Coetir Anian - Cambrian Wildwood

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.

A New Chapter
A new chapter has begun at Cambrian Wildwood. At the end of 2022 we bade farewell to our Project Director, Simon Ayres. Simon has worked tirelessly to establish the project and develop it into a thriving venture that benefits both nature and people. In his words, “It’s been an exhilarating time with Coetir Anian, to be part of the project as it has grown from an idea to a reality. Highlights are seeing the habitats improve with the grazing of the horses and cattle. Also, watching the beautiful shed and compost loo taking shape. And especially seeing the groups of kids and teenagers and adults getting so much out of spending time in this wonderful place. It’s a real privilege to work with my talented colleagues and I am planning to stay involved as a volunteer. I look forward to handing over the Director role to a new person who can bring fresh ideas and energy to the project.”

As staff and trustees, we are extremely grateful for all the hard work and energy that Simon has given the project and wish him well in his future adventures.

Simon’s shoes are certainly big ones to fill but we are pleased to announce the appointment of Katy Harris to the role of Project Director. Katy has an interesting and varied background including time spent living and working for environmental NGOs in eastern Russia, working on conservation of old-growth boreal forests. She has worked for environmental charities in Wales for almost 20 years, including roles at the Centre for Alternative Technology, with Coed Lleol – Small Woods, and more recently the RSPB. Katy has a wealth of experience in project development and management as well as fundraising.
Her strong interest in nature conservation, habitat restoration, enabling society to respond to the climate and biodiversity emergency, and in linking people and communities with nature are a perfect fit for Cambrian Wildwood.

Not only do we have a new director, we’ve also been fortunate to appoint Deborah Joffe as our part time Fundraising Manager. Deb is a successful, proactive fundraiser and relationship manager with a strong interest in the environmental sector. She has worked and volunteered in the charity sector for fifteen years in a wide range of roles, including as a Grants and Trusts Coordinator, Philanthropy Officer and Fundraising and Development Manager. We are sure that her wealth of experience will be invaluable to Cambrian Wildwood.

Site
The winter months are a time to take stock on site. Informal observations of trees planted in previous years are very encouraging. An area of Alder planted in wet ground above an area of deep peat is doing well with the saplings now reaching some 4ft tall. Other areas of mixed planting benefited from methodical bracken slashing during the summer - these young trees have had a successful growing season as they were clear of bracken that can easily block light and overwhelm young trees. Volunteer days are attracting an increasing number of people eager to lend a hand in the important work of habitat restoration. During November our volunteers planted hawthorn on the moorland which will eventually act as a seed source and also provide protection for saplings planted between their branches. During our January volunteer day, cactus guards were used to protect the birch and rowan being planted. The guards are made from light weight galvanised steel and have small 'spikes' attached to them which discourage large herbivores from rubbing against them. These guards have the benefit of being re-usable and are also almost invisible to the naked eye in the landscape.

Herbivores
The cattle left the site to return across the valley to their winter grazing. The combination of their grazing and trampling the land has made 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 are once again in their thick winter coats. These were very much needed recently when a prolonged spell of freezing weather and snow hit our site. To ensure that they maintained good condition during this time, they were given hay on a daily basis.

Education
Our primary schools programme continues to go from strength to strength with pupils and teachers alike reflecting on the benefits of time spent outdoors. Teachers have noted how much calmer and focussed their pupils are whilst taking part in activities - in the words of one participant, "it was the best day ever!" Recent activities have included learning about habitats, creating art in nature and learning bushcraft skills.

Once again we are running our 'Winter Wild Days Out' which are an opportunity for local young people to visit us and take part in a whole host of activities. During their first day they planted trees, made charcoal and used it to sketch, enjoyed games and a warming cup of hot chocolate around the fire. They "can't wait to come back for [their] next adventure!"

A family tree celebration event was held at the beginning of December. Everybody enjoyed learning about the special trees at Bwlch Corog and the tradition of tree dressing to celebrate our trees. Decorations were created and a special oak tree was adorned in colourful wishes and tea lights. To end the afternoon, warm drinks and cakes were enjoyed around the campfire whilst listening to magical stories about trees.

Visits
We were visited by two young film makers who are creating a documentary about positive stories in the world of conservation. Cambrain Wildwood are pleased to be included in this work which brings together varied projects from across the United Kingdom.

Monitoring habitats
Monitoring of the peat scrapes created in the early part of 2022 has shown some positive results. It was feared that the very dry weather during the summer had meant that the sphagnum that was planted had not survived. However, some of the larger, wetter areas have recovered and sections of sphagnum are taking hold. We are considering introducing dwarf shrub seedlings to further aid the recovery and diversification of these areas.

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.