Birds Take Up New Homes

Nine eggs in the nest 2nd of May 2012

The Wye Valley AONB volunteers and the Youth Rangers were busy back in early spring creating new homes for hole nesting birds, such as blue, coal and great tit.

Some of the bird boxes have been taken up. We have fitted a nest box camera to this box which contains nine eggs. Keep checking back for new posts to check on the progress of this nest site and we will update you on the others.

Blue Tit on the nest 3rd of May 2012

The boxes were constructed by Volunteers and Youth Rangers using recycled materials; scrap wood, aluminium cans and old bicycle tyre inner tubes.



Joan's Hill Farm 26th April

Haugh Wood stands at the top of the Woolhope Dome an area of geologically older rock poking out of the Old Red Sandstone at the northern extreme of the WVAONB. Tucked away on the northern edge of the wood is Joan’s Hill Farm. This is a 46 acre site of un-improved pasture land which provides a rich and ancient flora. Under the auspices of the charity Plantlife this area is being managed to preserve this special habitat.

Within the farm is an orchard which has been in existence at least since 1843 and the task of the WVAONB volunteers (with some volunteers from Plantlife) was to help in its preservation by building some wooden tree surrounds to protect from cattle new trees when they are planted.  Cattle grazing is an important part of ancient meadow management but the cattle tend to damage newly planted trees as well unless they are protected. Under the direction of Joe Costley who provided us with some background to the site and a pile of posts and rails with which to construct the cattle barriers we set out with our usual enthusiasm.

Despite the forecast we were spared all but a few drops of rain although the grass and soil was very wet in places. There were two basic techniques for building the shelters: either dig a hole for each corner post or hammer in the corner posts. Both techniques were pretty strenuous and at the end of the day achieved the same ends. Getting corner posts square on and the rails horizontal proved something of a challenge and we nearly had to resort to Pythagoras’ theorem at one point but ultimately all the timber was used up and all the shelters made without anyone managing to hammer their own thumb as far as I am aware.

As a distraction from the construction works Joe took us into an adjacent field where the green-winged orchid was known to exist and amidst a swathe of cowslips it was there in abundance.  We formed a human ‘transect’ across the field and counted by eye at least four hundred plants as we traversed it. A great advance on the hundred or so plants counted last year.

This is a really lovely area and it is well worth a visit – we hope to return in September by when the new trees should be well established.

Green veined orchid

From October 2011 to 2012



Hedge Clearance 2nd of February

The blog has been silent but the activity has been intense. Volunteers were busy in November 2011 at Joan's Hill Farm and in December we saw out the year  at Staunton Meend battling through stormy weather to set stone walls straight and removing silver birch from the common soon to be grazed by Exmoor ponies.


I can hardly believe we are approaching the end of February, it has been a busy and fruitful period for the Wye Valley AONB volunteers. On the 19th of January we embarked on a minibus tour of the Overlooking the Wye sites and discussed the groups involvement in the ongoing maintenance at a selection of these historic locations.

In February  several attempts were made to plant new hedging and trees and Kate Humble's Farm. Twice thwarted, yet undaunted we returned on the 23rd of February to complete the task.

Volunteers have been busy checking walks leaflets, soon to be published as part of the legacy of the Overlooking the Wye Project. Many thanks to Sally and David for this work.  Elaine Savage has undertaken web site training, and is now able to update the events pages remotely. Liz and David Berry,decked out in Georgian attire, assisted with the filming project undertaken by the Youth Rangers (see Youth Rangers blog for further details.) The following account is written by Guy Moody who captures the spirit of the proceedings at Kate's Farm....

Meend Farm revisited

Thursday February 23rd saw us once more at Meend Farm having been here three weeks ago when ‘earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone’ as the hymn goes.  On this occasion it was altogether more balmy, being the hottest day of the year rather than one of the coldest.  The task in hand seemed straightforward plant up some native mixed species hedges around the proposed garden perimeter of the farm house.  A more than abundant supply of whips had been supplied by the Woodland Trust and a more than abundant supply of volunteers, spades, canes and plastic tubes had been provided by WVAONB.

So after a welcome cup of tea or coffee courtesy of Kate and Ludo we were divided up into teams and set to work. All went well until we discovered that in many places our proposed hedgerows were following the same line as the hidden footings of some previously removed stone walls.  The engineers and strong men amongst us managed to lift most of the stones out of the ground and with the aid of a mini tractor supplied by the builders on site they were moved to a less inconvenient place.

After that the planting was completed in good time despite the soil in places being quite ‘clayey’ which seemed to double the weight of our boots and stick very efficiently to our spades. In addition to the hedges there was time to plant some larger trees in the adjacent fields and also to enjoy the February sun at lunchtime from the vantage point of a convenient rubble heap.

We also tried to teach Sarah (Sawyer) some of the fundamentals of rugby, but I am not sure we succeeded.

Guy Moody

Thank you Guy, and thank you to everyone. It will be great to revisit the farm and see how the new plants are doing later in the year.

Neil and Dorathy digging deep!

Peter, Guy, Roger and Andrew in action

Gadr Farm 13th October 2011

The day didn't start too well since the fair weather that had been forecast turned out to be misty and rainy and visibility was definitely limited. However I set out with high hopes, a pair of wellington boots, some waterproof trousers and a packed lunch. Gadr Farm is well hidden in the countryside quite close to Trellech but Sarah's instructions and Sarah's signage ensured it wasn't too difficult to find. Gadr Farm is not large, about 160 acres and is based around sheep, timber and the caring governance of Alan Morgan an inspirational farmer who has put a environmentally sympathetic approach at the heart of his farming philosophy. So after a quick introduction from Alan we gathered up a variety of loppers and garden tools for the day's task. But first a diversion.  Now where would you look for newts? Not usually under a rotting old door lying on the ground but that's where Allan had discovered they liked to hide after the breeding season so he and Sarah gently levered up the door to reveal several great crested newts, a common newt and a couple of toads.

The task in hand was managing the overgrowth of reedmace (commonly although not accurately called 'bulrush') in a number of ponds on the farm. Besides being important wildlife habitats these ponds provide an opportunity for the many visitors Alan allows on his farm to go pond dipping and they were also the carrot that Sarah had dangled at us for later in the day. Now there is mud and there is MUD, and I think it is fair to say that we found MUD in abundance in the first pond we tackled. A nice thick red mud that was crying out to be made into pots. Fortunately the pond was quite low in water because of the relatively low rainfall this year, which meant a lot of the reedmace was easily accessible. So we dug out the roots of the reedmace, which bear a strong resemblance to the tentacles of some weird octopus-like creature and which seemed to travel for metres across the pond bottom; we splashed around in the pond edges and we generally got smeared with red mud some of which, I swear, ended up my nose. 

After a couple of hours of this activity the pond margins were much clearer and the pond banks were heaped with reedmace ready for composting. Thankfully Sarah called a break for lunch which we took by another pond which still contained water. This pond also allowed us the opportunity to do some of the aforementioned pond dipping. It is testament to the car that Alan takes with his agriculture that the pond was rich in invertebrates like mayfly larvae as well as damsel and dragon fly larvae, beetles and waterboatmen (bugs) and a host of microscopic fauna and flora which we were able to glimpse though a couple of small field microscopes.

After lunch the weather had warmed up and so had the tasks. Whilst some of us lopped back some overgrown willow branches the rest of us tackled more reedmace in a dried-up pond. This work was hardly easier that the morning's task since the bottom of this pond was hard and stony, but with spirit, determination and a few bruises it too was cleared.

As a new volunteer to WVAONB I have to say these activity days are great fun, you meet a host of interesting people, do some good physical activity and visit parts of the countryside you might not visit otherwise and feel that you have put a little back into the community that is so important to maintain. 

Guy Moody

Volunteers Celebrate Forty Years

'Hands on History' walk

Phil Mundell walk leader assisted by Chris Barron and Elaine Savage (photographer).

April to June has has been a whirlwind of events. Wye Valley volunteers have been at the heart of a huge range of activities; leading and back marking walks, manning exhibition stands, erecting marquees, directing traffic and dressing up in an amazing range of  historical costumes. All of these activities have increased the public understanding and enjoyment of out unique landscape and heritage. Thank you one and all. Here are a few pictures lending a flavour of the events.

The Market House Ross

           Bridget, Jenny and Sally, adding period flavour to the 'historic progression'. 

Georgian Day June 2011

Annual Volunteer Celebration

                                                 The Wye Valley AONB's own 'Time Team' in action

On Thursday the 12th of May 2011 a group of sixteen Wye Valley volunteers accompanied by the AONB team joined forces with Herefordshire archaeology to take part in a dig on the Iron Age Hillfort site at Little Doward.
The group walked onto the site from the Great Doward passing King Arthur's cave on their way to the summit of the Hillfort. Neil Rimmington from Herefordshire archaeology explained the significance of the site and how recent excavations have informing their current  understanding.

Once at the top the group split into three separate task groups. Controlling vegetation on the ramparts and taking part in the dig.

The group managed to knock back a large area of bracken growth from the site and will return in June to continue the good work.

                                                Base camp for the picnic

                                           Neil Rimmington explaining the archaeology

                                                    Extending the excavation.

Works on the Wye Valley Walk

Wye Valley AONB volunteers have been working on the Wye Valley Walk to improve access to the viewpoints, newly conserved  as part of the Overlooking the Wye Project. This portion of the walk takes in the designed eighteenth century landscape created by Valentine Morris and celebrated through the Picturesque movement
Historic features along the path include the Alcove, Grotto, Platform and Giant's Cave. Between these fascinating features, walkers are now able to benefit from a broadened pathway on some of the most challenging sections of the walk.

There is still more work to be done and we will return to this job later in the year, giving the group the opportunity to assess how the improved surface has fared over the busy summer months.

                                                                All hands on Deck

Thirteen volunteers toiled with spades mattocks put the path back onto it's historic line.

                                                          Consolidating the new surface