Blog: Learning

After one of the coldest and longest winters on record, spring has well and truly arrived. The weather over the past few weeks has been warm enough to put recent summers to shame. Add to that the explosion of flowers in every field, garden and crack in the pavement and you’ve got a spectacular spring in the making.

The extra-long winter has meant that many species that normally flower early in the season have delayed until now. For example the Hazel catkins (‘lambs tails’ to you and me), which flowered here at the end of January in last year were only just starting to emerge in early March this year.

At St Fagans this late flowering has meant that many early and late species are flowering together; Snowdrops and Celandines, Daffodils and Bluebells, so there’s an absolute feast for the eyes at the moment! See here for an interesting article about this year’s unusual weather and what it may mean for wildlife.

Spring isn’t all botany though, and the birds have been getting steadily louder since the weather has been improving. This is the time of year when the feathered folk attempt to attract a mate and defend a territory by singing as loud and as often as possible. Once this task is achieved they have to build a nest and raise a brood (or maybe even two if they have the energy).

This leads me to some rather exciting news that we have a Great Tit nesting in our specially rigged nest box. At the moment she is just building the nest and roosting there in the evening, but once she lays her eggs (fingers crossed) it is going to be extremely exciting! I’ll be keeping a keen eye on events and posting any activity on my Twitter page – so sign up if you want to get tweets about our nest of tweeters on Twitter!

Many birds have flown from the continent or even Africa to take advantage of the glut of insects that hatch here at this time of year. Warblers such as Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Wood Warbler and Blackcap make up a large number of these migrants and they add plenty of new voices to the dawn chorus which is at its best right now. There are still a few places on my dawn chorus walk this Saturday if you fancy an early start and a walk about St Fagans.

Anyway, best be off. But keep checking back as this is going to be a busy season!

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Spring Bulbs for Schools investigation this year! Participants completed challenges and kept weather records to earn Super Scientist certificates & prizes. Many thanks to the really Welsh company for supplying our daffodils and the 1st prize - a daffodil picking day at their farm near Bridgend. Also a big thanks to the staff at Kenfig Nature Reserve.

The standard was extremely high this year and Professor Plant would like to thank all the schools that made this investigation a success! Below are details of the schools and home educated participants who excelled.

1st place: Pentrepoeth Junior School, Morriston, Swansea. Lead by teacher Kay Mills. Prize: A trip to the really Welsh farm & Kenfig Nature Reserve. 

2nd place: Glyncollen Primary School also of Morriston, Swansea. Lead by teacher Ann Richards. Prize: A pair of digital binoculars.

Home educated winners: The Jones family from Llandrindod Wells and the Butterworth family from Carmarthenshire have shown real commitment to their recording. Prize: A trip to the really Welsh farm & Kenfig Nature Reserve. 

Highly commended schools: Ysgol Nant Y Coed, Ysgol Talhaiarn, Howell's School Llandaff, Ysgol Y Ffridd, Ysgol Porth Y Felin, Pembroke Dock Community school, Ysgol Penycae (Ystradgynlais) Prizes: Super scientist certificates and seedlings for their school. 

Schools noted for their dedication and good record keeping: Ysgol Gynradd Deganwy Primary, Milford Haven Junior school, St. Joseph's R C Primary, Coleg Powys, Glan Conwy, Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn, Ysgol Pen Y Garth, Bishop Childs CIW Primary School, Murch Junior School, Newton Primary, Oakfield Primary school, Windsor Clive Primary, Ysgol Gynradd Brynconin, Ysgol Gynradd Deganwy Primary. Prizes: Each pupil to receive super scientist certificates and seedlings for their school.

Late flowers = late report: Normally by now we are able to compare this years flowering dates with those recorded in previous years, but as it has been so cold - some records are still being sent in. Over the next few weeks Professor Plant will be working on this report and it will be published on the Spring Bulbs for Schools website www.museumwales.ac.uk/scan/bulbs

Finally, my daffodils opened on the 28th of March. Here are a few pictures. Many more have now opened in the schools across Wales. Happy Easter!

 

This winter has been the coldest in 30 years - so our flowers have opened much later than usual.  Our first crocus was recorded in Murch Junior School on the 14th of February and our 1st daffodil also at Murch on the 17th of February. 

Since then many more have opened across the country. Study the maps and graphs to find out more. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/1719/

Finally, this week the daffodils in my garden have produced their buds and hopefully should be ready to open soon! They seem a lot shorter than in previous years. We will study the records to see if this is a trend this year.

Many thanks

Professor Plant

 

Mystery bulb No.1 Can you guess what it is?

Mystery bulb No.2 Can you guess what it is?

 

22/3/2010 Daffodils in Cardiff. Sent in by Mr. Alun Jones

In early December we looked forward to an early spring but then the cold weather slowed everything down. Now, with temperatures slowly rising, school scientists are reporting new signs of spring across Wales! My shoots have also started to come through!

In Pentrepoeth Junior School, Swansea. Pupils were very excited to find crocus, daffodil and mystery bulbs peeping through the soil. They were surprised how some of their shoots varied in size and love recording the temperature and rainfall.

On the really Welsh farm, in Bridgend. Farmers have finally started picking daffodils and sending them out across South Wales. They report: 'Still not huge volumes really, we are extremely disappointed at how slow the daffodils are growing this year. We are about 5 weeks behind for the earliest varieties and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have plenty of daffodils for St.Davids Day'.

• Win a trip to a really Welsh farm
• Daffodil Drawing Competition
• Newsletter
• Investigation ideas

Professor Plant's bulb blog:

20/02/10 My crocus opened today! First the flower bud appeared, then when the sun came out at lunch time - the flower popped open. The colours were amazing, bright purple petals and bright orange anthers & stigma.  It's so nice to finally have some colour in the garden. Later in the afternoon, when the sunshine disappeared the flower closed again. I'll upload my pictures tomorrow. Does your crocus do this? Why not try out some of my investigation ideas. See link below.

15/02/10 Both my daffodil and crocus shoots have started to come through. They are no taller than 2cms which is quiet small for this time of year. In 2008, when the winter was mild my crocus flowers had already opened and the daffodils were 11cms tall!

Which shoot is which? The daffodil shoots have smooth curved, light green tips. They are much broader than the crocus tips. The crocus shoots have narrow pointed shoots that normally appear in clusters of five. They have dark green edges - making them look slightly stripey.

Crocus - 13/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

25/01/10 Pentrepoeth Junior School, Morriston, Swansea.

Crocus - 10/02/10