Denmark Farm 24th November 2012

On Saturday 24^th November, ACV visited Denmark Farm Conservation Centre, near Lampeter. Even the freezing weather and drizzle couldn’t put off our 10 eager volunteers!

                          

After getting rather lost on the way there (blame Amy, whose only knowledge was to “turn left at the grey house”!) we arrived in good spirits. After a quick cup of tea, we were briefed on the day’s task, which was to involve making habitat piles, side pruning and coppicing, and create drainage ditches in some of the paths, led by Tony, a woodland worker and trainer.

Splitting into groups of three we worked on sections of path, ‘leapfrogging’ to the front and cracking on with the next section along once we’d finished. We cut back branches hanging into the path, to allow easier accessibility for visitors to the centre, and dug furrows into the path to reduce waterlogging. If these are successful, the ditches will be filled with gravel to make them permanent.

Scenic views on part of Denmark Farm

(image from Denmark farm – too much rain to take out camera!)

After making significant progress, we retired to the main building for lunch and, of course, tea and biscuits! Angie, one of the staff, also treated us to a slide show of how Denmark farm has developed from a tired, over-worked intensive farm, to the natural wildlife haven it is today.

After lunch we split further, with half the group continuing with the morning’s work, and half pruning pathways on another section of the 40 acre site. As it began to get dark, we ferried 10 happy but exceedingly muddy students back onto the minibus – with warning that we’d leave them behind if they were too muddy!

For more information on Denmark Farm visit www.denmarkfarm.org.uk.

By Rachel Say & Amy Brittan

Pictures courtesy of Denmark Farm