Dafydd Davies, Rhandirmwyn, 1924 – 2012.
(With thanks Ian Morgan and the Llanelli Naturalists)
Several members will have known Dafydd Davies (or Dafis as he latterly spelt his
surname); inevitably the locational appellation `Rhandirmwyn` was added to his name
whichever way it was written, as it was there that he lived and worked for many years.
Dafydd passed away in March 2012 and it is thought appropriate that we offer some
words to celebrate his many achievements. This summary has been deliberately
delayed because, given Dafydd`s importance to natural history in Wales, there were
many notes of appreciation written after his passing and since these would be a source
of additional information, it was thought prudent to await these.
7
I first met Dafydd in July 1971, when he led a West Wales Naturalists` Trust field
meeting at Tywyn Burrows (aka `RAF Pembrey Sands`) and he was very encouraging
to all those attending, carefully identifying the plants and insects that we encountered.
the 20th Century, he was heavily involved in its conservation and was a member of the
`Kite Committee` that oversaw the co-ordination of the conservation strategy or this
raptor. He also participated (this time unsuccessfully) during the late 1960s in the
campaign against proposals for a massive reservoir at Llyn Brianne that drowned
upland farmsteads and hillside oak woods alike. For his natural history pleasures,
Dafydd focused on invertebrates, in particular beetles and moths, during the 1970s,
making many noteworthy discoveries and his participation in the Rothamsted moth
recording scheme only terminated (after some 24 years of operation) in 2010; his trap
was regarded as one of the most productive in Britain, reflecting the wide range of
habitats around his home as well as his enthusiasm. He also made the only modern
county record of the white-barred clearwing Synanthedon spheciformis, a rare moth
associated with alders, on the banks of the Afon Bran, Cynghordy (SN808403,
4.7.1977) and he was the last person to see high brown fritillaries Argynnis adippe in
Carmarthenshire, at Cwm Crychan in 1976.
Dafydd Davies at Nantymwyn Leadmine,
Rhandirmwyn, 27 Aug 2005. Photo Kath Pryce
A note on his more important beetle discoveries appeared in the Dyfed Invertebrate Group Newsletter of June 1987, (6:10-
12). Dafydd was once heartily amused when I told him that his nickname down at
Pendine – where he would sometimes stay to collect coleoptera – was `Dai Beetles` (of
which I`d been told by the late John Rees of Laugharne) and Dafydd laughed about it
for a good few minutes! One of the scarce beetles recorded by him on the Pendine-
Marros cliffs was Amphimallon ochraceus, which I was also lucky to subsequently
saw on these cliffs.
He was also involved in butterfly recording, being county recorder for a while and he
also helped the then BSBI County Recorder, Mrs Irene Vaughan (who lived not far
away at `Tal Ebolion`, Cilycwm), with the surveying of the county`s flora and
finding, for example, wild service tree Sorbus torminalis at Poor Man`s Wood near
Llandovery. The wood is now a Wildlife Trust reserve.
Such was Dafydd`s circle of contacts that there were several accounts of aspects of his
life written for `Y Cylchlythyr`, the newsletter of Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd and I
have extracted notes from three of these – by one of his two daughters, Rhiannon; by
Bethan Wyn Jones of the BBC; by the BSBI botanist Goronwy Wynne and
additionally a poetic contribution by Harri Williams of Pontarddulais, who is wellknown
to many `Llanelli Naturalists`. Without doubt, one of Dafydd`s most important
achievements was the setting up of the Welsh language naturally history society,
Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd, named after the famous Welsh botanist and discoverer of
the Snowdon lily Lloydia serotina This is one of the rarest of our alpine flora and
confined to a tiny number of sites in Snowdonia and it is also the emblem of
Cymdeithas Edward Llwyd. Whereas I already knew that Dafydd was the founder of
that society, it was not until I read the eulogies to Dafydd, that I was made aware that
the society arose from discussions between Dafydd and like-minded Welsh-speaking
naturalists, during a long walk up Cwm Twrch in July 1978. It was also in this
delightful `cwm` (perhaps the best of Carmarthenshire`s coalfield `cwms`, though it
actually shares the boundary with Breconshire) that Dafydd found the rare and tiny
bog orchid Hammarbya paludosa, at its only known county site. Coincidentally, Nigel
Stringer and I tried to re-find it in August 2012, but we failed, though it has been seen
in intervening years.
Again from the notes written about Dafydd, I learnt that he was brought up in
Cwmgiedd near Ystradgynlais in Cwm Tawe and went to Trinity College Carmarthen
to train as a teacher, teaching subsequently in England for a short spell, then at
Rhandirmwyn, Cynghordy and Llandovery. An amusing anecdote is provided in
Geronwy`s account, where he writes of Dafydd`s skills in persuading
Carmarthenshire County Council to erect a teaching cabin in the hills some three
miles from the small village school at Rhandirmwyn where he was headmaster. Here,
the tiny class of `six juniors` would have natural history lessons in the field to
augment the standard curriculum, but it was not until years later that it was realised
that the cabin had been put up some 300 yards into Breconshire! Back in the 1980s,
Dafydd would tell me how he would take keen-eyed pupils out looking for brown
hairstreak eggs amongst the hedgerow blackthorns around Rhandirmwyn and his
daughter Rhiannon recalled his sense of humour, how he would delight in
Longfellow`s lines about Hiawatha and give lessons about what would be termed
`environmental studies` these days. She also remembers his pleasure in a framed piece
of embroidery completed by her mother with Saunders Lewis`s words, `Gwinllan a
roddwyd i`n gofal yw Cymru fy ngwlad` (`Wales, our land, is a vineyard given unto
our care`), reflecting his deep love for the land, its people and wildlife.
9
In 1995, under his skilled authorship, the Enwau Cymraeg ar Blanhigion (Welsh
Names of Plants) was published and another highpoint for Dafydd was his success,
after lengthy negotiations, in convincing the authorities at St Michael`s Church at
Oxford to put up a Welsh slate memorial over the location of Edward Llwyd`s grave,
The unveiling of the memorial stone was done by his wife Joan, after a memorable
bilingual speech by Dafydd himself. In 1991, he was admitted to the Gorsedd of the
National Eisteddfod and in 2002 was awarded an honorary MSc by the University of
Wales, as well as being elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Finally, in 2009,
he received the Science Medal at the National Eisteddfod at Bala.
Bethan Wyn Jones relates how during his burial at the church at Rhandirmwyn, with
many of his friends and family present, the sunshine warmed all on that March day,
with catkins shaking in a light breeze, sparrows flitting under the eaves and the
flowering daisies and primroses almost `winking` at those present. I think Dafydd
would have liked, on such a nice spring day, the presence of wildlife at his funeral.
If I may, I will conclude with just the first verse of six, written by Harri Williams to
commemorate and remember Dafydd:
Os gwelwch wr a`i wallt yn wyn
yn troedio`n ysgafn dros y bryn,
a llyfr nodiadau yn ei law
boed hindda, wynt, y niwl neu`r glaw.
Pwy yw sy`n enwi cen a llwyn?
Wel, Dafydd Dafis, Rhandir Mwyn.
This translates as (and losing its poetic impact), `If you see a white-haired man
walking lightly over the hill, with notebook in his hand whether fine weather, wind,
mist or rain. Who is he who can name lichens and bushes? Well, Dafydd Dafis,
Rhandirmwyn`.
