Blog: Learning

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

National Museum Wales is working with 3,600 young scientists to investigate and understand climate change.

Over the past few weeks bulbs and pots have been delivered to schools and home educators all across Wales - ready for the big planting day on the 20th October. Some schools have sent in some lovely pictures and reported on how excited the children are to be taking part.

From now until the end of March 2010 each young scientist will be recording the weather and flowering dates of their Daffodil and Crocus bulbs as part or a long-term study looking at the effects of temperature changes on spring bulbs.

The study started in 2005, and will hopefully continue for many years to come. To see the results so far or to sign up for next year please visit

Each pupil will work through Professor Plant's tasks to be awarded a Super Scientist Certificate and the most dedicated school will win a trip to the Really Welsh Daffodil Farm and Kenfig Nature Reserve. The Really Welsh company kindly donated all the daffodils for this experiment - which are grown in good Welsh soil at Kenfig, near Bridgend.

Watch this blog to see some of the schools reports & observations - or watch the picture diary in the spring.

If you are taking part and would like to send Professor Plant a question - then please get in touch. Professor Plant would love to hear from you.

On National Poetry Day in October 2009, Big Pit’s poet-in-residence Mike Jenkins encouraged visitors to contribute to a ‘BIG Big Pit poem’. The theme of National Poetry Day was ‘Heroes and Heroines,’ and contributors wrote about the heroic people who worked in difficult conditions and jobs in coal mines.

Contributions came from 3 schools: Goetre Junior School, Merthyr, Queen Street Primary School, Abertillery and Oldbury Wells High School in Shropshire. Mike awarded a signed copy of his children’s poetry book ‘Poems for Underage Thinkers’ to the junior classes for their inspired efforts.

Adult poets were:

Mike Tanner from Blaenavon, Justin Hamilton from Kilbirnie, Derek Edmondson from Woodford, and Mr and Mrs Gilbert from Little Witcombe, as well as Big Pit staff.

Find out more about Mike’s award-winning poetry and prose by visiting his website: www.mikejenkins.net.

BIG BIG PIT POEM
A communal poem created at Big Pit on National Poetry Day 2009

Underground what will we see?
Underground is dangerous
Ponies hauled dram after dram 
Thrusters and hurriers pushing tram after tram 
Pickers hitting as hard as they can 
Children crying and crying.
The canary was a warning.
Lots of water on the ground
It was leaking into the pit 
Getting deeper and deeper.
It was dark like night when the lights went out,
It was scary. Slippery like water.
The cage went fast then slow. 
Down the pit there were tracks.
Struggling by the light of lamps. 
The axes and sledgehammers were dirty as muddy water.
Some were very old.

The men were heroes because they worked twelve hard hours.
The fireman who risked himself to save his workmate’s face,
After a fall, threw himself down to protect his friend.
The horses were heroes because they saved people.
Masks protected the ponies’ faces, some of the ponies died.
Seventy two worked down the mine.
Many of them became blind.
The miner had to pull the drams. 
The girls were heroines because they helped.
Dad and son worked side by side 
Deprived of sunlight from day to day.
Some men died.
Some men cried. 
Coughing up black dust 
Working like navvies from dawn till dusk.
Mothers sad when there was an explosion.
A message home when there’s no hope left
Scratched into a bottle.
Day and night death always occurred.

But everyone pulled together
Washing away the day’s toil. 
A hot bath, joke and a laugh.
To the hole in the wall, have a fag
Desperate for that first drag.

Figures hunched against the driving rain
Thirsting for the hoppy nectar 
To soothe away the pain.

Firstly, apologies for my extended absence from these pages. I don’t have an excuse other than the summer activities kept me very busy this year! However, I find myself in a bit of a calm period at the moment so I thought I’d update you on what’s coming up over the next few months.

The autumn is fast approaching and the evidence is all around St Fagans. A quick walk about the site reveals bursts of bright red berries on hawthorn bushes and rowan trees and delicate highlights of yellow and orange edging into the green leaves of the beech woodland. A walk in the woods is accompanied by the steady sound of beech mast dropping with the breeze. The horse chestnuts have already begun to fall too, and the acorns and sweet chestnuts look like they won’t be long to follow.

In October activities will focus on this season of change. For Seed Gathering Sunday we will be looking at the variety of tactics trees use to disperse their seed during an enjoyable walk about the grounds.

On October the 24th there’s a real treat in store as the Ty Gwyrdd kitchen will be in action for the first time in years to demonstrate some traditional apple recipes.

The apple theme continues in the Ty Gwyrdd on the 25th of October where you can take part in Feed the Birds Day with the RSPB, and learn how to use apples to make great bird feeders.

During October half term we will be running Autumn Feast activities looking at traditional foods grown in the autumn as well as the wild food that grows in our woods, fields and hedges.

And right at the end of November I will be running activities alongside the RSPB that look at ways of telling trees apart and the importance of trees for wildlife. If that appeals to you why not join us on the 5th of December when we'll be working with the BBC to try and break the world record for the most amount of trees planted in one hour!

So I hope to see you at an event this autumn, and in the meantime get out there and enjoy the sunshine!