"St Brigids Crosses "
a memorial to species lost.
with great thanks for the drone footage to an unknown bear
Current Work A collborative exhibition with activists and supporters of the Save The Northern Meadows Campaign Cardiff and Artist Cat Lewis www.catlewis.com. video by Cat Lewis
About Us

Free Da Meadows This is a project from the people. What happens when ordinary people make art and craft and put it directly out in the world because they really care, because they are emotionally driven about a cause which they know is so important for the rest of the community and not just that , for the rest of the planet, and for the other myriad native species who are struggling to survive and without whom we will no longer be truly human.
It is a record of the spontaneous art made with no grants or preconceived ideas of the art establishment, art put out into the world because people care and want to find their own non verbal ways of communicating directly;in order to bring others into a more truthful relationship with the world around them.
Its about what happens when people see through the consensus reality: money, engrained, institutional dysfunction and corporate power and people who have stopped sleepwalking and no longer consent to be passive citizens. This culture no longer makes any sense if we are truly to have well being for future generations.
The art, music, crafts, constructions, photos, films and social performative events, that have been a part of the campaign to save the northern meadows are a real coming together of people helping each other, building a strong and vibrant voice which has been a force which has caused people to blossom to share and learn new skills and become a real community. There has been generosity, struggle, laughter, hard work and perseverance. No one is in charge, everyone is honoured and above all a new group of people energised and committed to making their local area and the world a better place.
We want to show a real time live stream record of species destruction right here in Cardiff. |
St Brigids Crosses were a piece made and planted to walk through and make visual just a fraction of the unseen thousands of meadow flora and fauna species we loose each time an area like this is cut down, dug up and filled with concrete. Those species do not simply move to inhabit the next area of nature which has its own inhabitants. These areas provide a wildlife corridor without which other areas become depleted in themselves. Each new construction means that sources of food for birds and pollinators, nests for herons, grass snakes, thrushes, bats, beetles is lost. This is an area which has not been cultivated for many many years. It has been left and allowed to rewild to provide thousands of square meters of scrub so vital for butterflies, small birds, mammals and insects. A point strongly made strongly by Iolo Williams in his public plea to Velindre to make a better choice for people, patients and planet.
This is a public space where through the events and activities and art that have taken place many other people have been moved to tell us their individual stories, often of respite, sometimes of struggle. This was a calm place, accessible within walking distance of their homes and the nearby Hollybush Estate where people have no gardens.
Those who visited during the St Brigids Crosses installation were very touched and sympathetic. We met a lovely man who was really upset that the place he came to walk with his wife, sadly deceased a year ago and where he now comes to play with his grandchildren will be gone. Somewhere that feels wild and reminds him of his home in Africa. He tells his grandchildren often about how the birds and the creatures are his neighbours, so much so that his youngest grandson thinks that he really lives there in the bushes and that the meadows are really Africa his grandson believes that his house is just somewhere he comes to wash and do those things he cant do in the bush. He wanted to help plant the crosses. That made three of us that day planting one line each. A holy trinity, a celtic three. After "The National "online news article many people wanted to come and see for themselves but although the crosses were not in one of the restricted areas they were all ripped up and confiscated after only one and a half days. Although I asked for them back I was refused.
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The tree felling, ground clearance and the destruction of this space is heartbreaking. Species loss happens right here all the time not just in distant rainforests. This cohesive outpouring of effort, personal transformation and authentic, spontaneous, creativity is also something that should not be lost.
Heron
Hedgehog
Little owl
Tawny Owl
Barn Owl
Meadow pippet
Song Thrush,
Mistle Thrush
Coal Tit
Long tailed tit
blue tit
Chaffinch
Yellow hammer
Wren
Willow warbler
Linnet
Jay
Redpoll
Raven
Starling
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
siskin
Tree sparrow
treecreeper
goldcrest
great tit
whitethroat
black cap
firecrest
fieldfare
wheatear
robin
Blackbird
Bullfinch
turtledove
nuthatch
Whin chat
brambling
pied wagtail
grey wagtail
crested tit
wood warbler
scarlet elf caps
Daubenton Bat
Pipistrelle Bat
Brown long eared Bat
Serotine bat
Greater Horseshoe bat
weasel
stoat
shrew
White toothed shrew
pygmy shrew
yellow necked mouse
Badger
Brown hare
Noctule bat
More funghi and plants to come.
Small copper butterfly
purple hairstreak
Silver studded blue butterful
Holly Blue
Adonis Blue
Green hairstreak
Clouded yellow
Large white
Pale clouded yellow
Orange tip Grizzled skipper
Large skipper
Dingy Skipper
common toad
frog
common newt
great crested newt
Pearl Bordered fritillary butterfly
Bumble Bee
Leaf Cutter Bee
Honey Bee
Digger Bee
Cuckoo Bee
Carpenter Bee
Dance fly
White Ermine Moth
Elephant Hawk Moth
Green veined moth
Harvestman
Hawker dragon fly
Golden ringed dragon fly
Bank vole
Rabbit
Grass snake
slow worm
Ghost moth
Leopard Moth
Merveille du jour moth
Golden plusia moth
Th satellite moth
Grey Dagger moth
Frosted oragnge moth
Puss moth
|Marbled beauty
Sallow kitten moth
Cinnabar moth
Garden Tiger moth
scallop shell moth
Willow beauty
Gatekeeper butterfly
Red admiral
Whiteadmiral
Peacock butterfly
Small tortoiseshell butterfly
Harvest Mouse
Wood Mouse
Doormouse
Velvet ant
Lace wing
Alder fly
Stilt bugs
Grasshopper
Bush Cricket
common ant
Fairy fly
willow fly
Stone fly
Mayfly
Jewel Beetle
Stag Beetle
Dung Beetle
long Horn beetle
Seven spot lady bird Lady Bird
Cream spot ladybird
Yellow lady bird
cock chaffer
Glow worm
Ground beetles
Woodlouse
Pill Woodlouse
wood wasp
Damsel Fly
Dragon Fly
Bee Fly
Hover fly
Devils Coach Horse beetle