Bydd Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau yn bymtheg oed yr hydref hwn, felly yn ddiweddar mae staff wedi bod yn edrych trwy ein harchif o'r seremoni agoriadol ar 17eg Hydref 2005.

Steph Mastoris Pennaeth Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau yn darllen barddoniaeth Gwyneth Lewis yn seremoni agoriadol yr Amgueddfa

Roedd y diwrnod hwnnw'n foment wych o ddathlu, gan fod yr amgueddfa wedi cymryd tua phum mlynedd i gynllunio, adeiladu a llenwi ag arddangosfeydd hynod ddiddorol ar stori diwydiannu Cymru dros y pedair canrif ddiwethaf. Hefyd, oherwydd bod arddangosfeydd rhyngweithiol bryd

Steph Mastoris Pennaeth Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau yn darllen barddoniaeth Gwyneth Lewis yn seremoni agoriadol yr Amgueddfa

hynny’n dal i fod yn beth newydd iawn i amgueddfeydd, roedd cryn ddiddordeb cyhoeddus yn yr hyn a oedd yn cael ei ddisgrifio fel amgueddfa ddigidol gyntaf Cymru.

Mynychodd dros 200 o westeion y seremoni agoriadol a gynhaliwyd gan y Prif Weinidog (ar y pryd), Rhodri Morgan, a’r seren rygbi, Syr Gareth Edwards. Cyfansoddodd Bardd Cenedlaethol cyntaf Cymru, Gwyneth Lewis, gerdd ddwyieithog er anrhydedd i'r amgueddfa a darllenwyd hon yn y seremoni agoriadol gan Geidwad Diwydiant yr Amgueddfa Genedlaethol, Dr David Jenkins, a finne.

Yn wir, yr oedd yn ddiwrnod i'w gofio.

A Day in the Life of a Natural History Curator

My name is Jennifer Gallichan and I am one of the natural history curators at National Museum Cardiff. I care for the Mollusc (i.e. snails, slugs, mussels, and octopus) and Vertebrate (things with backbones) collections. Just like everybody else, museum curators are adapting to working from home. But what did we use to do on a 'normal' day, before the days of lockdown?

Caring for the National Collections

Most of our specimens are not on display. Amgueddfa Cymru holds 3.5 million natural history specimens and the majority are held behind the scenes in stores. Caring for the collections is an important part of our role as curators. We have to meticulously catalogue the specimens to ensure that all of the specimens are accounted for. As you can imagine, finding one object amongst 3.5 million could take a while.

Natural history collections cover a whole range of materials including shells, dried plants, minerals, fossils, stuffed animals, bones, pinned insects and fluid preserved specimens (this includes things in jars).

These collections are vital for research, education, exhibitions and display. Some have been in the museum for well over a century, and it is our role to ensure they last into the next century and beyond. We work with specially trained Conservators to monitor the collections and highlight anything that might be at risk, needs cleaning or repair.

Answering your Questions

We spend a lot of time working with you, our fantastic visitors. Much of our time is spent answering the thousands of enquiries we receive every year from families, school children, amateur scientists, academics of all kinds, journalists and many more. We also host open days and national events throughout the year which are another great opportunity to share the collections. Many of us are STEM (Science, Technology Engineering & Mathematics) ambassadors, so an important part of our role inspiring and engaging the next generation of scientists.

Working with Volunteers

Our museums are crammed full of fascinating objects and interesting projects to inspire and enjoy. We spend a lot of time with our excellent volunteers, helping them to catalogue and conserve the collections, guiding them through the often intricate and tricky jobs that it has taken us decades to perfect.

Working with Other Museums

Museums across the world are connected by a huge network of curators. We oversee loans of specimens to all parts of the globe so that we can share and learn from each other’s collections. We have to be ready to deal with all manner of tricky scenarios such as organising safe transport of a scientifically valuable shell, or packing up and transporting a full sized Bison for exhibition.

Working with Visitors

Despite the fact that a large part of the collections are behind the scenes, they are open to visitors. Researchers from across the globe come to access our fantastic collections to help with their studies. We also host tours of the collections on request.

Making Collections Bigger and Better

Despite having millions of specimens, museum collections are not static and continue to grow every year. Be it an old egg collection found in an attic, or a prize sawfish bill that has been in the family for generations, it’s an important part of a curator’s job to inspect and assess each and every object that we are offered. Is it a scientifically important collection or rare? Has it been collected legally? Do we know where and when it was collected? Is it in a good condition? Do we have the space?

Creating New Exhibitions

A fun part of the job is working with our brilliant Exhibitions department to develop and install new exhibitions. We want museums to be exciting and inspiring places for everyone so we spend a lot of time making sure that the information and specimens we exhibit are fun, engaging, inspiring and thought provoking.

Being Scientists

Last but definitely not least, when we aren’t doing all of the above, we are doing actual science. Museums are places of learning for visitors and staff alike. Many of us are experts in our field and undertake internationally-recognised research. This research might find us observing or collecting specimens out in the field, sorting and identifying back in the lab, describing new species or researching the millions of specimens already in the collections.

Museums from Home?

Despite lockdown, we are working hard to keep the collections accessible. We’re answering queries, engaging with people online, writing research papers and chipping away at collection jobs from home. And like all of you, we are very much looking forward to when the museum opens its doors once again.

If you want to find out more about the things we get up to in the museum, why not check us out on Twitter or follow our blog? You can also find out more about all of the members of the Natural Sciences department here.

Roedd Augusta Hall, Arglwyddes Llanofer ( 21 Mawrth 1892 – 17 Ionawr 1896) yn eiriolwr ac yn gefnogwr brwd i Ddiwydiant Gwlân Cymru a thraddodiadau ein Cenedl. Yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol 1834 cyflwynodd draethawd yn dwyn y teitl `Y Manteision yn Deillio o Gadw'r Iaith Gymraeg a'r Wisg Draddodiadol' ac ennillodd y wobr gyntaf. Cymerodd yr enw barddol "Gwenynen Gwent".

Gwisg Telynor o Stâd Llanofer

Yn 1865 comisiynodd adeiladu Melin Wlân Gwenffrwd ar ystâd Llanofer ger y Fenni. Cyflawnodd y felin yr holl weithrediadau ar gyfer cynhyrchu gwlân a chynhyrchu brethyn trwm a oedd yn cael ei wneud yn ddillad i'r gweithwyr yn y tŷ ac ar y stad.

Gwisg Telynor o Stâd Llanofer

Gwnaed deunydd o'r felin hefyd yn ddillad i Arglwyddes Llanofer a'i ffrindiau, wedi'u steilio ar ei syniadau ei hun o wisg draddodiadol Gymreig. Parhaodd y felin i gynhyrchu tan y 1950au gan ddefnyddio offer a osodwyd gan Arglwyddes Llanofer.

Gweithiwr ym Melin Wlân Gwenffrwd

Gwobr uchaf y Sefydliad Bad Achub Brenhinol am ddewrder yw ei Fedal Aur, dim ond 150 ohonynt sydd wedi'u gwobrwyo ers 1824. Yn rhyfeddol, cyflwynwyd dwy Fedal Aur i Richard Evans (1905-2001), Llywiwr Bad Achub Moelfre, Ynys Môn, am ei waith arwrol yn achub ar y môr.

Enillodd Richard Evans ei Fedal Aur gyntaf ar 27 Hydref 1959 pan achosodd corwynt yr M.V. Hindlea, llong cargo bach, i lusgo'i angor ym Mae Moelfre gan achosi iddi gael ei gyrru at yr arfordir creigiog. Fe roddodd capten yr Hindlea y gorchymyn i adael y llong pan oedd hi ond 200 llath o’r lan. Cymrodd llywiwr Evans bad achub wrth gefn Moelfre, yr Edmund a Mary Robinson, gyda chriw anghyflawn, yn agos at y llong ddeg gwaith, gan alluogi’r criw wyth dyn i neidio fesul un ar y bad achub. Yn ystod yr achub, golchwyd y bad achub ar ddec y llong ac yn ôl i ffwrdd, a bu’n rhaid i’r llywiwr symud yn beryglus o agos at bropelor y llong a oedd yn corddi ar gyflymder llawn, ar adegau allan o’r dŵr ac uwchlaw’r bad achub. Ar un adeg fe aeth y bad achub drosodd nes bod ei fast o dan y dŵr cyn dod yn ôl i fyny. Ddeng munud ar hugain ar ôl i'r olaf o'r criw gael eu hachub, tarodd yr Hindlea'r creigiau a'i dryllio.

R.N.L.B. Watkin Williams, bad achub Moelfre rhwng 1957 a 1977, lle enillodd Richard Evans ei ail Fedal Aur R.N.L.I. ym 1966. Rhoddwyd y bad achub i Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru ym 1983 a'i harddangos tan 1998; mae wedi ei storio ar hyn o bryd ond gellir ei weld trwy apwyntiad.

Ar 2 Rhagfyr 1966 enillodd llywiwr Evans ei ail Fedal Aur. Roedd bad achub Moelfre, Watkin William wedi bod ar y môr ers yn gynnar y bore hwnnw ar ôl cael ei alw allan i ddau gwch mewn trafferth. Yna derbyniwyd neges bod y llong cargo o Wlad Roeg M.V. Nafsiporos yn cael ei yrru allan o reolaeth gan wyntoedd 100 milltir yr awr tuag at Bwynt Lynas, bum milltir i'r gogledd o Foelfre, ac aeth badau achub Caergybi a Moelfre i'w chymorth. Achubodd tîm achub Caergybi bump o’r criw a dioddef difrod. Dyma bad achub Moelfre yn achub deg arall o'r criw ond arhosodd y capten a thri aelod o griw’r Nafsiporos ar ei fwrdd. Ar ôl glanio aelodau’r criw a achubwyd ym Moelfre, aeth y llywiwr Evans â’r bad achub yn ôl i’r Nafsiporos a sefyll o’r neilltu drwy’r nos nes i lusgfad o Lerpwl gyrraedd a llwyddo i'w thynnu i harbwr. Dychwelodd y bad achub i Foelfre ar ôl 24 awr ar y môr; roedd y llywiwr Evans, a oedd yn 61 oed ar y pryd, wedi bod wrth y llyw trwy'r amser.

Dros ei 50 mlynedd fel llywiwr bad achub bu Richard Evans yn rhan o 179 o lansiadau a achubodd 281 o fywydau. Yn ychwanegol at ei ddwy Fedal Aur RNLI, am achubiadau eraill rhoddwyd Diolch yr RNLI iddo ar Felwm a Medal Efydd am achub yr RNLI, am yr achub ym 1959 fe'i gwobrwywyd a Medal Arian y Frenhines am ddewrder ar y môr, ac am yr achubad ym 1969 Medal yr Ymerodraeth Brydeinig. Yn 1978 fe'i gwnaed yn Fardd Anrhydeddus yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol.

Most gardeners regard horsetails or scouring rushes (Equisetum) as one of their worst enemies – once this invasive weed is in your garden or allotment, it will spread everywhere and is almost impossible to get rid of (Fig. 1). But of course from the plant’s perspective this is a success story – they are doing what is best for them, not for us!

Today, this genus of highly invasive plants consists of only 15 species (Fig. 2), but they are found throughout the world except in Antarctica. They also have an immensely long evolutionary history spanning over 350 million years.

Fossils of horsetails are commonly found in the Carboniferous age coalfields such as in South Wales. The star-shaped leaf whorls (Annularia) are among the iconic fossils found in these rocks. We now know they were parts of tree-sized plants up to 10 metres or more tall – I have often wondered what today’s gardeners would think if they encountered a living one of these giants!

A couple of years ago, my colleague Pedro Correia sent me a photograph of a fossil Annularia that he had found in Portugal (Fig. 3). In itself, this wouldn’t have been too unusual, but this one had a strange structure attached among the leaves. It almost looked as though it was a seed but of course that was impossible – horsetails do not have seeds, but reproduce by spores, in the same way as ferns. We shared this photograph with other European colleagues and a debate ensued as to what on Earth this could be. For a time it remained a puzzle. But then we showed it to another colleague, Conrad Labandeira from the Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC), who is one of the world’s leading palaeontological experts on insect – plant interactions. He suggested that this was probably a structure known as a gall.  Most galls today are produced when an insect injects chemicals into the plant to produce a swelling, in which it lays an egg. The resulting larva then develops within the gall.

There is evidence of Annularia leaves having been eaten by insects, such a chew-marks around the leaf edge. Conrad had also published evidence some years ago of an insect gall in a Carboniferous tree fern stem. But a gall on a Carboniferous horsetail is most unusual.  For a time we thought this example might be unique. But we then found a paper published back in 1931 by the American palaeobotanist Maxim Elias, who claimed to have found a seed attached to an Annularia. But it is now clear that Elias hadn’t in fact discovered a seed-bearing Annularia, as he had thought, but an insect gall similar to ours.

Fossil galls of this age are extremely rare. What insect produced this one is unknown. The organism was not preserved and most of today’s gall-producing insect groups do not have a fossil record extending this far back in time. All that we can say is that it was probably caused by a member of a now-extinct insect group that presumably produced larvae as part of its life cycle (Fig. 4).

Most horsetails have thick, almost leathery stems and I still find it rather strange that insects produce galls on them. But they do today on at least some horsetails, and it has clearly been of benefit to insects for millions of years. We haven’t yet found one in the Welsh coalfields but, now we know what to look out for, we will be keeping our eyes open!

Correia, P., Bashforth, A.R., Šimůnek, Z., Cleal, C.J., Sá, A.A. & Labandeira, C.C. 2020. The history of herbivory on sphenophytes: a new calamitalean with an insect gall from the Upper Pennsylvanian of Portugal and a review of arthropod herbivory on an ancient lineage. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 181(4).