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"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

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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

© 12 2020 created by Lynette Margerison

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