In our garden for waifs and strays, you will find a wizards’ tree. Once known as ‘Fid na ndruad’, the rowan tree has been associated with witches and magic. This is probably because of its bright red berries being the right colour for fighting evil. So it is no wonder that people in Wales who once believed this superstition, would often plant a rowan tree in a churchyard to protect against evil. But there is no evil in the garden for waifs and strays, just magic!

      Rowan, or Sorbus aucuparia  (its scientific name) has many uses, from its berries to its wood. The berries are rich in vitamin C and quite edible once cooked. They make wonderful jelly and jams. But be sure you are picking the correct berries.

Rowan Jelly

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Rowan berries, cleaned
• 400 ml Water,
• gelling agent (pectin)

Preparation:

Place the berries in a pan, add the water and cover. Heat to simmering, then cover and let it sit overnight. Strain through a cheesecloth. Follow the instructions on the gelling agent package to make the jelly with the resultant juice. Should make about 1 litre of juice.

     Walking sticks are carved from the rowan trees smooth and silvery grey wood, which is strong and resilient. Spinning wheels and spindles were traditionally made and the bark was used by the Druids as a dye.

        So this incredible small tree that can live to be 200 years old, can sit in our garden for as long as it likes.  Whether or not it has magical powers, it is magical just looking at it.  And a song was also written about it in 1822 by Lady Carolina Nairne (1766-1845) that went like this.....

 Oh rowan tree, oh rowan tree,
Thoul't aye be dear to me.
Entwin'd thou art wi' mony ties,
O' hame and infancy.
Thy leaves were aye the first o spring,
Thy flowr's the simmer's pride:
There was na sic a bonnie tree,
In all the country side.
Oh rowan tree.

Miss Peri Winkle (Littorina littorea) is one of the slowest moving snails in the world. ‘Why hurry? Don’t worry, is her motto.  So she travels at about 1 -2 metres per hour. But if she is pushed for time, as young lady’s often are, then she can up her speed to about 5 metres an hour.

     When she gets too hot, Miss Peri Winkle will roll down the slope and plop into the water! But if she accidentally lands upside-down on the rocks or the sand, she could be in BIG trouble! So big, that Miss Peri Winkle won’t be able to eat and could possibly die. Unless of course, the sea comes in and turns her up the right way!

     And if she did die (God forbid!) then poor Miss Peri Winkle’s leftover shell will soon be on the market as a home for a Hermit Crab. Shameful!

      Her daily diet consists of seaweed and algae, which she finds disgusting but was taught by her mother to eat what’s put in front of her or go without.

      'You will live for ten years if you look after yourself!' Her mother often reminds her.

      So with starvation as her only option, Miss Peri Winkle reluctantly eats her food. Although at times, she has threatened to go and live at the home for waifs and strays.

       These so called pebbles of the sea cope with dehydration quite well! In fact, they can survive for many weeks without being in the water. They withdraw into their shells and close the operculum (hornlike lid) that’s just above their foot. A mucus is then secreted that hardens in the air and the shell sticks to the rocks.

        So if you see Miss Peri Winkle down on the beach, lying on her back, please turn her over or put her in a pool....she isn’t sunbathing, she’s dying!

     .

Think of pirates and one will often think of the Caribbean or some out of the way exotic islands but the coast of Wales was once littered with pirates and their ships.

     Take for instance, the infamous Henry Morgan, Haven-born Howell Davis, William Arthur, John Griffiths, Black Bart and Leaky Porridge. They were all pirates who used the secluded Welsh bays to store or to upload their treasure, probably whisky!

      Leaky Porridge got caught and sent to jail in Tenby, after someone spotted him wearing a captains silver buckle which had been stolen some time before. He only just avoided hanging when he was sent to The Royal Navy instead, as a quartermaster.

      Bays like Brandy Cove, Brandy Brook, Ogof Tobacco, Ogof Whisky (‘ogof ‘ means cave) were named after the piracy that went on, a sort of legacy you could say.

      I heard stories as a child about tunnels that went from farms to the beach which were almost two miles long. And it is here I shall let you into a little secret, I know of one such tunnel! But that is all I can say about that.

      Now during the Spanish Invasion, attempts were made to control the pirates after fear arose about raids being organized by the North African “Barbary Corsairs”. But it was not until the Napoleonic Wars, when Royal Navy ships began to patrol along the coastline that piracy came to an end. But did it ever come to an end? I wonder!

Summer is always welcome at our home for waifs and strays and no-one loves it more than the hens, especially the ones that have never seen sunshine before. Not only do they glory in sunbathing, but they love nothing better than to take a dust-bath.

     They scratch and bill-rake the ground before stretching out their feathers and squatting in the dust. Then begins the vertical wing-shaking, head rubbing and scratching themselves with one leg, it’s fascinating to watch, if you’re that way inclined.    

      It’s all in a good cause, to clean their feathers and remove any irritating parasites. I sometimes think I should take a leaf out of their book and do the same thing. If only it were that easy to remove irritating people from our own skin!

      Well moving swiftly on, it is interesting to note that even battery hens feel the need to dust-bath even without any dust. They will struggle to clean themselves in the bits of food that has fallen from their feeding troughs. This is called sham-dusting. It is disgraceful that we treat these animals in such a way that they are denied washing facilities. A basic need for all animals, including us!

      But here at our home for waifs and strays, these rescued hens have all the mod cons, such as earth, grass, rain and sunshine. Everything they need for a better quality of life. A life they deserve!

Doctor Arenicola Marina (his scientific name of course) prefers the quite life down in the burrow beneath the sand, not far from the home for waifs and strays. For entertainment, he listens to the goings on above ground. This seems to be far louder during the summer months and can get a wee bit annoying.

     Being a lugworm can be lonely at times and very occasionally, he will risk his life and peep up through the sand to check what’s going on. Despite being an old man at almost six years, he still likes to slide up the head shaft to where he can enter the small saucer-shaped depression, which is a simple design made when Doctor Arenicola Marina eats the sand then uses the basin as a toilet. However, he does risks having his bottom pecked off by bottom eating birds that watch his every move. But Doctor Arenicola Marina is very clever and has only lost is bottom once. He has since, grown another bottom which he carefully guards when needs are a must. Now opposite the tail shaft you will notice a curly sand cast made by the doctor himself. You can see why I call him Doctor Arenicola Marina, as he is like my kind and unassuming husband, very clever! At this point, I must tell you that my kind and unassuming husband has never had his bottom pecked off by any bird, he is much too smart to let happen.

      Doctor Arenicola Marina sighs to himself as he watches for birds that are out to get him, but quick to sense if danger is near. Being around 9” long, he is easy to target from the air.

       Now Doctor Arenicola Marina isn’t always a lonely old lugworm. He has many children swimming in the sea and living in burrows just like his own. What Doctor Arenicola Marina must have, I have come to the conclusion, is an imagination. That, in itself, is what keeps him going.