Helo pawb, sorry I wasn’t able to make the Gwyl Sant cyngerdd, dydan trenau ddim yn cyfleus.
3 Ebrill dim yn dda, ond beth am crwydro-sgwrs yn y Gardd Fotaneg Rhydychen rywbryd ? Digon o feinciau ar gyfer henoedd ! Llawer o bywyd gwyllt hefyd
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It’s nice of you to offer JW, but i can drive if necessary, though of course we could meet half way in Goring, i’m happy to go with the flow.
Cheers J.P.
Actually it was @pippapritchard who first thought of the idea - Goring could be another possibility, but let’s see how that works for Pippa
Hwyl
John
Goring is fine by me!
Helo Caroline - the Botanic Garden’s a possibility and also perhaps a longer walk+sgwrs wedyn around Oxford’s green spaces for those who might like to walk a bit more. Would you like to suggest some possible dates? Then we can see if this is something pawb arall might like to do.
Hwyl
John
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Hi, Here’s some possible dates for me: April 2, 3, 9, 10, 17, 30. May 1, 21, 22, June 25, 26. And of course we could go on to more of Oxford’s lovely green spaces. I seem to remember the Botanic Gdn is quite big. Easy to find lunch, too ! -or bring a picnic ? Hwyl nawr, C.
Diolch Caroline, that’s a nice selection of dates. Wedo already have Goring lined up for 3rd April and some of us will be at Plas Tan y Bwlch on 1st May, but nothing arranged yet for the remaining dates so let’s see which of these works best for others.
Hwyl
John
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O’r gore. The later the better in a way because there’ll be more in bloom. Have a great time in Tan y Bwlch.
Tan toc. C.
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Helo JP. I guess we should be thinking about finalising arrangements for next weekend’s Goring walk+sgwrs. Was your plan to repeat last year’s crwydro up to the Ridgeway and back along the Thames or did you have other thoughts? If it’s the Ridgeway, am I right in thinking that there was a parking area we might be able to use on the left of the lane near where the houses petered out and the Ridgeway proper began?
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Hi J.W. sorry about the slow reply, i have been away for a few days, i gess the same walk as we did before was very good, and it’s easy for anyone to meet at the station.
Cheers J.P.
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OK - thanks JP, as you say it was a very good walk the last time. For anyone who’d like a preview here’s a map showing the route in blue:
The plan is to meet up this Sunday, 3rd April, at 12 noon at Goring & Streatley Station (see map) where there’s a car park right next to the station. As always, all welcome!
Hwyl, John
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A quick reminder about our crwydro+sgwrs this Sunday, 3rd April (details above). At the moment the weather forecast seems good, i.e. dry even if not much sun).
If you’re thinking of joining us but haven’t yet told us, do let us know so that we can look out for you at Goring & Streatley Station.
Hwyl, John
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Waw! What a fantastic crwydro it was today. All 10.5 miles of it.
It started with brechdanau cig moch & @johnwilliams_6 & @ramblingjohn heroically helping to jump start a car (I looked after the bags!). We lost count of the barcutiaid coch flying overhead. Lambs & wild garlic aplenty. We were entertained by the song of the chiffchaff whilst we rested & feasted on possibly the best Welsh cakes I’ve ever tasted courtesy of @johnwilliams_6
Welsh was spoken for over 5.5 hours & it was fun to help out & be helped out when words escaped one of us.
New ones today:
Minlliw - lipstick (just to be clear, it was @ramblingjohn who taught us this one)
Bwgan brain - scarecrow
Argymell - recommend
Craf - wild garlic (yum)
Cornchwiglen - peewit (we didn’t see one but were impressed that @ramblingjohn knew & could say it)
Trychfilod - insects
Di-asgwrn-cefn - invertebrate
Siff-saff - chiffchaff
Pren - wooden
Gelyn - enemy
You can see where this is going…
Blodyn y gwynt - wood anemone
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Pippa, has hinted a little at just what a fantastic day this was.
The problem: we could have spent twice as much time on the walk as there was so much we could
have stopped to watch or investigated further.
The fun actually started with the parking ticket machine (not designed for simpletons like me) and continued through the afternoon.
we discussed but didn’t see Gwennol y bondo - house martin.
skeleton leaf.
Petrisen goesgoch - Red legged partridge (distant but we saw several).
Barcud coch - Red kite (carrying twig for nest building, not a good photo, we saw dozens of these).
Cwningen - Rabbit (yes we saw several of these).
Gwyach fawr gopog - Great crested grebe (on it’s nest, not a great photo but hey dim poeni amdani).
Marddanhadlen wen - White dead nettle.
Many many thanks folks.
Cheers J.P.
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Waw, indeed! Dw i’n cytuno yn cyfan gwbwl - diwrnod yn hollol bendigedig - diolch i bawb!
Seeing the sky filled with barcaid coch and several bwncathod was amazing, and further along the lane a surprised bwncath which had been feasting on cwningen in the hedgerow took flight only a few yards from us leaving his kill dangling on a branch almost within our reach. There were walkers and mountain bikes as we went along the Ridgeway, but taking this route back we saw no one else yn cerdded hyd y llwybr until we reached Afon Tafwys.
…and some more words from the day:
nyth = nest & nith = niece (confusing!)
mulfran = cormorant
elusen = charity
gwas = male servant
morwyn = female servant
hutan y mynydd = dotterel
ailgylchu = recycle
boncyff = stump
bwncath/boncath = buzzard
arlunydd = artist
darlithydd = lecturer
plus - oh dear! - for the diminutive dunnock/hedge sparrow we saw there seems to be a mountain of words (from Greiadur Prifysgol Cymru: http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html) :
- llwyd bach
llwyd y dom
llwyd y berth
llwyd y gwrych
llwyd y grug
llwyd y clawdd
llwyd y baw
@ramblingjohn knew the name Cymraeg at once but I forget now which of these it was - maybe llwyd y gwrych ?
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I think it was llwyd y gwrych.
These are the words I was thinking of when I was trying to talk about securing my wildlife camera:
Clo - lock
Clo clwt - padlock
Tan glo - locked (under lock & key)
Ar glo - locked
Glo - coal
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Yes it was, as that is what i have in Iolo’s book, but expect to come across many local names over time as with English.
Gwrych seems to be the correct word for hedge, but i often read perthi is used for hedge though it is more the word for shrubs.
Cheers J.P.
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Thanks @pippapritchard & @ramblingjohn - some reassurance that my memory is not quite as bad as I feared!
Coincidentally bore 'ma, I noticed that the latest Lingo Newydd said that ‘gwrych’ was the word for hedge in Y De but yn Y Gogledd it was ‘clawdd’. Having checked ‘dom’ and ‘baw’ just now and finding they refer to dung and mud, I’m now wondering if ‘dunnock’ might perhaps derived from ‘dung-cock’??
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We’re getting to know this sweet little bird quite well between us. I’ve found other English names to be Hedge Sparrow, Shufflewing, Scrubber or Creepie & Dunnock itself to mean brown (dun) little bird, the ock seemingly a diminutive like ito in Spanish. I hope it is a Scrubber because it likes being in the scrub.
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As a toddler in Norfolk, this bird was a ‘hedge betty’, i have no idea why but that area certainly had a lot of different names for things.
I have been using ‘tail’ and ‘mwd’,
These, day’s out are so very very good, then we have a month to try and remember/consolidate, i’m certainly not content with my amount of welsh or speed of learning, i have to say the monthly ramble is proving to be the most useful measure of progress for me.
It does seem like we are able to guess what the other person is trying to say when the conversation becomes hesitant, and the three way mutual help just works really really well without anyone ever deciding this is what we should do.
The most strange event was when i knew a plant name in Welsh but could not remember it’s English name, words are vieing for position it would seem.
Cheers J.P.
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