Cambrian Wildwood

Once again, there’s been a lot going on at Bwlch Corog over the past few months.

On the Land

The understorey in the larch plantation is looking healthy, with bilberry and other native shrubs growing, thanks to a gradual programme of thinning that also provides a source of wood for our campfires.

On the lower slopes of the site, above our existing woodland, our tree planting is supporting the development of wood pasture, while on our upland areas, it provides a seed source for the future. All planted areas contribute to the formation of wildlife corridors across Bwlch Corog and between neighbouring woodlands. This year, with the help of volunteers, we have planted over 1300 native trees including sessile oak, downy birch, aspen, wild cherry and hazel. We are building a comprehensive map and baseline survey of tree cover on site, so we can monitor progress.

Our Habitats and Species Manager has been busy monitoring and mapping our areas of peatland. This is extensive and ongoing work to build a more accurate picture of the site. We are working with Aberystwyth University on a comprehensive hydrology survey and have installed dipwells to aid us with this. Installed along transects in areas of deep peat, our design is simple and low-cost: 32mm waste pipe drilled with holes, capped to prevent slugs and rodents from getting in, and covered with a geotextile to allow water in but not soil particles. We create a vertical hole through the peat to the clay/rock layer using a soil auger and then fit the dipwell into the hole. Monthly readings will be taken by feeding a long flexible tube or straw into the pipe, which we blow into until we hear bubbles. We then measure the length of tube to determine the level of water below ground level. The data we collect will give us information on the hydrological conditions throughout the year and inform future restoration decisions.

Herbivores

The cattle have returned to Cefn Coch, our neighbouring farm, for the winter. Before leaving, they spent some time on the lower end of the site and in the woodland helping to manage bramble and bracken. Once again this year, they have done a great job grazing and trampling the land – making further progress in breaking up the dense clumps of Molinia, allowing space for other species to establish.

Our small herd of konik ponies remain at Bwlch Corog and continue to play a crucial role in diversifying the habitats on site.

New Appointment

We’re pleased to introduce another new team member – Lora is our Project Officer.

Lora grew up locally and has always enjoyed exploring the outdoors. Having nurtured a passion for conservation, she decided to study biological sciences at university and has also developed a wealth of experience in the field of nature and conservation by pursuing varied volunteering opportunities. These have included workaway farm assistance (Spain), ocean plastic removal for In The Same Boat (Norway), fieldwork assistant red squirrel conservation (Bunloit and Cawdor), species conservation and mitigating human-wildlife conflict for the Naankuse Foundation (Namibia.)

Lora’s two most recent roles took her to Scotland, firstly as residential conservation skills volunteer at RSPB Forsinard Flows where her role involved leading volunteer groups in various reserve tasks such as peat depth surveys, litter picking and tending to the native tree plantation. During her latest placement as assistant ranger with the Scottish Wildlife Trust on Handa Island, Lora enjoyed participating in a variety of tasks. Her responsibilities included leading on the monitoring of the brown rats, carrying out many practical tasks on the reserve such as repairing boardwalk, managing the drinking water system and greeting visitors to the island with a welcome talk.

We’re pleased that Lora has made the move back to Wales as we’re sure her knowledge, experiences and enthusiasm will be an asset to our team.

Volunteers

Our volunteers have continued to be a great support to us in our work on site. Recent activities have included seed collection to grow new trees and provide a seed source on the moorland and clearing bracken from around saplings – without this intervention, the dying bracken would suffocate the new trees. Volunteers have also helped to monitor vegetation on our peatland and scatter cotton grass seed to provide a ‘nursery’ for sphagnum moss which will be planted later in the year. A recent volunteer day led to the confirmation that hazel dormice are present on site. We had feared that an influx of pheasants from a local shoot may have eradicated the population but, by checking hazelnuts for specific gnaw patterns, we were able to ascertain that these rare mammals can still be found at Bwlch Corog.

Visits

We enjoyed hosting the Woodland Trust’s Executive Team. Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust in Wales) is our partner organisation and we we were glad to be able to share our work with the wider team. Many interesting discussions were held, focussing on landscape scale habitat restoration – working closely with neighbouring landowners and local organisations is one of our key aims, so this was a great opportunity to explore ideas.

Activities

There have been plenty of opportunities for people to engage with nature and learn new skills at Bwlch Corog.

Our Wild Days Out for local young people continued during the summer months, culminating in an overnight camp. The young people enjoyed making books with birch bark covers, tie dying with natural dyes, flower and leaf pressing, learning tracking skills, wild swimming and bowl burning. There was, of course, plenty of time for hot chocolate around the fire!

We start them young at Cambrian Wildwood with our weekly Tiny Tots sessions! Aimed at children between 2 and 4 and their carers, these sessions encourage confidence in getting outdoors, offer ideas for activities and encourage socialising. Some favourite activities have included a nature treasure hunt, planting acorns, cracking hazelnuts and building a home for a hedgehog.

We’re excited to have launched another great project recently called ‘Nature Ambassadors.’ During this year, four different groups will be invited to visit us for one day a week, over the course of six weeks. Each session will include a variety of activities tailored towards learning new skills, connecting with nature and gaining experience of volunteering. As well as developing practical skills, we aim to see participants ending this programme with increased self-confidence and self-esteem. We hope that taking part will be a fulfilling experience that gives our young people a sense of being part of a community, working together on the important task of improving bio-diversity and mitigating against climate change.

Don’t forget to look at our website www.cambrianwildwood.org where you can find out so much about the project and keep up to date with our news items. Please contact us if you want to be on our newsletter mailing list.

It has been a busy few months at Bwlch Corog with many visits and activities taking place.

Surveying and Monitoring

We were glad to welcome staff from Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust in Wales) to site - Woodland Trust are a key partner of Coetir Anian, owning the freehold of our site. The visit was part of a meeting of Woodland Trust staff from across the UK, finding out about Woodland Trust work in mid Wales and discussing landscape scale conservation ideas. The group enjoyed visiting our Celtic rainforest - finding interesting lichens, mosses and bryophytes, and looking at some of our veteran trees, which include a crab apple and several oak, as well as our stand of aspen.

Our woodland was the location of another visit when staff from two environmental organisations ran a training session on adding trees to the Ancient Tree Inventory. These trees are an important part of our heritage and play a crucial part in maintaining a healthy ecosystem as they provide homes for thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi, including many that are rare. We were pleased to learn that we have crab apple and downy birch trees that fall into the category of ‘ancient tree’, common ash and sessile oak that are ‘veteran trees’ as well as others that are ‘notable trees.’

Project Director, Katy Harris, joined a local ornithologist to complete a breeding bird survey on our land. The early start was worth it to be able to hear and see cuckoo, grasshopper warbler, skylark, tree pipit, stonechat, willow warbler, crossbill and reed bunting to name but a few! We're looking forward to comparing the results with our 2019 survey and hope that our work protecting and restoring habitats will mean that there has been an increase in bird species on site.

Last year, we were able to experiment with techniques for reducing the Molinia cover on our areas of deep peat. Following consultation with an ecologist and with the help of a specialist contractor, we scraped the purple moor grass from some areas, using the contours of the land to create small dams before planting sphagnum moss plugs. As is the nature of experimentation, not all areas have been 100% successful but on our latest visit to the scrapes, we were pleased to see great success in the areas of deepest peat – the sphagnum moss is thriving and the small ‘ponds’ are alive with lizards, frogs and dragonflies. We’ll continue with the work this year, adapting our techniques based on last year’s discoveries.

Herbivores

The cattle have returned to the site for the summer. This year, we have both Highland cattle and Welsh White cattle grazing and trampling the land – this will help us make further progress in breaking up the dense clumps of Molinia, allowing space for other species to establish. This will gradually ensure a more diverse habitat that will attract various insects and birds.

Our herd of konik ponies now numbers six females, all of whom were born at Bwlch Corog. They had a fairly tough winter and are now enjoying some drier weather, grazing at the far end of our site – making steady in roads into the Molinia and expanding existing areas of pasture.

New Appointment

We are extremely pleased to have been able to appoint to the new role of Habitats and Species Manager. Neil Groves has a wealth of experience managing woodlands, raised bog and ffridd for some of the Dyfi Valley’s most iconic species. His background is in practical land management, ecological monitoring and working with volunteers and contractors. A big part of Neil’s job will be to monitor and record ecological changes over time at Bwlch Corog and develop partnerships with other landowners in the area.

Volunteers

We continue to be fortunate to have the support of a regular group of volunteers who help with many of our land management tasks. During the spring we’ve planted more individual trees on the upland areas of the site using cactus guards for protection - these trees will become a seed source on the moorland and add to the nature corridors being created at Bwlch Corog. Volunteers have also helped monitor plant species on our peatland, as well as helping to strip larch poles and construct a simple shelter.

Visits

It is important to us that we are able to share what we do at Bwlch Corog with others in the field. Over the past few months we have welcomed students from the Centre for Alternative Technology and the universities at Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff. It’s a privilege to be able to listen to the ideas of these young people and hopefully, inspire the next generation of conservationists. Members of staff from the National Trust also visited us to learn about our work on peatland restoration – sharing successes, difficulties and good practice is always a positive experience.

Activities

Our ‘Wild Days Out’ for young people from the local area have continued with youngsters enjoying activities such as den building, charcoal making and tree planting.

This spring has seen the beginning of a new programme for ‘tiny tots’ – especially for parents and carers with children aged between 2 – 4 years of age – these sessions are an opportunity to build confidence in being outdoors, give ideas for simple activities and provide time to socialise in a relaxed atmosphere. Participants have already enjoyed playing games, treasure hunts, stories and nature craft activities.

We held a wonderfully busy Community Nature Day. Three local experts lead activities about some key species at Bwlch Corog – we saw some of the moths of Bwlch Corog close up, enjoyed a bird walk and learned about lichen. There were plenty of activities for children and lots of cake to enjoy whilst chatting around the campfire. The day ended with story and song from a local storyteller.

A Spring Celebration Day was held for with families from the local area. We decorated eggs, had egg throwing competitions, a nature treasure hunt and stories.

Two successful youth camps were held in June. Once again this year, Bwlch Corog is enabling young people to step back from the expectations and pressures of everyday life and enjoy time in nature. We are extremely proud to be able to offer them this opportunity to develop relationships, learn new skills, build self-confidence and just relax!

Don’t forget to look at our website www.cambrianwildwood.org where you can find out so much about the project and keep up to date with our news items. Please contact us if you want to be on our newsletter mailing list.