With the arrival of strong winds and heavy rain over the last week or so I am preparing myself for the end of autumn and the imminent arrival of winter. It’s a shame to say goodbye to the mild autumn we’ve been having, I’m going to miss the many warm hues on display amongst the trees of St Fagans. But farewell it must be, as the sudden blast of heavy weather has stripped the trees of their finery and left the leaves gathering in thick layers upon the ground.

Despite this brutal de-glamorisation, trees are to be the focus of my activities over the next few weeks as we celebrate National Tree Week. During the last weekend of November we will be looking at the many different types of tree at St Fagans and finding out the best way to identify them by looking at leaf, seed, bark and bud. The RSPB will also be with us, running activities that highlight the importance of trees to our native birds. Incidentally the bird cam at St Fagans is pretty busy at the moment and you can follow the action via my twitter page

And if you’ve ever wanted to be a world record holder why not join us on Saturday the 5th of December for Tree O’Clock? We will be attempting to set a new Guinness world record for planting the most trees in one hour in collaboration with BBC Breathing Places. And if you enjoy getting into the festive spirit why not stay on and make sustainable Christmas decorations from the Hedgerow at T? Gwyrdd?

Sustainable Christmas will also be the theme of my activities at the ever popular Christmas nights on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December. Be sure to bring a torch and warm clothes as it can get pretty cold here at night!

Pupils from Oakfield Primary School  asked: 'When will the bulbs sprout?'

Normally, I would say 'nothing much will happen until after Christmas', but some bulbs have already decided to pop up through the soil!

Pupils from Pentrepoeth Junior School reported: 'We were very surprised to find the shoots and we have now noticed a few more in our flowerbeds. I am attaching a photo for you to see.'

From studying the photograph, although I can't be 100% sure, they certainly look like daffodil shoots. Compare my photograph from last year - what do you think?

Please leave a comment if you see any early shoots or email any photographs to scan@nmgw.ac.uk

Many Thanks, Professor Plant

The Pop Peth exhbition in Oriel 1, St Fagans:National history Museum ends on January 10th, so there's still time to come and look at Gari Melville's superb collection of memorabilia, play Llwybr Llaethog's keyboard, see how a fanzine is made, learn about Spillers Records, watch music videos and leave your memories of your best gig ever!

We've been getting some lovely memories of best gigs and here are a few of my favourites....

Ashley McAvoy went to see Super Furry Animals in Clwb Ifor Bach in 1994, Nicola Stingl walked into Stuart Cable (previously of Stereophonics), Liz Magee saw The Beatles in the early 1960s but couldn't hear them because of all the screaming, Irwin Richards played tambourine with Supertramp (even though he wasn't invited to...), Beth Thomas saw CSN&Y, The Band and Joni Mitchell in Wembley in 1974, Jared lost his shoe at an Oasis concert in 1996, and lost three days in Glastonbury...Kevin Williams sat next to Robert Plant for an entire football match (Barry Town v UWIC), Stu saw Lift to Experience in Barfly in 2002, and as well as walking into Stuart Cable, Nicola Stingl also goes out with the guitarist in Through Solace. And my absolute favourite of today's bunch of best gigs goes to Laura Kemp who saw Motley Crue in the Cardiff International Arena in 2005 and writes 'I fainted when I saw Nikki Sixx for the first time.'

Today’s a special day at National Museum Cardiff, as a private repatriation ceremony takes place which will see the skeletal remains of 12 Maoris being sent back from Wales to New Zealand. It’s the first time the Museum has held such a ceremony, and I think it's important that the remains are returned to their country of origin. The ceremony itself will be quite different to the ones we usually see here! Before the remains are packed, a call and chant of acknowledgement is made. The remains - known as köiwi tangata - will then be greeted during the hour-long ceremony, which will be attended by workers from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which has helped arrange the repatriation.

Following a closing prayer, all participants of the ceremony will press noses as part of the completion process and sprinkle water over their heads and bodies. I’m hopeful that this will lay the foundations for future collaborations between Amgueddfa Cymru and the Te Papa Museum.