: Ymgysylltu â'r Gymuned

“Codi i’r Wyneb - Brought to the Surface” is a project on freshwater snails led by the Museum’s Department of Natural Sciences, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information on the project I recommend reading; Shells at the Surface of “Brought to the Surface” (January, 2019) and “Brought to the Surface” Now in Full Flow (June, 2019). 

Ben and I have been busy since the last blog entry in June 2019! We took our project on tour, visiting a variety of different public events, training workshops and conferences. As a result, we have had the pleasure of engaging with a bunch of interesting people. 1,263 people to be exact! This has included professional consultants, scientific researchers, amateur naturalists, keen gardeners and more! We would like to thank you all so much! Your commentary and feedback has supported us on our way to producing an identification guide for environmentalists of all ages and backgrounds.

Snail Safari was one of our favourite public events of the last year. The bilingual educational workshop was designed for children aged 8-11 and was held at St Fagans National Museum of History. The purpose of the event, which consisted of two separate sessions, was to simulate and promote the type of work that we, as taxonomists, carry out at the museum.

For the introductory session we led the group on a safari to survey the ponds and lakes in the gardens at St Fagans. With nets and buckets the children collected freshwater snails to examine back at the classroom where, many of them were given a chance to use a microscope for the first time! The Gweithdy carpentry workshop served as an excellent impromptu laboratory with plenty of space for the group to lay out trays of pond water for sifting. The session ended with a lively competition to find the biggest and/or fastest snail. The enthusiasm displayed by the group impressed us so much, that we decided to kick it up a notch for the second session.

Inspired by Guess Who, Guess Whorl is a competitive card game in which players take turns asking questions about identifying features. The goal is to deduce the identity of a mystery freshwater snail species using the process of elimination, with questions such as, “Does your snail have a pointy shell?” or “Does the shell have stripes?”. The indoor Snail Safari session consisted of an exciting tournament to award the best taxonomist and Guess Whorl player in the group. Driven by the competitive element, the children became fascinated by our card game and the variety of different snail shells illustrated on the cards. With 17 species to guess from and 9 different identifying features, Guess Whorl kept us occupied for an entire afternoon!

By the end of the session, the group had learned about the differences between types of British pond snails and how to deduce and describe those differences in the same way as a taxonomist might. With some nets and buckets, a few laminated cards, and a bit of ‘thinking outside the box’ we delivered our favourite workshop yet.

Guess Whorl can now be used as a useful teaching tool for a variety of future public engagement events. With some adjustments, we think that the card game could be used for training purposes in identification courses for professionals as well as beginners!

We would like to thank Ian Daniel from St Fagans for his enthusiastic approach and brilliant improvisational skills. Thank you to the children from Ysgol Plasmawr, Ysgol Bro Edern, Ysgol Glantaf, and year 7,8 and 9 ladder group and platform group from Cardiff West Community High School, for taking part in our Snail Safari.

At this moment in time, museums across the world are launching initiatives to collect objects and personal stories relating to COVID-19.

This pandemic has raised a raft of questions for all museums, especially in relation to how they collect the current crisis in meaningful, ethical and sensitive ways. At Amgueddfa Cymru, we routinely collect the here and now (think Brexit, the Women's March etc.), but the enormity of this pandemic – its impact on individuals and communities across Wales – is unlike any other national event we have documented in recent decades.

Today, we launched a digital questionnaire as a first step towards creating a national COVID-19 collection at Amgueddfa Cymru, to be archived at St Fagans National Museum of History. With your help, through the questionnaire, we hope to collect personal stories (written testimony, photographs and films) from across the country to create a comprehensive picture of life in Wales during the lockdown and beyond. We will also use the responses to identify and collect objects which could, in the future, represent the 3D memory of COVID-19 in Wales.

By doing this, we are revisiting a collecting methodology which is rooted in the Museum’s history, and is indicative of the early collecting practices of Dr Iorwerth Peate – the first curator of St Fagans. In December 1937, Dr Peate, who at the time was based at the National Museum of Wales in Cathays Park, published a questionnaire which was sent to 493 respondents across Wales. Launched in a decade largely defined by economic hardship and unemployment, it asked participants to provide information about the domestic, public and cultural life of their local area. Although developed by Iorwerth Peate, the questionnaire’s introduction was penned by the Museum’s Director, Cyril Fox:

This questionnaire has been prepared in the hope that persons in each parish in Wales will study the life of that parish on the lines indicated therein… The pamphlet indicates the direction in which the Welsh public can help in the work of this Department and its National Museum… Photographs and drawings will be gladly received… It is hoped, moreover, that correspondents, once they have established contact, will keep in constant touch with the Museum so that the Department is kept well-informed of any developments which are relevant to its work.

In preparing the questionnaire, the Museum was effectively asking the people taking part to become regular informants, to use their community knowledge to assist with developing a collection which would later form the basis for the creation of the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans in 1948. 

Questionnaires and blank ‘answer books’ requesting information on a range of subject areas were in regular use by the Museum up until the 1980s, and today the responses received (almost 800 in total) form a significant part of the archive collection at St Fagans.

Another collecting method pioneered by the Museum under the direction of Iorwerth Peate was the collecting of oral testimony. Following a public appeal launched on BBC radio in March 1958, St Fagans embarked on the systematic collecting of oral traditions and dialects. The funds raised allowed the Museum to buy recording equipment to undertake the work, including an EMI TR51 portable recorder, and a DC/AC converter, with two acid batteries and yards of cable, to record people in remote areas without electricity. A Land Rover was also purchased, fitted-out with wooden units made by the Museum’s carpenter to house the recording equipment.

Today, we have over 12,000 recordings in the archive, and in recent years we have become a repository for oral histories collected by community groups and organisations across Wales – from Mencap Cymru to Merched y Wawr.

The Land Rover may be long gone, but recording people’s lived experiences is still an important part of the collecting work we do, now more than ever. We very much hope that the COVID-19 questionnaire, the first to be launched by the Museum in the digital age, will enable people experiencing the pandemic in Wales to share their own stories in their own words, and provide future generations with personal, first-hand accounts of this chapter in our history.

 

In my previous blog I explained what rafting bivalve shells are and how Caribbean bivalves are ending up on British and Irish shores attached to plastics. There are numerous records of non-native bivalves on plastics in the southwest of Ireland and England but nothing has yet been reported in Wales, which is something that I’m trying to rectify. To encourage recording I’m enlisting citizen scientists – volunteers from the general public – who can help to spot and identify these rafting species in Wales. But first of all, I want to check to see if there are rafting species turning up on our shores so I began talking to groups who already go out on the shores to survey, beach clean or educate.

 

In December 2019 I met with a fantastic group of people at PLANED in Narbeth. PLANED have excellent coastal community links and everyone I spoke to was enthusiastic and willing to incorporate the rafting bivalves project into their usual activities of beach cleans, foraging, outdoor activities or education.  They were keen to help record any rafting species that they discover and we talked about how to identify any bivalves found. Since then I have been working on an identification guide that I plan to develop with the help of these community groups.

 

In February 2020 I met up with 35 people at the Pembrokeshire Coast National Parks offices in Pembroke Dock. They were eager to learn more about non-native bivalves on plastics. After lunch, those daring enough braved the freezing temperatures and gales to carry out a mini beach clean at Freshwater West beach. We found a lot of large plastic items in less than half an hour which we brought back to the car park for a closer look. Even though there were a lot of pelagic goose barnacles (stalked crustaceans related to crabs and lobsters that attach to flotsam) on some items, proving that the items had been floating in the ocean for a long time, no non-native bivalves were found.

In early March two colleagues and I attended the annual Porcupine Marine Natural History Society’s

conference where I presented the project and had several more offers of eyes on the ground to record and test the identification guide, which is great news.  I’ve also set up a Facebook page where volunteers can post images of any suspected non-native bivalves for me to identify. I’m hoping to meet up with several more groups later in the year to ask them to look for these pesky hitchikers so we can find out if and where they are attempting a Welsh invasion!

If you would like to help record non-native bivalves on plastics on Welsh beaches then do contact me at Anna.Holmes@museumwales.ac.uk

 

Mae gerddi Tai’r Chwarelwyr yn Amgueddfa Lechi Cymru yn rhan boblogaidd o brofiad ymwelwyr â’r safle – ond nid edrych yn hardd yw unig bwrpas y planhigion, maen nhw yno hefyd i roi ychydig o hanes y chwarelwyr a’u teuluoedd.

Mae’r ardd yn cael ei thrin gan dîm gweithgar o Gyngor Gwynedd, sy’n ymweld o’u canolfan ym Melin Glanrafon, Glynllifon. Mae’r tîm yn rhan o adran Oedolion, Iechyd a Llesiant y Cyngor, ac mae’n cynnig hyfforddiant a phrofiadau i oedolion ag anghenion dysgu. Mae’r tîm yn gofalu am yr ardd drwy gydol y flwyddyn, i sicrhau ei bod mewn cyflwr da ar gyfer yr ymwelwyr.

Dyma Cadi Iolen, Curadur Amgueddfa Lechi Cymru yn egluro mwy am hanes y bythynod a'u gerddi:

“Symudwyd Tai’r Chwarelwyr o Danygrisiau i’r Amgueddfa Lechi 21 mlynedd yn ôl. Mae pob tŷ yn adlewyrchu cyfnod gwahanol yn hanes y diwydiant llechi – o 1861 yn Nhanygrisiau tua dechrau oes aur y chwareli, i dŷ yn ystod Streic Fawr y Penrhyn ym 1901, a Llanberis ym 1969, pan gaewyd Chwarel Dinorwig am y tro olaf.

Cawsom gyngor gan y prif arddwr yn Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru, wnaeth amlinellu beth ddylen ni ei blannu ymhob gardd i adlewyrchu amodau byw’r cyfnod. Wedi hynny, bu’r garddwyr wrthi’n brysur yn plannu.

Mae gan dŷ 1861 ardd berlysiau yn cynnwys ffenigl, mint ac eurinllys. Mae gardd 1901 yn fwy ymarferol, gyda gardd lysiau yn y tu blaen a’r cefn gan y byddai teuluoedd angen plannu eu bwyd eu hunain mewn adeg o dlodi. Erbyn 1969, mae’r gerddi’n fwy addurniadol gyda blodau fel begonias a phlanhigion lliwgar eraill, yn debyg i’n gerddi ni heddiw. Rydyn ni hefyd yn tyfu tatws a riwbob yng nghefn y tŷ addysg. Mae’r actorion preswyl yn defnyddio’r rhain, a chânt eu coginio yn y caffi o bryd i’w gilydd.”

Roedd gerddi cynnyrch a blodau yn rhan nodweddiadol o gartrefi Glowyr. Man pwysig lle tyfwyd bwyd, lle'r oedd colomennod, ieir ac yn aml mochyn hefyd yn cael eu cadw. Sharon Ford yw Rheolwr Dysgu a Chyfranogi yn Big Pit Amgueddfa Lofaol Cymru. Ysgrifennodd yr erthygl hon ar gyfer ein blog, i ddathlu buddion iechyd a lles garddio - yn enwedig yn ystod y cyfnod cloi hwn. Mae'n llawn llawenydd garddio ac awgrymiadau a chynghorion defnyddiol, a chafodd Sharon fwy nag ychydig o help gan gyd-arddwr brwd - ei mab, Iwan.

‘We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us’   

Jenny Uglow

Dwi erioed wedi bod mor ddiolchgar am fy ngardd. Mae’n cynnig lloches y tu hwnt i bedair wal y tŷ. Mae’r tywydd braf wedi’n galluogi ni i fod tu allan pan nad ydym yn gweithio, i fynd o dan draed pan fyddwn angen ychydig o lonydd, ac wrth gwrs i roi mwy o sylw nag arfer i’r ardd. Mae bod â rhywbeth i gynllunio a chanolbwyntio arno wedi bod yn wych am dynnu’n meddyliau oddi ar yr argyfwng byd-eang a bod oddi wrth deulu a ffrindiau. Mae hyd yn oed ein mab 8 oed bywiog, Iwan wedi bod yn ymwneud mwy â’r ardd eleni, gan gynllunio pa lysiau mae eisiau eu cynaeafu a’u bwyta mewn ychydig fisoedd, ac mae’r awyr iach a’r gweithgarwch yn ei flino erbyn diwedd y dydd. Mae hyn yn bwysig gan ei fod arfer cael gwersi nofio, gymnasteg a rygbi.

Mae effaith bositif garddio ar iechyd corfforol a meddyliol yn hysbys i bawb, a gall helpu gyda nifer o broblemau fel pwysau gwaed uchel, gorbryder yn ogystal â phroblemau iechyd meddwl mwy difrifol.

Rydyn ni’n arbennig o lwcus i gael gardd adref a rhandir dros y ffordd. Nid pawb sydd mor lwcus, ond gall dim ond ambell i bot o blanhigion neu blannu llysiau mewn corneli a chilfachau leihau straen a hybu hunan barch. Mae gofalu am blanhigion tŷ yn rhoi teimlad o bwrpas i rywun, ac mae’n lle da i gychwyn os nad oes gennych brofiad o arddio.

Gofynnais i Iwan os oedd eisiau rhannu ei gyngor ar dyfu a gofalu am blanhigion – mae’n arddwr profiadol erbyn hyn, gan ei fod wrthi ers yn blentyn bach. Roedd hefyd eisiau rhannu ei gyngor ar gadw ieir, rhag ofn bod unrhyw un yn meddwl cael ieir i’w cadw’n hapus! Mae llawer o dystiolaeth am fuddion therapiwtig cadw ieir hefyd.

Fy enw i yw Iwan Ford. Rwy’n 8 oed ac yn byw yn Blaenafon. Y dyddiau hyn, rydw i adref gyda Mam a Dad drwy’r amser. Mae’n iawn, ond rwy’n colli fy ffrindiau a fy nghefndryd. Rydyn ni’n lwcus iawn achos mae ganddo ni ddwy ardd a dwy iâr. Enwau’r ieir yw Barbara a Millie. Roedd gen i iâr arall o’r enw Penny, ond roedd hi’n sâl iawn a bu farw ychydig wythnosau yn ôl. Fe wnaethon ni ei chladdu yn yr ardd.

Fe gawson ni Millie pan glywodd rhywun fod Barbara ar ben ei hun. Silkie yw Millie, ac mae’n ddoniol iawn ac yn drwsgwl. Mae ganddi draed mawr ac mae’n cerdded dros bopeth. Mae’n gyfeillgar iawn ac yn fy nilyn rownd yr ardd. Mae gan ieir silkie glustiau glas a phlu blewog. Iâr fantam yw Barbara, ac mae ganddi blu hardd iawn. Mae plu oren o gwmpas ei gwddw. Mae’n dodwy wyau bach iawn ond mae nhw’n flasus iawn. Mae nhw’n amlwg yn ieir hapus iawn.

Rwy’n helpu Mam a Dad gyda’r garddio achos mae ganddo ni randir a gardd wrth y tŷ. Rwy’n hoffi plannu, dyfrio a hel llysiau a ffrwythau. Mae gen i ardd lysiau fach fy hun ac rwy wedi plannu ffa Ffrengig, pwmpen, maro a ffa coch yn barod. Mae hadau angen pridd da a digon o gompost, haul a dŵr. Rhaid i chi gofio dyfrio yn aml neu chewch chi ddim planhigion.

Cyngor plannu Iwan:

• Llenwch y potiau gyda chompost. Rhowch yr hedyn i mewn. Weithiau byddwch yn llenwi hanner y pot gyda chompost, rhoi’r hedyn i mewn ac wedyn mwy o gompost. Weithiau byddwch yn llenwi’r pot a gwneud twll gyda’ch bys i roi’r hedyn i mewn. Cofiwch ddyfrio, a bydd yr hadau yn tyfu mewn ychydig wythnosau. Pan fyddan nhw wedi tyfu ychydig, a dim perygl o rew, gallwch eu plannu yn y ddaear.
• Dim gardd? Gallwch blannu tatws mewn bwcedi neu fagiau compost. Mae tomatos yn tyfu fel hyn hefyd.
• Cofiwch ysgrifennu enwau’r planhigion ar ffyn hufen ia a’u rhoi yn y potiau, er mwyn cofio beth yw beth.

Cyngor ieir Iwan:

• Dyw ieir silkie ddim yn crwydro achos dydyn nhw ddim yn hedfan, felly mae nhw’n berffaith ar gyfer gerddi bychan.
• Mae baw ieir yn dda i’r pridd. Pan mae’r compost baw ieir yn barod, gallwch ei gymysgu yn y pridd i gael planhigion mawr a chryf.
• Mae ieir yn hoffi cynrhon blawd. Rydyn ni’n rhoi rhai i’r ieir ac yn rhoi rhai i adar yr ardd hefyd. ‘Beaky and Feather’ yw hoff fwyd ieir, ac mae’n gwneud i’w plu sgleinio.