricultural industries and a change of mind set so that

there is less reliance on imports of native species. Genetically speaking, native ash

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in Wales is genetically rich and fit for purpose so why look further afield for planting

stock?

As autumn processes, verifying symptoms of ash die-back is not so easy as

leaves naturally senesce and discolour. And what a season it proved to be especially

for beech which quit the stage with fabulous flair. The annual tapestry of autumn

foliage is prompted by shortening photoperiod and its intensity determined by the

severity of cold conditions among other factors. As a deciduous tree prepares for

winter, specialised cork cells develop at the base of each leaf and as a result water

and mineral uptake into the leaf declines. This coincides with a shift in the balance of

renewal and degradation of the green pigment chlorophyll, the primary pigment of

all leaves, responsible for capturing photosynthetically active radiation from the sun.

Chlorophyll degrades into colourless tetrapyrrole compounds known as NCCs and in

so doing reveals the presence of previously hidden pigments including yellow

xanthophylls and orange beta-carotenes, both of which are present throughout the

life of the leaf but for the most part are masked by the dominant effect of chlorophyll

during the growing season. It is this class of pigments, collectively termed

carotenoids, which lend the mellow orange and yellow and golden tints to many

canopies in autumn.

Additionally, another group of pigments reveals itself in autumn, the red and

purple anthocyanins which unlike the carotenoids and chlorophylls are only present

in small amounts for much of the growing season. During late summer and autumn,

however, production of anthocyanins increases in direct response to the breakdown

of sugars in bright light and the movement of phosphate away from leaves into the

stems. Bright light at this stage in, say, September, leads to greater anthocyanin

production and stronger purplish and red leaf colour. The effect is enhanced by low

temperatures. It is thought that anthocyanins protect leaves from the harmful effect

of light at low temperatures when photo-oxidation and photo-inhibition can damage

the organelles of the leaf cells and compromise the plant’s ability to re-absorb

nutrients such as nitrogen.

The influence of global climate change and carbon dioxide levels on the

autumnal pigment levels has been researched in North America and there are

indications that many trees might potentially stay green longer.

For beech, at least, conditions this autumn spawned rich leaf colouration but

the precise factors driving the display are still not fully understood – detailed

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Carnivores in Cumbria – The Removal and Rescue of Sarracenia

purpurea (Pictures page 13)

I’ve been a bit of a carnivorous plant enthusiast for a few years, with much of that

time spent at Treborth with their collection. While many are not the prettiest of

plants, I’ve been fascinated by the range of adaptations that have evolved, as well

as the complex relationships that have arisen between these plants and the animals

that visit them, in some cases as a potential meal and in other cases (such as

Microhyla nepenthicola, Asia’s smallest known frog) as their home.

But one species, far away from its native North America, is becoming a very

unwelcome guest in Cumbria. At the start of September, Tom Cockbill and I met up

with Richard Tanner, a Ranger for the National Trust in the Lake District near

Coniston, to visit a site that had become overrun with insectivorous pitcher plants.

“Nor Moss forms part of the Claife Tarns and Mires SSSI,

designated because of their basin mire habitat which is rare nationally and scarce in

Cumbria”, explains Richard. “The mires are particularly important for their rich

wetland flora and large assemblage of invertebrates, particularly dragonflies.”

Unfortunately the presence of the pitcher plants has had a damaging

impact on invertebrate numbers, with hundreds of insects being consumed in the

fluid-filled traps of a single adult plant. “Nor Moss is currently recorded as in an

'unfavourable declining' by condition by Natural England because of the presence of

conifer regeneration on the site and the large population of pitcher plants.”

Richard took us to the site to show us where the plants had been removed

by pulling the rhizomes out of the sphagnum. But this hasn’t been an easy job as

observations of selected specimens on a daily basis over a period of years would be

a valuable study.

Nigel Brown

STOP PRESS—Red squirrel sighted in woodland on 20th December 2012

13

Above: Sarracenia purpurea in habitat and harvesting. (p12) Left: Sarracenia purpurea in situ. (p12) Bottom: Cypripedium calceolus (p17)

14

Above: Karst features in woodland.

Left: Meadow on the limestone near Tomaj.

Bottom left: Flora of wet grassland on the polje.

Bottom right: Bladder gentian in sub alpine pasture.

(All from article p20)

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much of Nor Moss is only accessible by boat. The pitcher plants take several years

to reach maturity and to start producing seed, so now that the larger plants have

been removed Richard is planning to clear Nor Moss of juvenile plants annually until

the site is cleared.

But how did they get there? The plant in question is Sarracenia purpurea,

one of the North American pitcher plants. It’s believed that in the 1960s seed was

scattered across the sphagnum moss at Nor Moss, as well as a few other sites in

Cumbria, Scotland and Ireland. At that time Sarracenia had only recently entered

cultivation in the UK, so it’s likely that the seed was spread by an enthusiast trying

to create a slice of North America on home soil. While the other species of

Sarracenia are limited to America’s south-eastern coastal plain, S. purpurea has a

range extending as far north as the Hudson Bay and spreading right across Canada.

So while very picky about where they inhabit, the exposed, acidic bog

conditions of Nor Moss have proved to be ideal for S. purpurea and generations

have spread across the sphagnum marsh, dining on its inhabitants and competing

against the native sundews (Drosera anglica, intermedia and rotundifolia). As

Richard says, “Pitcher plants are bad for native flora and fauna because they

displace one and eat the other!”

“The removal of the pitcher plant will reduce the number of invertebrates

falling into their traps. Twelve species of dragonfly have been recorded on the site.

White Faced Darter dragonflies have been recorded on the Moss in the past - it

would be great to see them back again. Removal of dragonfly-eating plants is a big

step in the right direction!”

I was also very interested in the fate of the plants themselves. Pitcher

plants removed from wet, acidic conditions will not survive for long; in fact that’s

exactly how Richard and his team disposed of the first lot of pitcher plants removed.

When we met up with Richard there were two large grab bags packed with

uprooted plants from the most recent clearance. We were able to pick out even

more plants at the site and to save them being turned into compost we brought

them back to Treborth. Several days later and with the hard work of volunteers,

hundreds of plants removed from Nor Moss were potted on and sitting in rain water

behind the Bubble House at Treborth. Many are only a few years old and not yet of

flowering size, while some are giants and may well have produced generations of

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new pitcher plants during their time in Cumbria.

Work continues at Nor Moss, as the regeneration of spruce is also

impacting on the site. “The National Trust cleared a large stand of spruce within the

SSSI and work is on-going to pull regenerating spruce from the site. The spruce

threaten the site by shading areas, but more importantly drying the site out by

absorbing water through their roots. Natural England are supportive of our work, so

hopefully the SSSI condition should move to 'unfavourable recovering’ after the next

monitoring visit.”

As for the pitcher plants, many will find a new home at Treborth and others

will be available at plant sales in the spring. The combination of elegant flowers and

unusual traps makes S. purpurea an endearing species, especially now that the Nor

Moss Sarracenia are back where they belong - in cultivation.

If you would like to find out more about the carnivorous plant collection at

Treborth please contact Mark at markbryan.long@gmail.com.

Mark Long

ABERCONWY NURSERY The Welsh Alpine

Plant Specialists

Interesting home grown alpine plants, including dionysia, androsace, saxifrage, gentians and dwarf ericaceous

subjects as well as other choice plants all grown on our attractive hillside nursery in the Conwy Valley,

overlooking the Carneddau

On a minor road just off the A470, about 2 miles north of Bodnant Gardens we’re open in the Spring, Summer and

early Autumn but never on a Monday.

Graig, Glan Conwy, LL28 5TL. Tel. (01492) 580875

mailto:markbryan.long@gmail.com

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The Lady’s Slipper Orchid (Picture page 13)

The Lady’s slipper orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, has a widespread Eurasian

distribution in northern, and other cool zones further south in mountainous

regions, such as the Pyrenees. It is typically found in open woodland associated

with calcareous rocks. It does not seem, however, to require an alkaline soil when

in cultivation. It has declined over much of its range due to over-collecting, grazing,

and loss of habitat.

In Britain it is the rarest, and largest flowered of the British orchid flora. A

few decades ago, there remained just one plant in Yorkshire. A committee got

together to save this last plant and protect it. Seed was eventually set and sent to

Kew to be germinated - a process that requires laboratory conditions to maximise

outcome. The seeds are very small, and like most orchids, do not have their own

food source, and are basically just DNA packaged in a mesh of cellulose. In nature,

the seeds are germinated by the invasion of a suitable soil fungus, which provides

the sugars and other nutrients required for germination. In the lab, this can be

provided by a specific formulation in sterile agar.

As the amount of seed and the success of growing the seedlings increased,

the project (funded by Sainsburys) entered the most exciting stage of in-situ

reintroductions, and farming out of young plants to specialist growers for ex-situ

conservation by the end of the millennium.

As part of this programme, I received a three-year-old seedling in 2005 via

Trevor Dines (Plantlife Cymru Conservation Manager). I have grown it in an open

mesh cold frame on the north east side of the house, where it gets very cool

treatment for most of the year. In the middle of the summer, on those rare sunny

mornings, I move it so it gets no heat from the morning sun. To photograph the

flower, I took advantage of some sunshine in my greenhouse to bring out the

colours, but I never would leave the plant in there for any length of time. It really is

a cool customer!

I have been delighted with the relative ease it has grown for me. In seven

years it has only been potted-on once. It is in a clay pot, which stands on a support

18

keeping it clear above a large saucer of water, which acts as a moat to prevent

molluscs getting access. It works very well, and negates the need for poisonous

pellets (I love my hedgehogs and toads!!). I have generally fed it with an orchid

fertiliser over the years, but this year have found great success with the occasional

Tomorite feed used at ¼ strength. Leaves are generally healthy, and attractive.

There were a total of five vegetative shoots this year! It has always been watered

with clean rainwater from the glasshouse roof that has passed through a moss,

charcoal and bark filter before entering the storage tank.

In 2011, my plant produced its first bud, but it aborted very early in

development. However, this year (2012), it produced a fine first flower, and one

shoot with an aborted bud. I have every hope it will produce the same or more next

year. I understand that 10 years from seed to flowering is spot-on the norm for this

species.

One very pleasing coincidence led to my one single flower being used to

film pollination by its small solitary bee pollinator! I happened to email Trevor with

a photo of the flower to say “success at last”, only to have a phone call from him

immediately saying he was in need of getting the pollination filmed for a

documentary he was presenting for Channel 4! Filming at the Yorkshire, and other

sites, had been hampered by bad weather, and the only other option would be to

transport a flowering plant to south Wales where it would be expertly set up to film

pollination under lab conditions. It seemed he could not locate a true British

genotype in flower at that time, other than mine! I was delighted to be of

assistance, and the deed was done. We are expecting the series to be shown on

Channel 4 some time early next year, so keep an eye out for “Wild Things”.

And…

Networking with the National Botanic Garden of Wales

Recently, I have been in contact with the chairman of the Orchid Study Group in the

National Botanic Garden of Wales, Dr Kevin Davies. I am delighted to make this

connection, and we have already agreed an exchange of material. We are giving a

propagation of our Polystachya pubescens in exchange for a propagation of their

Bulbophyllum eberhadtii. We hope to complete this exchange in December.

Polystachya pubescens is a South African species, with delightfully fragrant

19

yellow flowers. It is one of relatively few species of orchid with unresupinate

flowers, i.e. where the lip is presented uppermost. See pictures:

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/polystachpub.htm

Bulbophyllum eberhadtii is found from Assam to Burma and Thailand to

Vietnam in primary montane forests at altitudes of 900 to 1550 metres. I suggest

we grow it in a shady part of our Intermediate section. Here is a good selection of

images of it:

http://www.orchid-nord.com/b_page/bulbo_eberhardtii/bulbo_eberh.htm

Simon Retallick

Membership Renewals

Some of you who pay your subs annually may not yet have renewed your membership for this subscription year (October 2012-October 2013). If this has jolted your memory please could you renew now. Our subscriptions are very good value compared with other Botanic Gardens, and we really do need your contributions towards the maintenance and development of Treborth.

If you pay annually by cheque or cash, please could you consider changing this to a Standing Order to your bank – a section on the membership form needs to be completed for this. It cuts down administrative work and you don’t have to do anything once it has been set up. Subs are now paid into our Co-operative Bank account, and those of you who still pay into our old Barclays account are once again asked to change to the Co-op account.

There is also a Gift Aid Declaration section on the membership form to fill in which will give us extra money.

A membership form was enclosed in the previous newsletter for your use, or please go to our website (www.treborthbotanicgarden.org) where you will find a form to print out.

If we do not hear from you, regretfully this will be the last newsletter we send you. We would love to be able to send newsletters to everyone who shows an interest in Treborth but, as I’m sure you will appreciate, we need to keep our administrative costs to a minimum.

Angela Thompson

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/polystachpub.htmhttp://www.orchid-nord.com/b_page/bulbo_eberhardtii/bulbo_eberh.htmhttp://www.treborthbotanicgarden.org/

20

The Slovenian Karst (Pictures page 14)

If you think of Slovenia, do you think of Triglav? If you do, this is because it is twinned with the Snowdonia National Park! Triglav lies in the NW of Slovenia, in the Julian Alps. You get a wonderful feel for this mountainous region as you pass through it on the train, as it runs along the floor of the Soca Valley. But we were off to somewhere different!

We had travelled by train from Bangor via London, Paris and Munich and had woken in time to gaze in awe at the Alps and the milky blue tumbling waters of the river. Our guide met us off the train in Ljubliana and took us into the karst country to begin our holiday. The term karst originated in Slovenia where the first serious scientific research was done on the range of ‘phenomena’ that arise from the solution of limestone by water. One can explore above and below ground and still see the physical processes in action.

Slovenia is a small country with a well - educated and motivated population. It ‘emerged’ from the Balkans and has become an economic and political success story, post Communist Europe. It gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1992 and joined the European Union in 2004. After WWII, it lost most of its coastline to Italy and Croatia. It has fertile plains, rich forests, alpine peaks and wonderful karst landscapes which lie in the SW of the country.

We were soon out of the capital city and into farmland and meadows. Our first couple of days introduced us to the delights of agro-tourism, where one stays on a working farm and enjoys the food grown there; we were lucky that it was peak cherry season so everything came laced with luscious fruit! We explored the winding lanes, tiny fields, productive forests, villages, vineyards and cellars and were stunned by the abundance and beauty of the wild flowers. The pastures were full of colour - scabious, campanulas and thistles. The roadsides often ‘sported’ stands of lizard orchids!

Woodlands on the limestone can be explored, provided one is careful underfoot, for there are many ‘solution’ features. The ground flora is so diverse with herb Paris, May lily (Maianthemum bifolium) and Solomon’s seal in abundance.

Sub-alpine pastures not only provide breath-taking views but clean air where the colours of wild flowers and insects just make one speechless. We saw false helleborine (Veratrum album), bladder gentians (Gentiana utriculosa) and rues, Thalictrum species.

21

Poljes are the most amazing of karst features – seasonal lakes which fill and

dry up unpredictably. One of the largest is ‘Lake’ Cerknica; the villages perch on mounds in an otherwise flat landscape; they are regularly cut off from each other and boat ownership is a pre-requisite of house ownership. The land use has been dictated by the ‘flooding’ and despite grandiose schemes dreamt up to drain the polje, traditional grass harvesting and grazing continues: land is allocated in strips so that nobody has a long term vested interest in any parcel of land. The river winds through meadows of breath-taking beauty, just carpets of wild gladioli and the odd patch of Jersey orchids (Orchis laxiflora)! At the Museum of Lake Cerknica, an enterprising farmer has constructed a model of the whole polje and its water-system; he can fill it and drain it and bring the whole landscape to life!

Then there are the karst features above ground level – bridges, gorges, pavements, walls, tracks, buildings – so many of them with national and international designations like the Karst Biosphere Reserve which contains Ramsar wetland sites! Another world opens up when you venture under-ground! You can access some of the caves easily on foot or by train, a tame experience compared to donning boiler suits, hard hats and head torches and trekking along ledges above rushing rivers and clambering down rock falls - it was worth it to see the strange colourless amphibian Proteus anguinus in its habitat.

When in Ljubliana, take in the Botanic Garden, which was opened in 1810 as ‘the native flora’ garden; it has displays of many of the country’s plant assemblages and endemics. This is the official travel guide of the Slovenian Tourist Board http://www.slovenia.info Our bespoke tour was arranged by http://adriatic2alps.com/about/

Joanna Robertson

Friendship is a sheltering tree.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

http://www.slovenia.infohttp://adriatic2alps.com/about/

22

Eithinog - the North Wales Wildlife Trust’s Newest Reserve (Pictures pages 23 & 24)

Eithinog, previously known as ‘Brewery Fields’, is located above the Menai Strait,

on a ridge of higher ground running SW from Ysgol Friars towards Penrhos

Garnedd. It is bordered by oak woodland to the north and to the south by some

wet woodland, but mainly housing along Penrhos Road. For such inconspicuous

fields, the area has a long and varied history having been farmed for centuries by

many different people. In the 1800s, the High Sheriff of Cheshire owned the land,

renting it to local farmers. With the boundaries being sub-divided into smaller

farms, the current fields became known as Tros y Canol farm, which in part

comprises the Trust’s new reserve. The Brewery was established in 1812 and it

finally closed in 1905. Most buildings were demolished in 1982 but its chimney still

stands, clearly visible from the CCW headquarters at Maes-y-Ffynnon.

The fields remained much the same, until the Second World War when the

Dig for Victory campaign requisitioned less productive pasture land which was

ploughed and seeded for crops. Eithinog did not escape these changes entirely

during the war and immediate post-war years, but perhaps due to the difficulty of

the terrain or the wet nature of some of the fields, it returned to pasture and came

into the possession of the Arfon Borough Council.

The fields were incorporated into the Bangor development plan in 1954 to

absorb the ever-expanding population and the needs of Bangor University. The

plan was renewed every 10 years or so, and in the meantime the land was rented

out to graziers whose animals grazed the fields and kept the scrub from

encroaching. During this period the local population used paths across the site as

short cuts, and also as an area to reconnect with nature as Bangor became more

urbanised and lost its green spaces. Finally, in 1994, the development plan began

to be implemented and just as quickly the residents swung into action to defend

their public open space. The protests and campaigning spanned 15 years of intense

activity. An attempt through the courts to designate the area as a Town Green was

unsuccessful. This was followed by direct action against the Arfon Borough Council

planning offices, establishment of camps with barricades, lock-ons and tunnels (see

photos 1, 2). Many local residents have vivid memories of these events.

Though they lost some of the area to new housing and schools, the hard

work and dedication of the people of Bangor persuaded the council to commission

23

Top: Pink waxcap, M. Ap Rheinallt (photo 3)

Above: Protest camp 1998, M.Ap Rheinallt (photo 1)

Right: Common Spotted Orchid, RW Roberts (photo 5)

(All article p22)

24

Top: Greater broomrape, M Ap Rheinallt (photo 4)

Centre: Protest camp eviction 1998, M. Ap Rheinallt (photo 2)

(both: article p22) Bottom: Calocera viscosa fungus (p36)

25

an ecological survey in 2004/5. This found a number of notable plant and insect

species with a high number of waxcap fungi, indicating a rare area of unimproved/

semi-unimproved grassland. Luckily this habitat was by then a Gwynedd Council bio

-diversity target for conservation, but even so, its retention was rejected by the

planning department.

Undaunted, local people carried on the search for something that would be

significant enough to protect the land, expanding their search beyond the original

survey. Eventually, small fungi were found hidden amongst the grass and these,

when sent away for identification, turned out to be rare grassland species. When

added to the wax cap species list, these brought the fields over the threshold for a

SSSI designation that would save the site from development.

The fields were finally designated in 2008 as 13 hectares of dry neutral

grassland, supporting a rare assemblage of wax caps (see photo 3), pinkgill, earth

tongue and fairy club fungi with Ramariopsis crocea at its only known site in Wales.

The presence of these fungi was and is a very well hidden gem of the reserve,

particularly as the fungi like the short sward associated with well-grazed grassland.

Eithinog has suffered from serious under-grazing in recent years, due to lack of

appropriate management under Gwynedd Council. In its current state the fields

would soon scrub over and eventually revert to woodland, destroying not only the

fungi but also changing the flora and animal species present. Following the eventual

sale (for £1) of the site to NWWT, the Trust’s first responsibility is to prevent

further encroachment of scrub and then develop a management plan in conjunction

with the Countryside Council for Wales to reverse the effects of recent under-

grazing.

In addition to the fungi, the site has the greater broomrape (Orobanche

genistae rapum) (see photo 4) which parasitizes the roots of gorse bushes. Orchids

(see photo 5) can still be found along some of the field margins as can a wild rose

found only in Gwynedd. Although the notified conservation significance of the site

focuses on fungi, the fields and hedges support a wealth of flora and fauna which

local residents and visitors can enjoy to the full.

Since April 2012, I have been the People and Wildlife Officer for Eithinog

and have been working on the management and future of Eithinog. So far my focus

has been on planning for the future management by assessing access, boundary and

26

usage issues, and selection of livestock for grazing. I have also started on practical

tasks with volunteers, which is the only way the Trust can manage all its sites in

north Wales. We are also trying to encourage the use of the fields by neighbouring

schools, for fieldwork projects and general enjoyment as an open space. The future

for Eithinog is safe from development but the fields could yet be lost unless we can

put suitable management in place - this is not the beginning of the end, but the end

of the beginning!

A large amount of work needs to be done at Eithinog and a large sum of

money is needed to complete the work. This is why the Wildlife Trust has an

Eithinog appeal running - all contributions are welcome, but money is not the only

answer. Volunteers are the backbone of the Trust’s work, from an hour or two here

and there, to weekly commitments in all weathers. If you would like to help or

would like more information, please email me at

rheonroberts@wildlifetrustswales.org or call 01248 351541 for the main office.

Rheon Roberts, North Wales Wildlife Trust

Visit to Bangor by Dr Natasha de Vere

The Lacey Lecture is organised every year by the North Wales Wildlife Trust in

memory of Prof William Lacey, who was one of the founder members, and the first

General Secretary, of the (as it was known then) North Wales Naturalists Trust. The

2012 Lecture was given on 23 November by Dr Natasha De Vere, Head of

Conservation and Research at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW).

Dr De Vere gave us a fascinating insight into some of the work that the

Botanic Garden is doing to conserve the biodiversity of Wales. As well as the

magnificent glasshouse and display gardens, there are 150ha of wildlife habitats,

such as traditionally managed hay meadows, which are also designated as a

National Nature Reserve; here the NBGW does practical field work and monitoring.

There are also a number of scientific projects being undertaken in the

mailto:rheonroberts@wildlifetrustswales.org

27

Garden’s research department. The emphasis for these is on native Welsh plants,

and there is work being done on several rare species, such as Sorbus spp., and also

Cotoneaster cambricus – both of which we have at Treborth. One of the problems

with conserving Cotoneaster cambricus is that it hybridises readily with alien

cotoneasters which are popular garden varieties. Campanula patula, the spreading

bellflower, is in its most westerly range in the southern part of the Welsh Marches,

and this is being studied to see why it tends to appear for a few years in a site, and

then disappear, and then comes up somewhere else. Other plants at the edge of

their range are two alpine saxifrages in Snowdonia – Saxifraga caespitosa and

Saxifraga rosacea subsp rosacea; analysis of these will have implications for climate

change research.

She then talked about NBGW’s DNA barcoding project. They are taking a

very small amount of material and analyzing the DNA and these are then checked

against herbarium samples. Nearly 100% of the native plants of Wales have now

been barcoded and this has all been put together in a publically accessible database

– the Barcode of Life Database. There are many ways that this data can be used.

For example, they are developing a project to understand the pollination role of

hoverflies using DNA barcoding to identify the pollen grains carried on their bodies.

Another project is studying the antibacterial qualities of honey; the research

workers can examine the honey to identify the DNA of the plants that the bees have

visited. Already they have found that a certain British wildflower honey has some of

the elements of the New Zealand manuka honey, which is known to have valuable

medicinal properties. This work, which has been trialled so successfully in Wales,

will now be extended to the rest of the UK.

It was an excellent talk and a very interesting introduction to the scientific

work being carried out in our National Botanic Garden.

While she was in Bangor, Dr De Vere visited the University’s herbarium to

take some samples of plant material from Saxifraga spp. for DNA analysis, and also

came to Treborth to meet students and volunteers. Nigel told her about the plans

for a possible new MSc in plant conservation, and she was enthusiastic about being

involved in this.

Sarah Edgar

28

The Collections Committee – what is it?

The FTBG Executive Committee operates with a wide remit, from fund raising, to

event organising, dog control, producing the newsletter, and generally making sure

that the Garden infrastructure is well maintained. The members felt however that

there was one aspect of the work, the plant collections, that would be better dealt

with by a smaller group and, in September 2009, a second committee was formed

for that purpose. It is called the Collections Committee, and has the role of

developing and conserving Treborth’s cultivated plant collections and its wild plants.

It has eight permanent members at present including the Curator, and meets

monthly.

At present 14 ‘Special Collections’ have been defined (see Newsletter 39),

each with a theme such as, for example, Carnivorous Plants, Native Rarities, Cacti

and Succulents, or plants from the Kingdom of Lesotho, and it is likely that others

will emerge as we go along. As well as these ‘Specials’, there are large parts of the

Garden with a more eclectic assemblages, and these too come under the purview of

this committee. They include outside beds such as the Long Border East or the Rock

Garden, and glasshouses such as the Temperate House and the Tropical House.

Discussions touch on many aspects, but they regularly include

consideration of whether plant and seed donations have a place in the Garden, or

whether they might be sold-on in plant sales. The criteria here are whether the

plant has anything to add to the completeness of one of the collections, whether it

is free of disease and, importantly, whether it comes with good information as to

provenance. To help them decide, the Committee asks donors to fill in forms with

such details, which are then retained as a permanent record.

Other items that come up for discussion include pest control (biological

preferred but not always possible), and record keeping. This last is based on an

Excel spreadsheet, and includes a range of information including codes for the

various sections of the garden (SAB for South African Bed, TE for Temperate House

etc), and records of label making. Each species record is given a unique Accession

Number and a Code specifying a location. Species are never deleted, but may be

turned into grey text as a sign that are no longer in the collection – perhaps because

they have died or been moved to another part of the Garden. The number of

29

locations has been rising steadily as a result of existing locations being subdivided,

most notably perhaps in the case of the woodland where until three years ago all

records were recorded under W. Now, thanks to great efforts by Pat Denne, there

are eight subdivisions within the woodland, based on geological differences, or on

management history, with several of them adopted from areas that were originally

part of the ‘Pleasure Gardens’ design envisaged by Joseph Paxton.

In the last few months, a similar approach has been applied to the

arboretum, with both tree and ground flora records being sectionalised (actually the

ground flora had not been recorded as a separate entity at all until this happened).

Likewise the Meadow Patches, each of which now has its own separate record.

In recent months, in recognition of the fact that our Botanic Garden is now

over 50 years old and showing its age in some respects, the committee has begun a

review of all the outside beds, and of two of the glasshouses (Cool House and

Tropical House). Some plantings have out-grown the space available, while others

are growing poorly, perhaps because of competition, disease, or unsuitable soil

conditions. The aim here is to identify the problem plants and then consider a

course of action – either complete removal or cutting-back. By so doing we hope to

improve the overall structure of the Garden and at the same time create spaces, so

that when new plants are acquired, we have somewhere to put them.

As part of this programme, and to make sure that intentions are put into

practice, a spreadsheet has been developed by Erle Randall, in which each project is

rated in various ways – for priority, for the manpower needs in doing the work, and

for probable start and finish times. As each project is completed, the intention is to

record the fact in the ‘Comments’ column of the main plant database. In parallel

with this, we are running a trial of a visual method of summarising objectives and

achievements arranged along a time axis – termed a Gantt chart. It has been

suggested that this should be on display in the lab, so that committee members, or

indeed any interested party, will be able to see at a glance how the work is

progressing and how much remains to be done.

David Evans

30

Treborth Botanic Garden’s Wales Coast Path

Now that the stretch of the Wales Coast Path that runs through TBG has been in use

for a year, it’s proving to be more popular than any of us expected. Gwynedd

Council have reported some impressive usage statistics which show that over

38,000 people have used it in the last 16 months.

To give a more complete picture here are some of the statistics reported for

the period Friday 1st July 2011 to Thursday 1st November 2012.

Total number of users for the period: 38,393

Daily Average: 79;

[Max. Average (Oct. 2011): 93; Min. Average (Jan. 2012): 43]

Busiest Day of the Week: Sunday

Busiest Days of the Period Analysed:

1. Thursday 1st September 2011- 354

2. Sunday 18th March 2012 – 175

3. Sunday 8th April 2012 – 166

As one might expect, weekends are busier than weekdays and most usage

is between 11.00 and 17.00 hours. These figures only refer to the use of the Coast

Path and do not include visitors who just visit the Garden or the Laboratory, as

these are not monitored. More detailed graphical representations of the data are

on display on the Friends’ notice board in the Lab.

This represents a step change in the use of TBG and has opened up the

woodland to a wide variety of people. As well as our regular dog walkers and

joggers, for the first time wheelchair users and groups of children in pushchairs

have been seen enjoying the woodland.

However, this is not the end of our efforts to improve public access to our

magnificent site. The next planned development is to link the Coast Path to the

path along the top side of the ‘ancient woodland’. This is the block at the Britannia

Bridge end of the woods; it is the oldest woodland on our site, and is part of the

Coedydd Afon Menai SSSI. The plan is to construct a path, using the same materials

as the Coast Path (Penmaenmawr granite), to run along the outside western edge

31

of the ancient woodland to link up with the unsurfaced path which runs along the

northern boundary of the woodland.

A further ambition is to provide a short path from the Coast Path to a

viewpoint which will give views of the waterfall, the Menai Bridge and up the Menai

Strait towards Beaumaris. Watch this space . . .

While these improvements have a very positive effect in meeting our

mission as Friends of TBG to increase the profile and enjoyment of the Garden by

the wider community, there has been concern that, along with the increased visitor

numbers, problems would arise with litter, dog mess and potential damage to the

woodland. Following the Friends’ initiative to educate dog-walkers and the

provision of two dog-mess bins, one potential problem has been avoided. There has

been an increase in litter around the new car park but thanks to the efforts of the

University and the regular litter-picking rounds by Pat Denne this is being

addressed.

The recent installation of an entrance barrier has not only provided much

needed overnight security but has also discouraged the use of the car park for

nefarious purposes, which did generate some unsavoury litter!

Let’s hope that this improvement continues, so that all who come to TBG

can enjoy the magnificence of the mature woodland trees and the Menai Strait in all

their splendour.

Gerry Downing

I am spending delightful afternoons in my garden, watching everything living around me. As I grow older, I feel everything departing, and I love everything with more passion. Emile Zola

32

Student Plant Conservation Project

The development of a student-led plant conservation project based at Treborth has

long been a goal of the Students for Treborth Action Group. There are few, if any,

such student- led initiatives currently in existence across the UK. A position on the

STAG committee, Conservation Officer, was created this year with the sole purpose

of developing the project.

One of the main aims of our project is to improve the student experience

at Bangor University. We want students to have more opportunities to get hands-

on conservation experience, hopefully improving their employability. They will also

gain an insight into how conservation works in the real world. There is only so much

you can learn from lectures!

Supporting education on the Great Orme is an important component of our

project. As the Great Orme is a popular Local Nature Reserve it has a large potential

for educating the public. By working closely with the Wardens of the Great Orme,

we will choose plants to introduce or re-introduce to the Great Orme Visitor Centre

Garden, which is an invaluable educational resource that is easily accessible

regardless of weather conditions, visitor fitness and time available. It has plants

representative of the Orme as a whole growing within its sheltered walls, and we

hope to increase the variety of plants there. The Garden is a favourite stop for

many of our University field trips for these reasons.

The project is a two-year initiative. This year we are running the pilot

project. We at STAG are dedicated to following proper scientific methods, and a

pilot project is an important aspect of this. The pilot project, using seeds we have

collected at the Visitor Centre Garden, allows us to familiarise ourselves with the

procedures and equipment without endangering wild specimens. Next year, with

permission from CCW, we will begin the main project of collecting plants from the

wild to grow at Treborth.

The project will tie in with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, a

part of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity. During the planning stage of

the project, other conservation bodies were contacted, such as CCW, the National

Botanic Garden of Wales and the Great Orme Wardens. This co-operation allowed

33

us to design a project that supported other conservation initiatives to protect

biodiversity, and avoid duplication.

The Great Orme was chosen as a focus for our project because of its

conservation importance. Pen y Gogarth, an area spanning a large proportion of the

Orme, has Special Area of Conservation designation due to its dry heathlands and

calcareous semi-natural dry grasslands. The vegetated sea cliffs are also of

conservation interest. The Great Orme is isolated from other similar habitats, and

so functions as a refuge for interesting and distinct varieties of plants and animals.

Native cotoneasters are found only on the Orme, and this is also the only known

location of the silver studded blue butterfly. The Great Orme is therefore important

for the conservation of subspecies or varieties to ensure genetic diversity.

A “Mini Orme” area will be created at Treborth Botanic Garden. This area

will either be an extension of the current rock garden or a free-draining limestone

area in the rhizotron area. The students will do the work of preparing this site

during the monthly work parties. The purpose of the Mini Orme will be to provide a

safe area we can use to plant out our successful species, thereby setting up ex situ

populations of Orme plants. This area will then also function as an educational tool,

bringing the interesting and special flora of the Great Orme to a more accessible

location. It is foreseen by Nigel Brown that such a tool will be invaluable for

teaching students. There will also be information about the Great Orme and the

project close by for anyone to read.

The Friends of Treborth were able to secure a grant from the Finns Scott

Foundation, which will cover the cost of buying equipment for the project for

propagation and seed storage. This equipment, along with any plant material

collected, will be kept at Treborth. Students, with the support of Nigel Brown and

the Friends, will be collecting, propagating and growing-on specimens. We will

target species such as hoary rockrose, spotted cat’s ear, goldilocks aster, wild

cabbage, whitlow grass and spiked speedwell. The native cotoneaster will not

feature in our project as the National Botanic Garden of Wales already runs a

project for its conservation.

Once I have laid the foundations of the project, the next STAG Conservation

Officer will take over and develop the project further. It is our hope at STAG that

34

RBG Kew Student Visit to North Wales, October 2012

One of the highlights of the three-year Kew Diploma in Horticulture course is the

students’ visit to north Wales in their third year. The trip is designed for students to

further their understanding of ecology through fieldwork and it draws together

previous course modules covering plant science, conservation and ecology.

After a welcome from Nigel Brown on the evening of arrival, the group was

warmly received by the Friends of Treborth at the Garden the next day. Visiting

Treborth was a real inspiration to the students as an example of what can be

achieved with minimal funding but evidently plenty of dedication, determination

and passion. Many are hoping to lend their support in the future.

Another treat was a visit to Crug Farm where Sue and Bleddyn Wyn Jones

made the students extremely welcome and gave an extensive tour of the nursery.

Day two took in Gwydyr Forest and club mosses under Tryfan before walking up to

the Devil’s Kitchen at Cwm Idwal. Stunning views with plenty of plant diversions

creating welcome breaks to catch a breath!

A trip to Anglesey on a stormy day blew out the cobwebs at South Stack

and created the ideal opportunity to really see how it feels to be a coastal plant

battered by the elements. However, despite the region’s reputation for rainfall, the

weather was generally kind and the group experienced a mesmerising walk through

the Coed Llyn Mair nature reserve with warm autumnal sunshine breaking through

the canopy. An added highlight for the moth fans in the group was catching sight of

a beautiful Merveille du Jour at rest on an oak tree.

The itinerary was packed with too many wonderful places to mention. All

were highlights in their own way and their secrets expertly unlocked by Nigel. Even

at sites where man’s influence has clearly disrupted the natural balance, plants and

this project will also inspire any other students to set up similar projects at their

local Botanic Gardens.

Faith Jones

STAG Conservation Officer

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fungi have shown resilience and resourcefulness in adapting to harsh conditions. For

the diploma students, observing and understanding these processes is key to

successfully cultivating plants and interpreting the role that modern horticulturists

have to play in conservation. The final day on the Great Orme seemed to exemplify

this as the group visited Cotoneaster cambricus and considered all the questions

surrounding the classification and conservation of this species.

Studying in a botanic garden as mighty as Kew is a wonderful experience but

visiting gardens such as Treborth really reminds students what they can hope to

achieve on a smaller scale with just as much resonance. The field trip to Wales

inspires in abundance and is certainly a testament to the enthusiasm and

commitment of Nigel and the team at Treborth, as much as it is the product of such

an amazingly diverse and beautiful landscape as north Wales. We all look forward to

visiting again.

Sheila Das, Kew Diploma Student

In Memoriam – Tony (AJE) Smith

Tony Smith, a world authority on bryophytes and author of ‘The Moss Flora of the

Britain and Ireland’ and a few years later ‘The Liverworts of Britain and Ireland’, has

died aged 77. Tony had been an academic member of staff at Bangor University from the

early 1960s until his retirement in 1999. He lectured on many aspects of botany but

especially bryophytes, ferns and taxonomy. He is best known for his work on the

moss and liverwort flora of the British Isles combining expert morphological

knowledge with great field based experience of the ecology of this major lower plant

group. Additionally he took great interest in plant evolution and post glacial

vegetational change. He had a wonderfully lucid and concise lecturing style which

was very student-friendly.

During his academic career at Bangor, Tony was a great supporter of

Treborth Botanic Garden, making use of fresh plant material grown there for some of

his lectures and bringing students to the Garden for practicals. Tony’s wife, Ruth

painstakingly illustrated all his bryophyte works which remain the definitive

identification guides.

Nigel Brown

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Chainsaws are Us! (Picture page 24)

Four of the Friends, Jamie Stroud and Adam Cross, both graduate student

volunteers, Rosie Barratt, our head-gardener, and I have just successfully completed

a chainsaw training course with Phil Dunford at his base near Corwen. Phil, a

Bangor Forestry graduate, was an excellent tutor and we all enjoyed what was a

very demanding week enormously. We were based in his well-equipped workshop

in Betws Gwerful Goch, worked at Henfaes for a day, and in the sitka spruce forestry

plantation near Phil’s base for a week.

Fortunately, the weather was kind to us and it was certainly a novel

experience to be down in a dank, dark forestry plantation harvesting 100 foot trees!

The monotony of the habitat was relieved, in part, by the golden splashes of the

beautiful Calocera viscosa fungi and some as yet unidentified filamentous white

fungi draped on a few spruce trunks. But it wasn’t just to have some fun in the

forestry that we went on this LANTRA training course. The purpose was to acquire

the NPTC CS30 and CS31 qualifications which cover ‘Chainsaw Maintenance and

Crosscutting’ and ‘Felling Small Trees’.

As we know there are plenty of woodland and small tree maintenance tasks

at Treborth for which chainsaw use is a great help or indeed, a necessity. Given this,

and our plan to produce firewood to raise funds for TBG, it has long been an

ambition to have a small pool of volunteers qualified to use chainsaws.

Over the last 18 months two of our current Forestry students, Dafydd Lewis

and James Slack, have helped out at Treborth by using chainsaws to tackle some big

jobs especially in the arboretum. Inevitably, these two are moving on with their

studies and careers so there is clearly a need for a pool of volunteers who can be

used for this type of work.

The use of chainsaws at TBG is subject to a strict code of practice which is

overseen by John Latchford, the H&S Officer in the University’s College of Natural

Sciences. Many thanks are due to him for all his efforts in enabling this

development at Treborth. Thanks are also due to the Friends of TBG who have

helped with some funding of the training and assessment, to the University for

Rosie’s funding and to CCW for some grant aid.

Gerry Downing

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Etm Books – Anglesey

Natural History books

Rare, antiquarian and general Your ‘wants list’ welcome

Occasional catalogues issued Discount for FTBG members

Contact : Nigel Jones

Etm-books@zen.co.uk

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