Week 6: 12th - 15th November

Monday

We spent the morning travelling to stores picking up items required for upcoming jobs around Silent Valley reserve.  We eventually ended up at Seddon House, where we were introduced to the members of the admin, conservation, and fundraising team.

The afternoon was spent taking part in our weekly welsh lesson.  This week we covered basic introductions and responses, as well as numbers and basic time and dates.

Tuesday

Today we were joined by two university students who were on a short work experience placement which forms part of their course, and we spent all day out in Silent Valley repairing a fence line which had rotted out and collapsed. 

On arrival, the reserve officer accessed the fence line and ran through health and safety as we were working high up on a steep slope. We will always do this regardless of where we work and carried out a tool talk before we began working.  Firstly, the staples holding wire to the old fence posts were removed and then the old posts were pulled from the ground – with some posts being 3ft into the ground, it was a lot of digging!  Once they were out, new posts were put in and knocked into place using a drivall.  As they went in each post was carefully checked to make sure it stood upright and wasn't leaning.  After the new posts had been driven in, the wire was securely reattached using new staples.  This repair will prevent stock from entering the reserve and repressing the Beech regeneration.

Michaël using a bar to create a hole
ready for a new fence post.

Sally straightening the post while the tamping
bar is used to shift the earth around the base
to hold the post in place.

Beth and one of the university students using the drivall to
knock the new fence post into the ground.

A good 3ft down, a LOT of digging was required to get this
old fence post out of the ground!

Wednesday

This morning we attended a Blaenau Gwent Biodiversity Partnership meeting.  Joined by members of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, Butterfly Conservation, and independent naturalists, the meeting discussed general environmental projects and the recent goings-on in Blaenau Gwent and surrounding areas. 

After the meeting, we spent the afternoon in the office continuing with our projects.

Thursday

We spent today at Silent Valley with a large group of volunteers. The main task of the day was to clear an area of fence line running alongside the Nant Merrdog – a tributary of the River Ebbw. The volunteers were divided into two smaller groups, enabling us to do more work over a larger area. One group felled some small Willow trees in an enclosed area on the bank of the river, stacking the fallen branches into neat habitat piles.  The other group cleared all the overgrown brambles and other vegetation from along the old fence line and began removing the old fence.

This work is in preparation for a new fence that is being installed to help promote the biodiversity of the area through sheep grazing.

One of the groups clearing willow.

Yet another difficult fence post! Luckily the earth was softer,
making the digging a little easier.