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As of April 2011, the Wyeswood Common Project came to
an end. Of course, in terms of the future restoration of the reserve, we
are only at the beginning! However, now the initial fully funded phase
of the project is complete, it’s a good time to reflect on the
achievements of the last 3 years. Let’s not forget that before I joined
the Trust in May 2008, a phenomenal and quite unprecedented fundraising
effort brought in a total of approximately £636, 000 (and change!). This
was enough for the Trust to buy Wyeswood and fund the project for 3
years to kick-start the envisaged habitat restoration.
In summary the long term aim of the project is to
re-create wood pasture, a varied mosaic of grazed grassland, woodland
and scrub supporting an abundance of wildlife. In the short term our
focus has been to:
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remove nutrients from the highly fertilised
grassland by cutting for hay and silage
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re-introduce wildflowers via seed collected from
Pentwyn Farm
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recreate new woodland and re-connect existing
woodland and scrub
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re-introduce grazing to open up the grassland and
allow space for wildflower seeds to establish Over the last 3 years
we have, (amongst many other things!):
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Removed over 1000 bales of hay and silage
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Put 83 acres of grassland into restoration
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Surveyed 450 grassland quadrats
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Taken 180 soil samples
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Applied around 10 kilos of wildflower seed from
Pentwyn onto Wyeswood covering an area of approximately 2.5 acres
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Planted 8240 trees, creating 6.3ha of new woodland
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Created 250m of new hedgerow to add to the
existing 3km network
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Put up 900m of deer fencing and 3850 metres of
stock fencing
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Layed 1440 metres of water pipe and added 3 new
troughs.
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Grazed 390 sheep and reared 55 lambs As for the
amount of sheep escaped – no comment!
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New interpretation panels |
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In addition to our work for wildlife we have also made
improvements to the public access facilities to make the reserve more
visitor friendly. Three new interpretation panels have just been erected
to compliment a 2.7km way marked trail, taking in Wyeswood and Pentwyn.
55 metres of dry stone wall has been restored in the area round the
medieval barn with several tones of stone laying in wait for a further
15 metres to be rebuilt later in the year.
Last but by no means least is the contribution to the
project made by volunteers. Over 1000 volunteer hours have been clocked
since the project commenced, of which approximately 850 has comprised
practical work on the reserve. Naturally we have also done a good deal
of surveying and monitoring to establish a baseline for the conservation
interest in the site, which we know will improve in time! Several
hundred hours of volunteer time spent surveying has produced many new
records for Wyeswood including dormice, grass snake and tree pipit.
We can’t also forget the numerous hours spent by our
volunteer shepherds checking for escapees nor the support given by
volunteers at events and in the office at Seddon House. In among the
vital statistics for these first 3 years of the project I really ought
to include the amount of sleepless nights I’ve had worrying about the
project (countless) and the number of new grey hairs I’ve found since
working here (too many to admit to). But it’s all been worth it in the
end. I would like to thank everyone who has made the project a success
and I look forward to continuing the good work we have all started.
Annette Murray.
Wyeswood Common Project Officer Phone: 01600 740358 or
amurray@gwentwildlife.org
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