May 2010
Building a roundhouse the work continues
We've been working on the purling which will hold the thatch. I'm really interested in how we build the roof. Dafydd, Tim and Andy have even allowed me to help out! I'll be in the Village between Monday and Thursday next week. If you are around call in.
Some sad news
One of the peregrine chicks has died. We are now down to three chicks in the nest.
Staff, and our peregrine-cam visitors, noticed yesterday that there were only two chicks in the nest. So our first thought was that we had lost two!
Luckily the third chick returned to the nest in the evening after having been on a journey around the clock tower ledge.
Today the RSPB project officer has spent the day looking for the fourth chick, but to no avail. It seems unlikely that the chick is still alive.
One possible explanation is that the chick was the weakest of the four, and that the hot weather over the last few days has been too much for it to cope.
The three remaining chicks look very healthy and have a very good chance of surviving, particularly as the weather seems to be getting cooler.
Feeding time at the peregrine nest
Last week our Museum photographer took some stunning pictures of the peregrines from the Museum's roof. We hired a 600mm F4 lens with a 2x converter to enable us to zoom in to the nest.
Here are some images of the 4 chicks and the parents feeding the chicks.
Feeding Time @ Nest Cam!
Moth Night
Thanks to everyone who came to the Moth Night last Saturday. It was the first time we've had a moth night at St Fagans and I found it very interesting. I'll definitely like to do more in the future!
My personal favourite moths on the night were the Lunar Marbled Brown and the Nut-Tree Tussock. Here's a list of all the species we found - thanks to Dave at SEWBReC for this!
Micropterix thunbergella
Eriocrania subpurpurella
Agonopterx cf heracliana
Capua vulgana
Dark-barred Twinspot Carpet
Small Phoenix
Golden-rod Pug
Mottled Pug
Brimstone
Coxcomb Prominent
Lunar Marbled Brown
Flame Shoulder
Common Quaker
Hebrew Character
Nut-tree Tussock
Pictures and loads more info on moths can be found at UK Moths
Chicks at St Fagans!
Follow our Great Tit nest box camera at St Fagans!http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2736/
Eight eggs were laid on the 27th of April and finally hatched yesterday. The chicks are so small you can only really see them when they open their mouths. Mr & Mrs Great Tit are now very busy feeding their family in the woodlands at St.Fagans.
Building a roudhouse - the roof
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The house is taking shape now it's all quite exciting. You can see how it will eventually look when Dafydd and the team have finished their work.
Dafydd's had plenty to think about though. The first six rafters went up easily but then he had to decide where to place the ring-beam - inside or outside the rafters? As you can see from the pictures he place them outside the rafters. You can find out why in Dafydd's diary.
Once the ring beam was placed the next set of rafters went up quickly. They were notched, allowing them to hook onto the ring-beam and then lashed with tarred string. A second ring-beam was then placed lower down. Before long we will be thatching.
Link to Dafydd's diary http://www.theroundhouse.org/dafsdiary.htm
Feeding time for the Peregrine chicks
Some superb views of the adults feeding the 4 chicks today.
After last year's disappointment having 4 chicks this year is fantastic and they all look very healthy.
They are growing rapidly so keep watching to see how they are doing.
Art cart Passports
The idea of making passports came from the Italians in Wales exhibition (which has just finished in Oriel 1). The exhibition contained lots of personal stories and we therefore decided to create passports on the artcart so that the children taking part could think about where they and their family have come from, where they have visited and where they woudl like to go. Once finished, the passports were stamped with a St Fagans: National History Museum stamp for offical reasons.....
I hope you enjoy the pictures below, apologies for the poor quality of my photography but the lighting is quite subdued in the gallery!
Art Cart - Passports
Thank you to everyone who came to the art cart over the bank holiday weekend to make passports. There was some fantastic work and i'll be putting up some more pictures as soon as possible!
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Natural science collections in Welsh museums – a Distributed National Collection
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