Tasks for the upcoming semester

A look ahead at all the organisations we will be working with this semester 

October - December 2012

Green Phoenix

RSPB - Ynys Hir

Ceredigion County Council

Hafod Estate - Forestry Commision

National Trust - Llanerchaeron

Shared Earth Trust - Denmark Farm

Old Chapel Cambrian Archaeological projects

Countryside Council for Wales - Borth Bog

C.A.T (Centre for Alternative Technology)

ACV Bioblitz at Llanerchaeron 31/03/12

An early start, even by ACV standards, awaited all that signed up to go on a special one off outing on Saturday 31^st March. Our destination was the National Trust Llanerchaeron site near Aberaeron, our task was to assist in their Bioblitz.

Bioblitz’s are an initiative set up by the Bristol Natural History Consortium and are run worldwide with the aim of encouraging  people to get in touch with wildlife by aiding scientists to identify as many species as possible in an area in a 24 hour period.

Off on the bird walk (Photo S. James)

We arrived and promptly set off on a walk around the woods looking but more so listening for birds.  We had an excellent set of guides, all of whom were local naturalists and many of them are county record keepers. After an hour or so we started to head back to the house and gardens for a cup of tea and a talk about the aims of the day from the site warden.

Listening to bird calls (Photo E. Bell)

After splitting into smaller groups we went off with the various guides and got to focus on an area of interest.  There was moth ID and meadow plant ID before lunch.  Then after lunch there was pond dipping, invertebrate hunting in rotten logs up in the woods and then woodland and field edge plant ID. 

Purple Thorn (Photo E. Bell)

People were welcome to move around and encouraged to share any knowledge they had on a subject but most of us found it an amazing learning opportunity as the guides all have a wealth of wisdom on species and especially their uses when it comes to plants that can only be acquired after years of being out and about in the woods and countryside.

Wood Anenome  (Photo S. James)

It was a fantastic day that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.  We would like to thank all the guides for their patience and sharing their knowledge with us, seeing as they were there as volunteers as well.  A big thanks to our secretary Alex Dodds for organising this as an extra event and finally to Gwen, the site warden at Llanerchaeron, for inviting us down!

Newt (Photo E. Bell)

If you would like to find out more about Bioblitz’s and see if there is one in your area check out the Bioblitz website http://www.bnhc.org.uk/home/bioblitz/

Also for any one that fancies visiting the site at Llanerchaeron information can be found here http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/llanerchaeron/

Ladybirds in the meadow (Photo E. Bell)

Coed Phoenix 28th April 2012

The Coed Phoenix is a project in Mid Wales to turn a former spruce plantation into a diverse woodland, with a good mosaic of habitats to provide not only a valuable environment, but a place of learning!

ACV volunteered on their “Amphibian and Freshwater Discovery Day” where we were able to help out with surveys – pond dipping and identifying the critters caught. This was the first wildlife survey ACV members have been involved with, and it was such a success that there will definitely be more of those tasks in the future!

  Not only did we count newts and dragonfly nymphs, we did our usual fabulous conservation work;

<<<<<<<< Building two boardwalk bridges to improve access to the freshwater network

Building a log shed to keep the 
firewood dry >>>>>>>>>>

         <<<<<<<<<<  Dead heading to expose the ground to sunlight and encourage the natural ground flora to                 regenerate

We also had fun contributing to the hand print decoration of their storage container, which the boys just couldn’t resist turning into a paint fight….

http://www.thegreenphoenix.co.uk/

Coppicing in LLandewi Brefi

On the 5th March 2012 ACV went to Llandewi Brefi and helped Andy ,who we've worked with before at Denmark Farm, so some coppicing, in woodlands being the town hall.
Wildlife Where You Live is a programme that helps communities carry out local environmental imrpovements in their own towns and villages and is run by Denmark farm. The plan at Llandewi Brefi is to have a dragon,the stone wall will form the body,the coppiced trees will form the spines and a sculpture will be created for the head.You can find out more about the initiative here
http://www.denmarkfarm.org.uk/wildlife-where-you-live-wwyl/

So after a quick tutorial in how to coppice some of the team set about coppicing whilst the rest set about moving already felled trees from the field behind

Working together to move coppiced wood into one pile

Coppicing was made a little difficult in the afternoon as the wooded area we were working in backs onto the town's football field,  so we were dodging footballs! However everyone enjoyed them selves, and many of us learnt new skills.

Thanks to everyone that took part.

Group Photo

Plant a Tree with ACV

870 Trees

13 Volunteers

6 Hours

Plant a Tree with ACV

On a gloriously sunny day in March, the kind that shows Mid Wales in its best light, Aberystwyth Conservation Volunteers set of with the challenge of planting 870 trees in a day. We had attracted many on members to the event through the weekly e-mail. So

We were planting on a small holding near Trefenter. The lady that owned the land had been given a grant through the Woodland Creation Scheme (The current Welsh Government plan to plan trees all over Wales). However the grant didn’t cover labour so our president Ally was approached to find volunteers to plant the trees.

It was decided to open the event up to the university and through advertising in the weekly e-mail and various other places we had many new volunteers sign up.It was great to have a mix of old ACVer and new members too.

The land we were planting on was rather muddy and waterlogged, so tree species that were tolerant to water logging were chosen including Goat’s willow, Alder and Hawthorne. Those that hadn’t planted trees before picked the technique up very quickly and the trees were all planted in 6 hours.

How to Plant a Tree

1) Making the T-cut

2)Planting the tree

3) Put the stake in the hole and fill in the hole

5) Place a tree guard around the tree and the stake

The hard work was rewarded with a delicious lunch which included many home made cakes and pasties.

Many thanks to those that helped us plant all the trees, hopefully in twenty years time we’ll be able to go back and see a woodland!

The Tree Planting Gang

Llandre 24-03-2012

For the last official task of the semester the ACV gang headed to Llandre, a familiar task for many of us, however, this task had many new faces for Llandre!  Arriving bright and early at the church car park the day looked promising with the sun already baking overhead.  Roger, the faithful secretary for Llandre Heritage, gave a quick history talk about the area before showing us to site we’d be working on.

Clearing brambles from this sight ^^, which had been pretty much taken over by it and creating more defined footpaths was the aim of the task.

BEFORE

                                                        AFTER

In usual ACV style the task was almost finished in no time at all, so half of the group moved on to attack brambles on a horrendously steep bank.

Thanks to all the volunteers who gave up there gloriously sunny Saturday to help out! If you'd like to know more about Llandre visit there website http://www.llandre.org.uk/

- Steph James

Old Chapel Farm Residential 17th/ 18th March 2012

Another cracking weekend working in the woods and enjoying the hospitality of Kevin and Fran at Old Chapel Farm.

Really busy atmosphere at Old Chapel as we were not alone in the woods, there were a  few people staying the weekend to plant trees, a group of woofers who were currently staying at the farm and then the local Bodgers (Green woodworkers) group were up at the woods that weekend too.

Main task for the weekend was continuation of the paths through the wood, after a customary tea break we were all needed to lift a felled tree and get it in place as a roof beam for a wood store that was under construction in one the quarried out recesses next to the hut and camp fire. Once this was done we set to work on the paths clearing a good section with our trusty mattocks before stopping for lunch.

After lunch another tree was felled and again lifted into place, whoever came up with the expression many hands make light work clearly hasn’t lifted a felled tree before. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent putting in a few steps along the path and bit a down time carving and chatting to the Bodgers about green wood working and having a little go at a few simple crafts as well. Come sunset it was back to the farm for a delicious vegan curry, some pleasant conversation and a fair few glasses of home-made wine before bed.

Sunday started much the same with us getting on with the paths in the morning and finishing a good few sections of steps then after lunch, some continued with the paths while a few more were roped into help with the roofing on the wood store. Come mid-afternoon in typical welsh fashion the beautiful sunshine was unexpectedly replaced with a ten minute hail storm which had everyone running for cover. The rest of the afternoon was taken at a leisurely pace with a lot of conversation round the camp fire before it was back to the farm for farewell tea and cake and a longer than expected 5 minute walk to see the cows and cob in one of the lower fields.

Great weekend as always at Old Chapel thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Edward Bell (First year)

C.A.T Residential (Centre for Alternative Technology) 25-02-12 & 26-02-12

The first residential of the new semester was working at the Centre for Alternative Technology, just past Machynlleth – a first for ACV thanks to Alex.

Saturday

On first arriving, Grace, one of the biologists at C.A.T, gave us a guided tour around the areas we would be working in, showing us what she wanted us to achieve and teaching us so much about the different types of trees around us! Then – of course – we got down to the serious business of tea drinking, before starting on thinning out one compartment of woodland, which was so dense we could barely see each other.  We were given instructions to have fifteen foot centres, which meant your centre tree should have a fifteen foot diameter of space around it to ensure the trees, specifically oaks, were given the best environment by providing more light and space and taking away their bigger competition. So began the relentless axing, chopping and pruning!! Once felled, we were snedding (stripping the side shoots and branches off the tree with a billhook) and moving the trees to the road.  Tired and covered in tree sap, we retreated to a homely youth hostel in Corris.

Sunday

Refreshed, we continued our assault on the section of woodlands we’d began working on, on Saturday but this time with the help of Rob, from C.A.T, and his friend Johan.  We also branched out (sorry) into coppicing birch trees to make fascines, rough birch brash bundling, which we used to cover boggy, muddy tracks to create beautiful, bouncy paths!! 

Before                                              After

Among the day’s events Nelis felled a 30ft Western Hemlock, which turned out to only be eight years old!!  This goes to prove our work that weekend was extremely beneficial as Western Hemlocks are not native to the British Isles and quite easily outcompete our own trees.

Llanerchaeron 3-3-12

This week the ACV gang rocked up to the National Trust site Llanerchaeron, but unfortunately, due to car trouble, the leader for the day couldn’t get to us.

So instead, we had a walk through the woods, which Ally, Ben and Nathan quickly turned into a woodland war. Tribes and characters were formed, pinecones were lovingly hurled, and we all had a good giggle.

We then took a detour on the way back to Aberystwyth and sat on a blustery beach while Ally tried to light the Kelly kettle for what felt like hours. Eventually she was lit, and we all had a cup of char before returning home.

OH AND WE SAW A DOUBLE RAINBOW!

Rhododendron Bashing at Coed y Cwm Nature Reserve 25-02-12

This Saturday (25/02/2012) saw the return of our volunteers to Coed y Cwm, to help with the control of rhododendron, an invasive Himalayan species that has, unfortunatly, spread throughout the UK since its introduction in the Victorian times. This invasive plant is a particular problem in acid woodlands, where it out competes our native species

It was another day which saw us lopping away at the the bushes to get them down to a point where we could then saw the main stems down to ground level and then using mattocks to dig out their root balls, which spread laterally rather than deep down. While most of our volunteers went to work cutting, a small group went about burning what ACV had cut a few weeks before.

A big thanks goes out to our volunteers who gave up their Saturday, to come on task to get the work done!!

Making our Garden Sustainable....

As we come to the end of our first grant funding for the Campus Garden, £600 given by AberGuild, we are looking to the future.

So far the garden is rather an ornamental and fruitful affair, in the future, we hope to include raised veg beds so that students can save money by growing their own, as well as experimenting with some weird and wonderful breeds.

Map of Penglais Campus

We've already purchased an absolute bargain of a digital camera from eBay (£6.99!!) as well as some second-hand gardening books from the Oxfam book shop in town.

We've still got another £300 of grant to spend from the O2 Think Big Project on gravel paths and more essentials. 

(http://www.o2thinkbig.co.uk/Projects/Project-Home/?clubId=1767)

Which also has the potential to access even more money as well as training for individuals involved.

Old Chapel Farm 18-2-12

After a phone call on Friday afternoon informing us that Saturday's task would have to be cancelled  due to poor weather, sadly  it looked unlikley that we were able to go out on Saturday, until  our president Ally managed to organise a new task in record breaking time (applause please :) ). So  on Saturday morning we set off to Powys (in the rain) for the third task of second semester working in Old Chapel Farm, a place ACV had worked at before, and had built steps during the residential last semester.

This time around we were coppicing,planting trees and creating a path. Only a few photos were taking on this task, because Ally the usual photographer was busy filming the task for our youtube video which will be edited and be up on the youtube channel soon! 

You can check out our youtube channel here

http://www.youtube.com/user/AberConservation?feature=mhee.

Coppicing and moving wood of the track.

The ACV team.

 The weather on Saturday was quite sporadic, after expecting to be working all day in the rain we were pleasantly surprised when it stopped raining and  we saw the blue skies , only to be surprised by a hailstorm later in the day. The most special part of Saturday's weather had to be the snow at the end of the day, luckily by this point we were in the farmhouse drinking tea and eating delicios homemade scones, it was a beautiful scene to watch.

It seemed that our last minute  rearranged task worked out for the best after all!