: Addysg

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I would like to say a huge thank you to all the schools who have uploaded their weather data to the website. For anyone new to the Blog, we have 175 schools across the country taking weather readings for every day they are in school from November to March! Our Super Scientists are exploring the effects of weather on the flowering dates of spring bulbs! 

The MET Office has described November 2024 as a month of two halves, because the weather for the first two weeks was mild and relatively warm but the following two weeks were wet, windy and even snowy! This is reflected in your comments; at the beginning of the month many of you commented on not having much rain. In the second half there were reports of lots of rain and some snow! This was the snowiest November since 2010!

Only one school has mentioned Storm Bert, but this was the cause of lots of the rainfall that you reported. You may have seen lots of discussions around flooding and weather warnings in the news. You can learn more about weather warnings here: Weather Warnings And more about named storms here: Weathering the Storm

Storm season runs from September to August, which aligns nicely with our investigation. Storm Bert was the second named storm this storm season. We've also had storm Ashley and storm Conall. You can see the names for this seasons storms in the image on the right. Last storm season was the stormiest since naming UK storms began in 2015. Last year we had 12 named storms and by this time last year there had already been four named storms and the fifth was on it's way! 

Lets take a look at your comments to see how the project is going in schools across the UK. I'm excited to report that many schools have noticed some green shoots in their pots!

Messages to Professor Plant

Eveswell Primary
Comment:
Hello professor, sorry that we could not send u this data until now. I am in year six now so I'm going to move on to high school so I probably won't see you ever again so bye for now. I hope you see this message if not that is okay. Please can you reply to me so I know that our data has helped you.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you, Josh! Your data has been extremely helpful, and I want to say a big thank you for all of the work you have done on this project. Please thank everyone at your school that has worked on this as well. I’m sure you will have a fantastic time at your next school!

Ysgol Pennant
Comment:
Ar y dydd Mawrth aeth yr ysgol i wylio sioe yn theatr Hafren felly doedden methu gofnodi.

Professor Plant's Response:
Diolch yn fawr Ysgol Pennant. It’s okay to miss a day—your effort in recording other days is very much appreciated. Thank you for letting me know. 

Weather Observations

Stanford in the Vale Primary School
Comment:
Sorry for the confusion on the 18-22 of November; this is the actual date for last week's temperature.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you for clarifying, Stanford Bulb Scientists. Accurate records are important, and your efforts help us greatly. Keep up the great work!

St Joseph's Cathedral Primary (Swansea)
Comment:
On the 28th, the temperature was not read correctly, so the real temperature was 4 to 8 degrees Celsius. The chart would not let me put two numbers, so I have to make a note. I am not sure about this, but on the 26th, a Tuesday, the rainfall was 49 mm, which I am not sure is correct. Sorry if this reading is wrong.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you for adding these detailed notes with your readings Mammals! It’s okay if readings are sometimes uncertain—it’s all part of learning science. You’ve shown good scientific skills by questioning your readings and noting your thoughts on these. 

Henllys Church in Wales School
Comment:
All good big change in rainfall.

Professor Plant's Response:
Great observation! Sudden changes in rainfall can tell us a lot about the weather patterns. Keep an eye on those gauges!

Ysgol Llanddulas
Comment:
We saw more rain this week.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you, Roaring Reptiles! It sounds like you’ve had some wet weather—perfect for bulbs to grow!

Bryn Deri Primary
Comment:
There has been a lot more rain recently, especially on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of November—which is not shown on our data (the weekend). We have also had some frosty mornings. Our bulbs have begun to shoot. 

Professor Plant's Response:
Wonderful observations, Bryn Deri! Rain and frost make for an interesting combination. Keep watching those bulbs—they’re on their way!

Cornist Park C.P
Comment:
Monday: It is cloudy today. 
Tuesday: The weather is damp and cloudy.
Wednesday: There is lots of frost today.
Thursday: It is very cold and lots of white frost.
Friday: It is cold and sunny.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you, Cornist Park team, for such detailed daily updates! It’s great to see how all of you are working together to capture the weather conditions.

Bwlchgwyn Primary School
Comment:
This week we were off school for 3.5 days because of heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures. Even today, we cannot accurately look at the rain gauge because it is just so full of snow. We have managed to record the temperatures, but our gauge for the 4 days was just overflowing with snow.

Professor Plant's Response:
Thank you, Fish Group! Snowfall can make data collection tricky, but you’ve done a brilliant job despite the challenges. If this happens again you could bring the rain gauge into the classroom and wait for the ice or snow to melt before taking your rain readings. You could compare the reading before and after it melts too! 

Langbank Primary School
Comment:
Snowed on Friday.

Professor Plant's Response:
How exciting! Snow makes everything look magical—thank you for sharing this detail.

Doonfoot Primary School
Comment:
VERY WET on Monday; okay weather for the rest of the week.

Professor Plant's Response:
It sounds like Monday was a challenging start to the week, but you’ve captured the variation in weather in your comments. Thank you!

Plant Growth Observations

Alloway Primary School
Comment:
Some bulbs have started to grow.

Professor Plant's Response:
That’s fantastic news! Well done, Alloway Primary. Keep monitoring their progress as they continue to grow.

St Mary’s Primary School - Newry
Comment:
There was lots of rainfall over the weekend. Extreme frost and fog and a bit of snow.

Professor Plant's Response:
It sounds like you’ve had some wintry weather! Great job keeping track. Frost and snow can be challenging for bulbs, but they’re tough little plants.

Ysgol Tycroes
Comment:
We had snow this week, but not enough to stick. Our mystery plants have started to grow; we can see stalks with small spikey leaves on them both.

Professor Plant's Response:
How exciting that you’ve seen some snow and that your plants have started to grow! Keep watch over your plants to see what happens next. 

St Michael’s RC Primary
Comment:
We are enjoying taking care of the plants. We haven’t had much rain.

Professor Plant's Response:
Fantastic work, St Michael’s. I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying the project and that your plants are in good hands!

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I want to say a big thank you to all of the participating schools who worked hard planting bulbs for the project. Together we planted over 18 thousand bulbs across the UK and from the photos I’ve seen, it looks as though everyone had great fun doing it! 

All schools taking part in the project will be collecting weather data from 4 November until 28 March. They will be uploading these records regularly to the Amgueddfa Cymru website, along with comments and weather observations. We'll be learning a lot together over the school year. 

Resources are available on the website that explore different aspects of the project, including ideas for additional experiments and guides to making short videos for the Bulbcast competition!  

I'll be sure to share more photos and comments from schools to the Blog in the coming weeks. 

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies,

Professor Plant

The Urban Meadow at National Museum Cardiff is a little haven for pollinators in the city centre. On a summer’s day it is teeming with bees, hoverflies, grasshoppers, ladybirds and craneflies. 

Monitoring the meadow, and managing it for wildlife, is vital to make sure it continues to provide an environment where these creatures can thrive. Mowing too frequently, or not removing ‘problem plants’ like brambles and trees, could damage the harmonious interplay between different types of plant.

This year, with help from Greening Cathays and support from the National Heritage Lottery Innovation Fund, we’ve been trialling new methods of surveying the plant life so that Volunteers and non-specialist Museum staff can help us keep track of the meadow biodiversity. This will help us to manage the meadow in the future.

As well as contributing to our understanding of the meadow, our staff and volunteers have reported the well-being benefits of working outdoors:

“If I could, I would stay out here all day, it’s such a nice environment to be in”.

“I feel like I’m doing work – but it doesn’t have the stress of work. It’s the perfect balance”.

Staff and volunteers have also felt more motivated or confident to get involved outside of work:

“I have patch of grass at home, I’m now on a mission to rewild it. I really want to know how to do that, I feel more motivated now I’ve seen what can be there”.

"It’s quite empowering feeling you've recorded data that will be used, makes me want to get involved in more things like this".

What did we find?

On the Urban Meadow plants such as Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) and Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) add colour to this part of the city every summer. The appearance of the meadow changes subtly throughout the season, depending on which plants are in flower.

Several native grasses, including Meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis), Cock’s-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and Timothy (Phleum pratense) grow on the meadow.  However, we do not want the grasses to outcompete other species.

The vegetation surveys demonstrated that, although the meadow is relatively small, there is a mosaic of plant communities, reflecting small-scale differences in environmental factors.  For example, we found that one corner of the meadow is damper than the other three corners and a charmingly named grass called Yorkshire-fog (Holcus lanatus) has dominated here. 

To let other flowering plants, which attract insects for pollination, have some space to grow we are going to invite staff to help with sowing seeds of Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus minor) this autumn. 

This annual plant is a parasite on grasses (Poaceae) meaning it gets nutrients by penetrating the roots of the grass, and restricting the its growth. Many meadows may need an application of Yellow-rattle seed this autumn because the grasses have coped better with the hot weather than the smaller brightly coloured plants. The Yellow-rattle seeds are sown in the autumn because they need to sit in the soil during the winter and experience the cold to germinate. The yellow flowers appear in spring, followed by seed pods which ‘rattle’.

We will also create training opportunities for staff and volunteers to help with scything the meadow to get the ground ready for the next year.

The Urban Meadow hasn’t just been an opportunity to increase biodiversity at National Museum Cardiff, it has helped people too. Cultivating a wildflower meadow takes years but is a testament to the resilience and ever-changing charm of the natural world. We hope to continue working with staff and volunteers to care for our meadow, for the benefit of people and plants.

Annwyl Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Dyma un o fy hoff adegau o'r flwyddyn! Bydd ysgolion ledled y DU yn gadael y dosbarth i blannu bylbiau fel rhan o Ymchwiliad Bylbiau'r Gwanwyn i Ysgolion. Anfonwyd bwlb crocws a chennin Pedr ar gyfer pob disgybl yn y dosbarth rhestredig i'w blannu ar 21 Hydref (neu'r dyddiad agosaf posib). Edrychaf ymlaen at rannu eu lluniau gwych hefo chi. Rydym yn cynnal Cystadleuaeth Ffotograffiaeth Diwrnod Plannu bob blwyddyn, felly gwyliwch y Blog Bylbiau hwn i weld y delweddau buddugol a dilyn @Professor_Plant ar X/Twitter i weld yr holl luniau gwych yn cael eu rhannu!

Mae gennym lawer o adnoddau digidol ar y wefan. Mae rhai yn benodol i'r ymchwiliad ond mae'n bosib addasu rhai ar gyfer eich ysgol hyd yn oed os nad ydy'ch yn cymryd rhan eleni. Dyma'r adnoddau sef yn addas at gam hwn o'r ymchwiliad:

Cam 1: Paratoi i plannu (dechrau mis Hydref)

Cam 2: Diwrnod plannu

Cam 3: Gweithgareddau ymarferol dewisol i wneud a'r tywydd a garddio

Cystadleuath Bylbcast

Hwn yr ail flwyddyn i ni gynnal y gystadleuaeth Bylbcast. Mae hon yn dasg hwyliog a chreadigol y gall dosbarthiadau gweithio ar drwy gydol yr ymchwiliad. Gofynnir i'n wyddonwyr ifanc gynllunio, recordio a chyflwyni fideo byr yn archwilio eu hoff rannau o'r ymchwiliad. Mae adnoddau i gefnogi'r dasg hon ar gael fan yma, a bydd yr enillwyr eu cyhoeddi cyn diwedd y flwyddyn academaidd. Alla i ddim aros i weld beth mae'r meddyliau creadigol eleni  yn cynhyrchu. Tybed faint o ysgolion fydd yn sôn am ddiwrnod plannu yn eu ceisiadau?

Anfonwyd adnodd newydd i'r ysgolion sy'n cymryd rhan eleni, calendr hwyliog sydd wedi'i gynllunio'n arbennig i helpu'r dosbarth i gofnodi eu data tywydd a blodau. Mae hyn yn cynnwys dyddiadau pwysig ar gyfer yr ymchwiliad a strwythur arfaethedig ar gyfer trefnu'r casgliad data. Gall athrawon ddewis i rannu eu dosbarth yn bum grŵp, sydd i gyd yn cymryd eu tro i ddogfennu a uwchlwytho data'r tywydd. Y gobaith yw y bydd hyn yn helpu i berchnogi'r ymchwiliad i'r plant. 

Edrychaf ymlaen at rannu datblygiadau ddiweddaraf yr ymchwiliad hefo chi. Rwy'n gobeithio eich bod yn dathlu'r Diwrnod Plannu, wrth i ysgolion ledled y DU ymuno â'i gilydd i blannu dros 18,000 o fylbiau yn y weithred gyfunol hon ar gyfer natur. Gwaith Gwych Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn! 

Athro'r Ardd

Dros Wyliau'r Haf dyma ni'n lansio bocsys teganau synhwyraidd yn Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd. Mae 5 bocs, wedi'u hysbrydoli gan y casgliadau a'r orielau. Datblygwyd y bocsys er mwyn cysylltu ag ymwelwyr iau, a gwellau eu hymweliad drwy chwarae synhwyraidd. Mae'r bocsys ar gael mewn pum oriel, ac yn llawn gwrthrychau sy'n cyfateb â'r orielau – bywyd gwyllt y goedwig, bwyd y môr, deinosoriaid, a chelf hanesyddol a modern.

Yn y bocsys mae amrywiaeth o deganau a llyfrau i blant o bob oed ac anghenion. Pan nad oes cyfle i gyffwrdd gwrthrychau yn y casgliad, mae adnoddau synhwyraidd yn gyfle i blant ddysgu drwy chwarae, a gall hyn danio sgwrs rhwng y cenedlaethau am y casgliadau.  

Rydyn ni'n annog ymwelwyr i chwilio am y 5 bocs a rhannu unrhyw adborth a lluniau gyda ni ar @Amgueddfa_Learn ar X.