Brian Healey Memorial Bridge Opening
Brian Healey memorial bridgeOn Tuesday July 20th we held an official opening of the Brian Healey Memorial Bridge at Coed Maidie B Goddard. After a rainy morning it cleared up for the ceremony before starting again just as we departed- good timing. Members of Brian’s family, friends, local group committee members (who helped fund the bridge), Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers (who’d helped construct the bridge) all attended.
Brian’s widow, Eva, and his step father, Tom Norvill, both said a few emotional words along with others, before Eva pulled the ribbon and everyone crossed the bridge. A toast was made to Brian.
Thank you again to all those that helped with the making of the bridge and the organisation of the opening and to all those that attended.
If you’d like to visit the bridge go into Coed Maidie B Goddard Reserve (Llechryd) via the main entrance near the water works, follow the path up past the lime kiln on your right and through the kissing gate. Continue up the meadow for approx 100m to a stile on the right (before the narrow entrance to the next meadow). Over the stile the path heads down hill to the stream and Brian’s bridge. There are several other paths throughout the reserve, for more information refer the reserves handbook or visit our website.
Briefly, July consisted of bracken control and ragwort pulling on Rhos Glandenys and Caeau Llety Cybi, path clearance on Penderi Cliffs and Cors Ian and installing a new gate post at Coed Maidie.
You may ask why pull ragwort, it’s a pretty yellow flower and food plant for the Cinnabar moth?
Unfortunately ragwort is classified as an injurious weed. It can be poisonous to grazing animals and as many of our sites are grazed or are surrounded by grazed land it needs removing. It becomesmore potent when it has dried so needs removing from site once it has been picked.
None of the work done on our nature reserves would be possible without the continued help of our volunteers: people of all ages and from different walks of life who want to help protect the world we live in. In Ceredigion there are work parties twice a week out on the reserves, year round. If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em via email or on 07980932332, to find out more about Ceredigion reserves come to our website
A July Full of Invasives and a Few Orchids in Ceredigion!
Orchids, Em FootThis month my volunteers and I have spent quite a few days trying to rid our reserves of invasive species: Bracken and ragwort at Caeau Llety Cybi and Himalayan balsam at Rhos Glyn Yr Helyg. Unfortunately we also found the first piece of Himalayan balsam at Caeau Llety Cybi (spread from the stream that passes the reserve). They are long and tedious tasks but quite therapeutic and satisfying at the same time.
Along similar lines we also did a deer damage survey in Coed Maidie B Goddard. This involves walking through the wood (fighting the undergrowth) and at regular intervals recording how many of the 7 nearest trees have deer damage. These are then plotted on a map and compared to previous years. Although there were a lot of damaged trees there was little new damage.
It wasn’t all invasives…We counted the Greater Butterfly Orchids at Caeau Llety Cybi: 363 in total. A good number (we only counted 100 last year) and the first year we’ve found them in all 4 fields.
For our joint work party this month we had a lovely day at West Williamston in the sunshine litter picking with a well deserved ice cream to finish the day!
We also managed two bits of constructive work: we moved a gate at Rhos Glyn yr Helyg and added wood chip to the path at Coed Maidie. Thank you to everyone who has helped in the last month.
If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em on 07980932332 or to find out more about Ceredigion reserves visit here
Brian Healey's Memorial BridgeBrian Healey ’s Memorial Bridge at Coed Maidie is finished, in place and looking fantastic. Everyone really enjoyed working on it. Thanks to all who helped, especially John and Brent for your expertise and enthusiasm. There will be an official opening in July.
We’ve also done several days of path improvements at Coed Penglanowen. Several months ago a boardwalk had to be removed and has now been replaced with a causeway using timber from coppicing work at Caeau Llety Cybi and Old Warren Hill and wood chip kindly donated by CCW. Hopefully this will help keep visitor’s feet dry during the wetter months.
Reptile refugia are now out on several sites around the county but the only thing I’ve seen underneath them so far is a toad! If anyone wants to help survey them please let me know, especially if you’re a morning person.
Our joint work party this month was at Castle Woods in Carmarthenshire where we pulled about 22 black bags of Himalayan balsam. This invasive non-native has to be pulled to stop it shading out all the native plants and taking over. Luckily it is fairly easy to pull and is a lot smaller this year than last. Good effort everyone!
Although pretty much over now the bluebells looked (and smelled) splendid in May, hope you got to see some.
If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em on 07980932332 or to find out more about Ceredigion reserves visit us online .
Volunteers working hardThis month we’ve also had a joint work party at Coed Maidie when we did some work on the collapsed path and constructed another stretch of causeway in the woodland. A great day’s work. Hopefully we will get a bridge in place soon.
Not every work party was at Coed Maidie- we mended the fence at Rhos Pil Bach and a water trough or two ready for the cattle to return to various sites. We also spent an enjoyable, if hard, day unblocking the stream half way up Coed Simdde Lwyd.
If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em on 07980932332 and click on the link to find out more about Ceredigion reserves.
We finished the half kilometre of fencing at Cors Ian last month! It was a mammoth task with lots of people involved- contractors, work colleagues from several counties, many volunteers including 6 conservation volunteers from Warwickshire who came back to help (their 3rd trip) and neighbours who helped move posts. A big “Thank You” to everyone that helped. Thanks also to PONT and the North Ceredigion Local Group for funding the project and Peter Drake for advising on the coppicing. The fence has been built to protect the hedge (some of which was coppiced earlier this year) from the grazing animals that have eaten the bark in the past, damaging the trees. Hopefully now the hedge will flourish and thicken to provide a better habitat for the reserves wildlife. It also splits a compartment in two meaning the grazing can be controlled better.
We’ve now started work at Coed Maidie B Goddard- more fencing! This is to ensure the reserve is stockproof for when the cattle arrive back and to fence off an area of woodland where a memorial bridge to Brian Healey (late Volunteer Warden) is to be built.
If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em on 07980932332 or or to find out more about Ceredigion reserves.
We had an enjoyable day in Carmarthenshire burning willow cleared from a fence line with the volunteers from Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire but the main work last month was progressing the fence at Cors Ian. It’s going well with most of posts in and the first piece of wire attached. We’ve had some beautiful sunny days, if a little chilly in the wind, with kites, buzzards and ravens flying over head, great spotted woodpeckers and even a brown hare to keep us company. The aim is to finish by the middle of the month so we can move on to other projects on other reserves.
With March here sightings of brown hare should increase, please let me know if you see any to add to our records. I just need to know your name, where (nearest town and 6 figure grid reference) and when you saw it, alive or dead, how many you saw and any information you can give on what it was doing or the type of habitat.
Also keep your eyes open for the snow drops, daffodils and crocuses this month.
If you’d like to help by volunteering contact Em on 07980932332
Snow and Snowdrops in Ceredigion
What with Christmas and the weather we didn’t get out onto the reserves much 
in December and the beginning of January, but one volunteer and Wildlife Trust Officer, Emily, did brave it all and made it to Rhos Pil Bach to clear some willows at the beginning of January. The reserve looked beautiful and it was great to be out in the lovely, powdery snow. There were even a couple of snipe. In contrast, our last session before Christmas was a beautiful sunny day and we were joined by six volunteers to clear a big area of scrub. Thanks to everyone that helped.
We held a joint work party at the end of January to do some coppicing at Cors Ian, and got lots done ready for building the new fence. We started this task last week and will continue for the next few- anyone fancy bashing in fence posts? We’ve also done some scrub clearance and thinned the woodland some more at Coed Maidie and had a good day hedgelaying at Caeau Llety Cybi.
The Snow drops at Coed Penglanowen are looking great at the moment.
(If you’d like to join us contact Em on 07980932332 or e.foot@welshwildlife.org).
As I’m sure you all noticed November was a very wet and windy month but it didn’t stop us getting out on the reserves and working hard! We’ve cleared brambles and gorse from grasslands across the county at Rhos Fullbrook, Rhos Pil Bach, Coed Maidie and Rhos Glyn Yr Helyg, conifers and birch scrub from Pennar Fawr (the Christmas tree at the Wildlife Centre came from here), helped with pathwork in Carmarthenshire and thinned some of the wood at Coed Maidie. I’ve had a few new volunteers this month which is great news, we can get so much more done with a few more people! (If you’d like to join us contact Em on 07980932332 or e.foot@welshwildlife.org) A group of Conservation Volunteers (Natureforce) from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust also came to visit and spent a very stormy day experiencing working on Pennar Fawr- a very different habitat from Warwickshire. Thank you to everyone that has braved the elements this month.
On Tuesday 8th December, following a recent sighting, about 20 volunteers from Ceredigion and further afield took part in a Pine Marten survey in the Rheidol Valley lead by the Vincent Wildlife Trust. The weather held off and lots of scats were collected for DNA analysis. We now have to wait for the results…
If you are in Aberystwyth over the next few months head for the pier at dusk to see the starlings flocking and creating amazing patterns in the sky.
I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope to see you in 2010!
October has seen us working, and getting wet, on our most northerly and southerly reserves- Cwm Clettwr and Coed Maidie B Goddard respectively, and a good spread in between.
At Cwm Clettwr we began the day in an area of the reserve we rarely work in- the south side of the river, to clear the path of brambles and stray branches. We then crossed the river and continued upstream on the north side. The route between the two long meadows at Coed Maidie B Goddard was opened up in preparation for further works in the woodland strip and several stray bramble patches were removed from the meadows. The grassland at Caeau Llety Cybi is also looking much better after our blackthorn and bramble removal and the following grazing by the cattle.
We had a muddy time at Cors Ian removing birch and willow scrub from the bog- definitely a welly day! Another was at Pennar Fawr where we began the scrub removal, with Carmarthenshire volunteers, to stop the spread of seedlings into the grassland along with some highland cattle mustering: they’ve done a great job on Rhos Pil Bach so now it’s time to work their magic on Pennar Fawr.
Thanks very much to everyone who has helped this month. The good work will continue next month so if you are interested in helping out on our reserves in Ceredigion please contact Em Foot: e.foot@welshwildlife.org or 07980932332.
September has been a month of path clearance and cutting and raking!
We managed to cut the whole of the butterfly meadow in Coed Maidie thanks to the help of Paul (WTO on the Gower) driving the quad and flail followed by two days of extremely tiring raking. Usually we only manage to do half per year using a brush cutter. This should help improve the quality of the meadow and reduce the amount of bramble. We also finished cutting the glade at Coed Penglanowen and topped the rushes at Rhos Glandenys- a process that seems to working well to reduce their extent in one of the fields. Lots of invading, small bramble patches were also removed from the middle of the grassland.
Several paths were cleared of summer growth: Coed Simdde Lwyd- you can now get to the view point and enjoy the spectacular view of the Rheidol Valley and Penderi Cliffs. A damaged boardwalk was removed from Coed Penglanowen (hopefully to be replaced in the near future when funding has been found).
The great scrub clearance has now begun! We’ve already hit Caeau Llety Cybi removing blackthorn and brambles, and Rhos Glandenys, several other reserves will be visited in the next few months.
Also if you want to know a little more about birds in Ceredigion then please go to www.ceredigionbirds33.blogspot.com where you will find out information about local sightings and ways to get involved. John Davis compiles the Ceredigion Bird Report which is available from the Welsh Wildlife Centre and Lockley Lodge, all profits go to support the work of the trust.
Thanks to everyone who has helped out. If you are interested in helping out on our reserves in Ceredigion please contact Em Foot: e.foot@welshwildlife.org or 07980932332.
Highland cattle at Rhos Pil Bach a Pennar Fawr
I recently had a pleasant surprise whilst on a routine visit to Rhos Pil Bach- as I walked down the entrance track thinking “we’ll need to come and clear this soon” the entrance gate came into view and behind it the rusty brown colour of a herd of about fifteen highland cattle- a wonderful sight. (I should point out I did expect cattle to be there but didn’t know they would be Highlands!) They were pretty shy animals, staying on the far side of the field as I walked through but watching my every step.
Both the males and females have large horns that generally extend sidewards from their heads and then turn up at the tips. There were several young (without horns) amongst the herd, or fold as a group of Highlands should be called.
Highland cattle are ideal for grazing our reserves as they are exceptionally hardy and can cope with high annual rainfall and the harsher conditions that Rhos (wet) grassland throws at them. They are less fussy eaters than many breeds so graze more of the vegetation and have “a natural and unique ability to convert poor grazing efficiently”1.
“They are remarkable for their longevity: many Highland cows continue to breed to ages in excess of eighteen years having borne fifteen calves. They are great mothers.”2 Highlands usually calf outside and rarely need to be brought inside.
“Highland Beef is healthy and nutritious with lower levels of fat and cholesterol and a higher protein and iron content than other beef.”3 It has a distinct flavour and can reach a higher premium when sold, especially at specialist butchers, making it a viable alternative.
If you would like to visit the reserve and see the Highlands parking is available on the road opposite the entrance track to Rhos Pil Bach a Pennar Fawr SSSI, near Plwmp at SN 369527. The cattle graze the whole of Rhos Pil Bach and Pennar Fawr so could be anywhere within either, conditions underfoot are wet and uneven- wellies are a necessity. Please leave gates as you find them as this controls the grazing and keep dogs on a lead and under strict control at all times.
1,2,3Highland Cattle Society Website