Chama sarda from the Caribbean, found in western Ireland

In the previous blog (What are Non-native (or alien) Species?) I talked about non-native species and how they are transported around the planet. In this blog I’ll tell you a bit more more about rafting bivalves that can cross the Atlantic on plastics and about some of the UK hotspots for these non-native (alien) hitchikers.

 

What is rafting?

Rafting has occurred throughout geological time, and it is how many terrestrial (land-dwelling) species colonised islands and other regions across the seas. A good example of this is the lemurs of Madagascar. 60 million years ago there were no lemurs on the island of Madagascar, but their ancestors were on the mainland of the African continent. So how did they actually get to Madagascar? Palaeontologists tell us that rafting is the answer. Back then, Madagascar was closer to the mainland and currents in the Mozambique Channel were much stronger towards the island than they are now. The lemurs’ ancestors must have found their way onto mats of vegetation or branches and by chance rafted to Madagascar. A completely fluke event! 

 

Violent storms assist the dispersal of non-native species on plastics

Today, our litter ends up in the oceans and provides unnatural vehicles for marine non-native species. Over the last decade more than 20 species of Caribbean bivalve shells have ended up on British and Irish beaches attached to plastic buoys, bait buckets, ropes and others items – even a piece of a car running board! The latter had three different types of Caribbean bivalves attached, one of which, the Bicolor Purse Purse Oyster, is an invasive species in Brazil. Violent storms help to throw the plastic objects high onto our shores and they are then found by beach cleaners, beachcombers and others on the strandline at the top of the beach. Many of the shells or photographs are sent to Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd - National Museum Cardiff to be identified and hence to work out where they came from.

 

Conveyor belts and hotspots

General locations of rafting bivalve records in the southwest of Britain and Ireland

The rafting species that we are studying start off attaching to plastics in the Caribbean. These plastics eventually float into the warm ocean currents of the Gulf Stream, which originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and provides a conveyor belt to transport non-native species across the Atlantic Ocean to the British Isles. Once here, violent storms then deposit the plastics, with their hitchhikers still attached, onto our shores. 

The hotspots for non-native species records are in the southwest of England and western Ireland, but there are also records for western Scotland. Strangely enough there are no records for Wales, even though some of the beaches are prime, exposed shores similar to those in Ireland and England. 

I want to discover if there are any welsh hotspots for rafting bivalves, find out which beaches to search and to encourage people to go out to those locations to try and get some records for Wales. 

 

Why should we monitor these species?

It is important to establish points of entry for any non-native species, which is why we need to map where the rafting species are arriving so that we can monitor numbers of any species arriving alive that could possibly pose a threat. When a species moves to a new location, the species that already live there have to adapt to cope with the newcomer. This can put a strain on populations that use the same food source or habitat as the invading species, which is why we want to know where these rafting species are washing ashore. All the rafting species that we’ve encountered so far cannot reproduce in our waters as they need warmer sea temperatures of 20°C or more to breed. However, if sea temperatures continue to rise, climate change could aid more rafting species to create self-sustaining populations here which could become a real problem

 

The Bicolor Purse Oyster – an invasive species in Brazil

Byssus threads of Bicolor Purse Oyster from the Caribbean

Of the non-native rafting species found so far in the UK, the Bicolor Purse Oyster (Isognomon bicolor) is the one that has shown up in the greatest numbers. It was first described as a species in 1846 by C.B. Adams who collected it in Jamaica. It has been spotted around the coasts of Florida, Texas and Bermuda and several of the Caribbean islands all of which are considered its natural range. However, in 1970 it was recorded outside its natural range in the eastern state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. It has since moved further southwards and is considered an invasive species in Brazil as it is competing with native oysters and mussels for space and is spreading quickly. 

The Bicolor Purse Oyster in Britain and Ireland

The Bicolor Purse Oyster has been found in Cornwall, Dorset and western Ireland by eagle-eyed beachcombers. They noted locations, objects that the oysters were attached to, and they collected the shells. The beachcombers are great photographers so we have a record of the variety of sizes, shapes and colours of the shells found here. The Bicolor Purse Oyster is small (up to 28mm), flattened and elongated. The outside is beige and white, sometimes with purple blotches and is smooth apart from being a bit flaky-looking. The front of the shell has byssus threads of pale to dark brown that protrude ready to attach to hard surfaces. In its natural range this species attaches to rocks and is commonly found in the Florida Keys. 

 

What next?

Although there are lots of records of rafting species in Ireland and England, there are none for Wales. Does that mean that they do not wash ashore in Wales? Doubtful! This is why I’ve set up a project to get people out onto beaches looking for any plastics that could be likely rafts. The project involves citizen scientists – volunteers from the general public – who can help to spot these rafting species in Wales.

To find out more about this part of the project see next week's blog entitled Rafting Bivalves - the Citizen Science project.

The Vulcan Hotel was first registered as an ‘ale house’ in 1853. By the time it was dismantled by the Museum in 2012 it had seen several phases of alterations. The scale of the 1901 and 1914 alterations required approval by the County Planning Authority and these plans are held today by the Glamorgan Archives. Further work was undertaken in 1925 and 1941.

The planning application from 1914 features two drawings of the façade (the 1901 application doesn’t show the façade). A drawing in black and white was labelled ‘At present’ while a drawing in colour was labelled ‘Proposed’. No written text survives to accompany the drawings, but careful study can shed more light on the proposed changes. The most obvious alteration was the number of windows on the first floor was increased from two to four, which were flanked by new, raised pilasters of red brick. The parapet fronting the roof, depicted as a series of horizontal lines above the windows was removed, the chimneys were altered, and the roof was tiled in new, grey slate. Another change - which is quite subtle on these drawings - is the most dramatic in The Vulcan’s history. The whole building was increased in height. The drawing labelled ‘At present’ shows a roof of the same height as its neighbours, while the drawing labelled ‘Proposed’ shows The Vulcan being taller than those either side of it.

The configuration of the ground floor façade remained unchanged – two doorways and two windows, each divided into two large panes with fanlights above. Looking closely, however, there are several key differences which suggest that they are in fact, two different facades. The ‘At present’ drawing depicts two fielded panels under each window, while the ‘Proposed’ drawing has only one. The number of door panels are different. The pilasters on either side of the windows, depicted in the ‘At present’ drawing, are fluted and stop short of the frieze, while the pilasters in the ‘Proposed’ drawing aren’t fluted and continue through the frieze to the cornice above. There are seven fanlights above each windowpane in the ‘At present’ drawing, while the ‘Proposed’ drawing shows only three. The decorative finial above the cornice was removed and last but not least, only the ‘proposed’ drawing features the inscriptions THE VULCAN HOTEL, WINES & SPIRITS and ALES & STOUT.

Although not made clear by the plans, we assume that the drawing labelled ‘Present’ depicts a ground floor façade made of timber - just like a traditional Victorian shop front - and that the façade proposed in 1914 was of glazed earthenware tiles - which remained in place until 2012.

 

Like so many events during these unprecedented times, our Quarrymen exhibition was curtailed last month when Waterfront Museum closed its doors for lockdown. We wanted to find a way to continue to share it with you, so here’s some background to the exhibition by Carwyn Rhys Jones, who developed it. In it speaks about how it came about and how it was shaped by the stories and memories of five quarrymen. We’ve illustrated this with images from the exhibition and hope you enjoy the experience.

I began this project as a development of some work I’d previously done at university about the landscape of quarries. The project included some quarries in North Wales including Parys Mountain, Dorothea, Penrhyn, Alexandra and Oakeley. It focussed on how the natural landscape had changed due to industrialisation and how a new landscape formed around the quarries. The natural next step was to look at the people of the quarries. Sadly, few quarrymen remain, so it became timely to capture and record this important history and heritage.

Ideas for this project were driven by the quarrymen I interviewed, so it was only fitting that it would be titled Chwarelwyr which means Quarrymen. The exhibition is formed of two key parts: a short documentary and photography stills to accompany it with. The first quarrymen I interviewed was based in Trefor. He was known locally as Robin Band due to the fact that most of his family were in bands. He worked in the stone quarry of Trefor for a few years, and shared fantastic memories of the good, bad and humorous times there.

The next was Dic Llanberis, which, as his name suggests, was based in Llanberis. Dic had years of experience and so much knowledge about the history of the Dinorwic quarry. I used the same process for each of the five quarrymen, interviewing, filming and then photographing them. Dic worked at the quarry even after it had closed down in 1969, helping to clear the remaining slate.

Then it was the turn of Andrew JonJo and Carwyn. They had both worked at Penrhyn quarry in Bethesda on the outskirts of Bangor. I interviewed them both at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis where they both now work. Andrew is the last of six generations of quarrymen in his family that had all worked in two quarries: Dinorwic and Penrhyn. As you might imagine, he spoke movingly of how he was bread into the industry. Carwyn also comes from a large quarrying family, some of them had worked at the slate hospital in Llanberis for injured quarrymen. A number of his ancestors’ signatures can be found in the slate hospital museum’s books, recording surgical procedures.

Finally, I met up with John Pen Bryn, based in Talysarn just outside of Caernarfon. This quarry was so large that it contained a village, and John had been raised there. He now owns the quarry and has lived in Talysarn all his life. He showed me around the quarry and where the village used to be – difficult to imagine now that it was once a bustling place with three shops, within the quarry. John was full of stories and knew everything that had happened in his quarry over the years.

Sadly, both Robin Band and Dic Llanberis have passed away since completing the exhibition, and so the film that accompanies it finishes with their images. They, and I are very glad that we managed to capture some of their stories and document this important heritage and history just in time. I am very grateful to all who were involved in making this exhibition possible. I hope you enjoy it.  

I took this picture in June 2011, underground at Aberpergwm Mine near Resolven. In the picture are three mineworkers who were showing me around the workings. The lady in the middle, Katherine Voyle, was the mine geologist. It was her job to study the coal seam and decide which direction to take the head of the mine to maximise the coal output.

I went to the mine to record a video interview with Katherine about her life and how she ended up in this job. Part of my work is to collect ‘real’ people’s history so that future generations can get the true picture of life now. I asked her if it was strange being the only female amongst 300 men. She told me that it was at first but she soon got used to it. The men also accepted her as ‘one of the boys’ now, especially when she was wearing overalls, but they had a real shock if they went into her office after she had changed back into ‘office wear’!

Aberpergwm is a drift mine, in other words it cuts into the side of a valley rather than a deep shaft. The mine actually dipped steeply as we walked over a mile to the face. There, a huge cutting machine was busy and the noise was deafening. After my tour and conducting an interview we walked back up to the daylight. Even though I hadn’t done any physical work my legs were aching just walking in and out!

Katherine, originally from Swansea, told me that before coming to Aberpergwm she had worked on oil rigs in the North Sea and also in Holland. Her real love was the environment and nature and she was busy setting up a nature trail on the land above the mine.

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

An article by Ceri Thompson, Curator (Coal) about Katherine Voyle for Glo Magazine:

https://museum.wales/media/24679/GLO-Magazine-2012-web.pdf

At the end of the First World War, communities across Wales established ‘welcome home’ committees to raise funds to honour local men returning from the front. Village halls and workmen’s institutes became focal points for armistice and peace celebrations. A victory ball was held at the Oakdale Workmen’s Institute in early 1919.

To mark the centenary of the dance, and the culmination of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales’ Wales Remembers programme, we worked in partnership with Re-Live, an award-winning charity that creates professional life story theatre productions with veterans, to re-imagine the ball.

Y Dychweliad – The Return was an unforgettable performance by ex-service personnel, their families, community members and professional actors. The production weaved reimagined scenes from the First World War and victory ball with personal and emotional experiences of 21st century men and women returning to their communities from war.

"This project has saved me because it’s given me something to look forward to, it’s given me a purpose again. It helps me control my anxiety too. This is the only one place I can come where I know I won’t be judged."

Veteran and cast member, 2019

 

"The best experience of the project was the connections that we all made – the emotions and the therapeutic journey, personally for myself, but also in the bigger sense. The fact that we all shared our stories as veterans, but also as community members and how they connected together in the middle. There’s been nothing quite like that."

Veteran and cast member, 2019

 

The project was funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund.