Sit and reflect

We are blessed on Henllys Local Nature Reserve to have such a lovely green space in which we can go for a walk, listen to the birds or watch the butterflies flutter around. These green spaces can give you time to pause, take a moment, a deep breath and reflect on things or reflect on the peace and quiet.

What can we do to increase these positive aspects of our green space? Well over the last 2 years we've opened up larger areas of the LNR and put in a narrow winding stoned path which everyone can enjoy rather than just those brave few. This was largely thanks to a Welsh Government Funded Community Tidy Towns Grant written by TCBC on the back of the hard work our group has been putting into the LNR since we started in 2008.

Recently, Henllys Community Council funded a WWI memorial oak tree which is the same variety found across the battlefields of Western Europe in WWI, common Oak (Quercus robur).

Planting the WWI centenary oak tree back in Nov, 2014

We then built a frame around the tree and backfilled the frame with stone and it is a visible feature from Henllys Way either in a car or by foot. The Community Council were also keen to have a WWI bench and we though a ring bench around the tree would be a great idea, but the costs for a really decent one was prohibitively high. We decided instead, that if we were to build one from materials locally and did it by hand it would fit in with the ethos of the Local Nature Reserve too.

We had to come up with an idea which would be respectful to the memory of WWI, but also more sound from a habitat/biodiversity/sustainability perspective. Our starting point was a small stand of non-native Norway maple trees were thinned a month or so earlier and there were also a couple of Oak slabs which were cut from a fallen tree in woodland just 300 metres from the LNR. Our group  were given several 1 m x 1 m x 1 m wire gabion baskets from the aforementioned Tidy Towns grant to try and help with erosion control on the stream banks and decided that we could use three of these as frames for the legs of a bench. Normally these would be filled with stone, but we decided to use the fallen Norway Maple instead.

We booked the date for the event to build the bench, but we had plenty of work to do beforehand. The day before, the Group with TCBC Ranger Jon Howells took the baskets and the 2 x 7 feet long oak slabs up to the oak tree to work out the positioning of the bench. We decided that it would be best if we part buried the gabion baskets into the ground first by around 12 inches and this would mean they had a lower impact on the eye, would be more stable and we could get the levels right. The hard part was the fact we'd have to dig out and area 1.2 m x 1.2 m x 0.3 m first, add the baskets into the ground and then fill in what we had just taken out... oh after clearing the site of brambles first.


brambles out first

Jon, Brian and Phil (l to r) digging out gabion hole #1

Brian getting a logs eye view of the action

After finishing the first one, we realised that there was still 2 others to do so Brian and Jon decided to selflessly act as pacemen and procrastinated with discussions about the merits of various retired jet aircraft.

Utterly exhausted, but all three were finished

Eventually, we finished all three of them and in the meantime, in between tales of phantoms and sabres I sanded down the 2 oak slabs. Sadly the day before, we spilt some green paint on one of the slabs where a small pot fell from a shelf (probably by a phantom) in our container, narrowly missing Jon.

Sanding in progress

sanded down

 

We were all shattered, especially moving the slabs back into the container overnight, luckily we only had to move them to Jon's truck and not the whole way by hand.

 

On the Saturday morning, our group were joined by virtually the whole Community Council as well as Andrew Wren from Henllys Rangers. Without Jon's truck we were sweating a bit as each oak slab was pretty heavy. Luckily, Henllys Rangers also have a great group of adult volunteers including the Groundsman who happened to be cutting the pitch with a big mower which was carried on the back of a trailer. Many thanks to Cymru Glass and Glazing for loaning us their trailer and to Community Cllr. Howard Thomas for hitching it up to his truck and driving it to Henllys Way adjacent to the WWI tree and gabions.

Thank you for loaning us your trailer!!

Slabs and gabions

There were lots of things we could have done in advance, like cutting the wood to size and maybe even treating the ends to limit cracking, but sadly there has been theft of wood from the reserve from some residents, so we couldn't do this. As such, we had to find the straightest logs, measure and mark them to 1 metre and then I'd chainsaw them to size. The rest of the volunteers on the day, then transported the wood by hand up to the gabions where they were put carefully in place. As we approached the point where the wood slabs slide into the gabions we stopped and moved to the next gabions.

filling up

Pause before football training

When all the slabs were in place we, were able to add more logs on top of the slabs who extended 30 cm into the gabions at each end.

 

As we were getting towards the end a group were responsible for wiring the baskets shut, which was a laborious and fiddly job, but also crucial for finishing off the job. Finally we all got to sit down and enjoy the bench on this gloriously sunny days with just the kind of views we hope that many users of the LNR get to enjoy in the year to come.

All done

 

View to Henllys Way

 

Happy people

Lots of people, even in our group were struggling to see what it was going to turn out like, but they were all really happy after seeing the end product.

 

I went for a walk the next day and was delighted to see it being used by a young couple with their dog. A week later, I spoke to a gentleman who had been using the LNR for 50 years (long before it was designated an LNR and long before the new estates were built). He said he'd never seen the area look so good and he sat down on the bench the day before for half an hour and loved it. He is a retired lawnsman from a local golf club, so high praise indeed. It is always nice to get a pat on the back for the hard work that goes into these things (more news on that in the next blog article).

 

Finally, a couple of days after, on two occasions, I painted the ends of all the logs with a PVA glue mix to try and seal the ends to decrease splitting of the wood.

Stepping up on Henllys LNR

The increasingly variable weather patterns including intense rainfall and weeks of drought (mainly around Easter) isn't just difficult for our orchard. It also increases other pressures on Henllys Local Nature Reserve. With the most populous users of the LNR being dog users, combined with the increase in the popularity of owning a dog as well as recent restrictions of walking a dog on playing fields and school grounds have created a greater usage of the LNR. With a dog, responsible owners exercise them in bad weather increasing footfall when the ground is saturated (nb responsible dog owners also pick up their dog's poo and put it in a bin afterwards too). These have resulted in a cumulative increase of pressure on routes through the LNR and in some places this has lead to increased erosion and alterations in natural drainage from the main meadow down to the streams. In some places, this has meant that previously safe slopes have become more dangerous and with every new slip and slide, the situation is made worse. The worst of these areas lead down to where we do our winter coppicing work, ironically to provide sustainable sources to stabilise the stream banks from runoff during periods of intense rainfall and flooding.

As a group we regularly look at issues and try and work ways around them working with the Land Owners in the Countryside section of TCBC and in particular the County Ecologist Steve and Ranger Jon. We decided to act reactively and construct a set of basic steps from sleepers on the worst of these erosion points. We were also joined by two of Jon's volunteers Clive and John who also cooked us some nice bacon and sausages on charcoal made from locally managed wood.


Slope before

We started by measuring the length of the slope and worked out how far apart the steps would need to be to have as equal stepping distances as possible. Starting at the bottom, we roughly cut out the step with LNR spades, a mattock and Chillington hoes.


Ranger Jon digging out the first step

After adding the sleeper this was levelled off and put in line with the rest of the steps. Two tanalised wooden stakes were driven down in front of the sleeper to prevent the sleeper from slipping forward and these were predrilled and then nailed to the steps. Sometimes the stakes hit a rock, twist slightly or are diverted off the vertical, but as long as they are in the ground deep enough, nailed well to the sleeper and sawn flush with no trip hazard, we were happy. Some people use rebar steel stakes, but we like to use wood.


Nailing stakes to sleeper

levelling off the step

getting there with Brian and Phil

After we finished the flight of steps, just to make it a little easier, we added a short handrail at the lower end. Meanwhile one of Jon's regular volunteers, (John, 70) used a mattock to formalise a drainage stream near the bottom of the steps which has only arisen in the last 12 months.


Ta da

We were extremely pleased with the work we did with our new volunteer Phil particularly happy. However, none of us were as happy as Jess with her shelter.


Jess having a rest in the shade

 

 

 

 



Not much happening on the blog these days...

Dear All, we've (I've) been very slack for some time on updating the Friends of Henllys LNR Blog (not since June 2014). It is not like we've been  doing nothing, in fact Apr 2104 - Mar 2015 has been the busiest year on record for us notching up in excess of 1000 volunteer hours for the very first time since we started.

Much of what we've been up to has been put into short and sweet Tweets on Twitter via @HenllysLNR and this is where you'll find most of our activities.

In a nutshell, we've seen our wildflower trial blossom; pulled a load of Himalayan balsam again and again and again and again and again; did our second year of pond sampling where Henllys Church in Wales Primary School found newts for the first time and scientifically tested the quality of the water by sampling the water bugs (both ponds in great health with the top pond improving since last year); rebuilt an otter holt with 1st Henllys Scouts' cubs; made bird boxes with the 1st Henllys Scouts' beavers which were then being checked out early this spring while Brian and I made some willow fascines; we gained a retired-fireman as a volunteer (Brian, see previous picture link); Tricia's Grow Wild project went really well; had fun at the Henllys fete; saw that our hard work over the years have had an effect on reducing invasive Himalayan balsam; realised a scythe is brilliant for late-season Himalayan balsam; seeing areas of wildflowers coming back after tackling Himalayan balsam in areas of the LNR; got a bat detector and a scythe from a Keep Wales Tidy Grant; took part in Tidy Wales Week; dismayed that some Himalayan balsam was in flower in November; used the scythe to clear around the orchard; planted a WWI memorial common oak tree with Henllys Community Council; unblocked the culverts on the local nature reserve several times by hand; planted trees around the container;  did 47 wheelbarrow trips of 100 metres with stone to firm up a bottleneck just up from the LNR; made a slippery access path safe with grassmats thanks to a donation from Cwmbran Shopping Centre; widened the main footpath between Glan Rhyd and Birch Grove over 3 Fridays; added more grassmats to the top of the steps; saw the hard path continued creating a lovely walking loop paid for by Torfaen Council; did some tree crown lifting with Torfaen County Borough Council; improved another access point; got tadpoles again in both ponds; we've been shortlisted for a biodiversity award from Keep Wales Tidy and are applying for Community Green Flag status.

Apart from that nothing much to report on.

Some of the Tidy Towns Works

As many of you may know, TCBC was lucky enough to be awarded a Tidy Towns grant to improve Henllys Local Nature Reserve. We've drawn up a map detailing some of the larger activities from the grant that may be more obvious. Many of these are to increase access to the wider community, but more importantly have opened up much more of the LNR which has been inaccessible for many years. The most impressive is the Villager's orchard in the south eastern section of the LNR with a new easy access from Henllys Way and along a stone path (which should green over and just provide a nicer walking surface) and across a newly constructed bridge, gate and mobility access gate.


View Titdy Towns Improvements in a larger map

The whole southern section was very difficult to get through and was becoming a HImalayan balsam reserve due to protection from brambles. Following up behind the contractors tractor was TCBC's ranger, vols and ourselves clearing areas which were not accessible by tractor.

The Villagers' Orchard and other Tidy Towns treats

We've done some good work over the past year with Henllys Church in Wales School, Coed Eva Primary School and the 1st Henllys Scouts. We continued our work with local young people recently by planting up the Villager's Orchard. This was all part of the Welsh Government Tidy Towns funded grant which TCBC successfully applied for to support the voluntary conservation and educational work we have done here since 2008.

26 pupils and 4 adults from Henllys Church in Wales Primary School, 1 Henllys Community Councillor, and two local County Councillors,Torfaen Council Countryside Section and 2 volunteers, joined with 3 volunteers from Friends of Henllys LNR to plant the 30 trees.

The eventual fruit will be for the community, but the wide variety of flowers will provide a boost for pollinator species especially bees. Fruiting trees include, apple, plum, pear, cherries and damsons.

 The trees were pre-dug by a mini-digger to make it easier for us, but this turned out to make things more difficult as they had filled with water and were enormous, so we had to bail them out and then fill them back in. The children turned up, we gave them our Keep Wales Tidy funded gloves and after a quick demonstration they got stuck in. They had to backfill the hole, add compost and the magic powder, then fill up the hole to the level of the scion. Finally they added a coir tree mulch to give the trees the best chance of success. Great fun and muddiness was had by all.

Planting the Villagers' Orchard

Afterwards, tree guards were added and in the 2 following weeks, stakes were added with much appreciated guidance from TCBC Countryside Volunteer Mr. Adkins. 

Soggy roots, advice from Mr Adkins and getting the trees railed off.

Finally, some of the rails were pyrographed (another Tidy Towns-funded too that we requested) helping us to keep a better record of the planting plan. Later on we will get Year 6 to add their names to the rails and perhaps a sentence about why the trees are good for us and wildlife.

Pyrograph engraving the rails around the trees. Note the new path to help walking through the orchard (this will grow over in time)

Chris Partridge from Friends of Henllys LNR said "We were grateful to be a part of this large Tidy Towns funded project and today we have shown that with a bit of help we can make a great difference in our community with this great community event. Hopefully there'll be some fruit left for me, and in many years to come some of the children who took part today can tell their grandchildren that they planted this magnificent orchard"