Oxford SSiW - additional meetups?

Thanks @ramblingjohn for bumping tomorrow’s walk (Sat 16th Jan). Weather prospects look pretty good - lots of sun although cold (2-3C feeling like 0-1C). For anyone who might be interested we’re going to meet at 12:00 at the Wytham Wood parking area near the Botley Roundabout - see map:


By public transport there are buses along Botley Rd to Seacourt Park & Ride from the station or central Oxford, but you’ll need to walk from the P&R to the Wytham Wood parking area (See map)(with enough notice might be possible to arrange a lift)

By car, depending on which direction you come from, you might need to go a little way along the A34, take the Wytham village turn, then immediately left to double back along the lane (see map)

Hope to see you there. Hwyl, John

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Well, there we are another good welsh trip out which contained many different aspects. As usual words were lost and found and so the learning continues. We saw a fair selection of birds even a sparrow hawk (Gwalch glas) that was not stopping for a photo. We found the duck pond but no ducks as it was frozen over, though we did find a feather to show something had been there. And we saw plenty of fungus.

Ffwng cwrel - probably Ramaria stricta.


Byssomerulius corium - needed two images to show growth form under old branches and don’t have welsh or english name for it. But a really nice find.

Now a list for @pippapritchard
The large Ganoderma australe or applenatum (need microscope to tell the difference).
Ysgwydd y fedwen - Birch polypore.
Auricularia mesenterica - Tripe fungus (Treip yn cymraeg).
Hymenachaeta rubiginosa - Oak curtain crust (looks rusty under old oak lying on ground).
Hyphadontia sambuci - Elder white wash.
Xylaria polymorpha - dead mans fingers.
Tremella foliacea - Witches butter (sometimes seen as the name for Exidia glandulosa as well.

Cheers J.P.

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Diolch i bawb! Great afternoon rambling & rambling on yn y gymraeg & a Fungi Masterclass thrown in am ddim.
I’ve been looking at the details of the Japanese Kiln project in the woods that @johnwilliams_6 mentioned at oxfordanagama.org (sorry can’t make a link work).
It says they have collected 18tonnes of wood & need more to fire the kiln which may explain why the fungi rich log piles seen on previous expeditions had disappeared?
Other words from ddoe:
Beech = ffawydden
Bullfinch = coch y berllan
Flea = chwannen
More = chwaneg
Wolverine = bolgi
In the dictionaries I have it says a bolgi is a ‘glutton, gourmand or carouser’ I had to look up the latter in an English dictionary!
Google confirms the wolverine translation.
Tan y tro nesaf

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http://www.oxfordwelshmvc.org.uk/documents/autumn2015.pdf
Above, I hope, are details of the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir St David’s Day Concert on Saturday 27th February.
I’m hoping to get to it & it would be great to see others for an additional meetup & chance to sgwrs yn y gymraeg.
Pippa

Diolch, Pippa - yes, the link worked perfectly and I certainly hope to get to the concert on 27th Feb
Hwyl, John

[quote=“pippapritchard, post:163, topic:1880”]
Great afternoon rambling & rambling on yn y gymraeg & a Fungi Masterclass thrown in am ddim.
[/quote] Dw i’n cytuno’n llwyr - diwrnod bendigedig a diolch i bawb!
And a few more words to add to the list:
mole = twrch daear
thatched roof = to gwellt
meadow = dôl
stream = nant
snowdrop = eirlys

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A few more remembered words.

Coed pinwydd - pine trees.
Creaduriaid - Creatures.
Hwyaden - Duck.
Cigfran - Raven.
Collddail - Deciduous /lose leaves.
Bytholwyrdd - Evergreen.
Corgimwch - Prawn.
Cimwch - Lobster.
Pryf genwair/Mwydyn - Earth worm.
Brigau - Twigs.
Boncyff - Trunk (of tree).

Cheers J.P.

After last weekend’s crwydro a sgwrs yn yr haul, time to think about our next one. Sat 6th Feb seems to be the day that suits most people. There’s still much to explore in Wytham Wood, but it looks as if it might be ‘closed for maintenance’ that weekend, so the suggestion’s been made that we try Shotover Country Park this time - a former royal hunting forest with it’s own myths & legends and much wildlife, it should make a good substitute (and @ramblingjohn & @pippapritchard it also has it’s own mossing group!).

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Grwp mwsogl tydy, byddyn ni’n mawnhau dw i’n credu.

I should be able to make this date or the week after.

Cheers J.P.

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Shotover looks like it could keep us busy!

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Bydda, siwr o fod! Welest ti faint o ffurflenau ‘downloadable’ am y bywyd gwyllt bod a’r tudalen wefan ‘About Shotover Wildlife’?

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Plenty of time yet before we need to decide where best to meet for the walk at Shotover on Sat 6th Feb but it’s probably worth explaining briefly how to get there for anyone who’s still undecided about joining us. There are a couple of options for places to meet:

a. Easiest to find and to get to: Thornhill Park & Ride waiting room with plenty of buses from Oxford centre and station; footpath through fields and trees leads up to Shotover (alternatively, and not much further, we could go via the CS Lewis Nature Reserve and then up through woodland to Shotover).

b. Not so easy to find and get to but immediately adjacent to Shotover Forest: the parking area at the top of Shotover Hill; travelling by bus there’s a 15 min walk up from the nearest stop, with less frequent buses and a less direct route.

I’ll post more detailed directions nearer the time, but let’s see which is going to work best for people.

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I looked at map and notice i can walk up the ‘old road’ and straight into main car park,

Cheers J.P.

That’s a long list! Looking like some reading needs to be done before the crwydro! Chuffed to see Cobalt Crust on the Fungi page. Looked for @ramblingjohn on the ‘Venerable Naturalists’ one but he’s not included. Must be an oversight.

I can do the 6th, and will meet you at the main parking area just by the park, if that’s OK? If it ends up moving to the 13th (Rambling John said he could do either), I’ll be in Dolgellau so can’t come.

Diolch Carolyn - yes, that’s fine, we’ll plan to meet there at 12:00 on the 6th (I don’t think Pippa can make the 13th either).

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Here’s a quick map showing how to get to the parking area on Shotover Hill for our walk on Sat 6th Feb when the plan is to meet up at 12:00 - everyone welcome as always:

If coming by bus, by the way, the parking area’s about 15mins walk up from the nearest bus stop, but if anyone feels uncertain about navigating to the Shotover parking area and would prefer to meet at Thornhill Park & Ride (see earlier post) let me know, as it might be possible for some of us to arrange to meet there at 11:30 before walking up to Shotover to meet the others at midday.

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Keeping an eye on the weather forecast with the hope it will be as good as last time.

Cheers J.P.

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A quick bump for our walk+sgwrs at Shotover this Saturday, 6th Feb - do come along if you can make it (for details, see above)

Also, don’t forget the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir St David’s Day Concert on Saturday 27th February.

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Diolch am eich cymnu chi gyd - thanks for all your company.
That was a day with more wind than we wish for the rest of the year.
And of course i made some mistakes confusing myself and others no doubt.

Ymenyn y eithin - yellow brain fungus. (yes we have seen it before and i blame the confusion on the difference between welsh and English names).

Ymenyn y eithin : translates as ‘The gorse butter’ Ymenyn being butter.
The English : brain fungus translates back as ‘ffwng ymennydd’ (notice the similarity between Brain and Butter in Welsh.

Now lets look forward to a year of progressive mistakes and hopefully i will improve.

Canol oesoedd - middle ages ; was mentioned today. and we all struggled with the word for centuary (Canrif).

But word of the day goes to JW. Dilys - Authentic.

For anyone thinking of joining us, we are aiming for Witham wood some where in the beginning of March.

Cheers J.P.

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