From the Usk to Wye Reserves 

The Usk to Wye volunteers took on the massive job of starting the coppicing rotations at our Croes Robert Reserve. This steep, wet woodland isn’t for the faint hearted but our volunteers did a cracking job at making a dent in this grueling task. Coppicing areas of woodland on rotation over many years creates diversity in the canopy structure and allows for a mosaic of different habitats to form, supporting a wider variety of species. This was once the role of large woodland dwelling herbivores, such as bison, but now we have to step in with our hand tools and chainsaws to mimic their action. 

Opening up areas of woodland allows more light to the forest floor. This new lease of light allows for brambles take hold, creating dense thickets, proving shelter and food for many species, including the hazel dormouse. Dormice reply on a rich and varied shrub layer, to provide all the food, cover and nesting material they require through the year, and this is what the coppicing promotes, rejuvenating a woodland area that has become over mature. These areas of thick bramble provide the perfect habitat for them. The coppiced stools of the trees, protected by the bramble also provide lots of opportunities to hibernate at ground level over the winter. Eventually as these areas mature, coppiced trees and new saplings will grow through the bramble, shading it out. This allows for the ground flora to once again flourish in the dappled light and over the decades, slowly reclose the canopy, and the cycle starts over.  

On the Gwent Levels 

On your recent visits to our Magor Marsh reserve you will hopefully notice the works we have completed over the winter through local contractors and our fantastic volunteer support. A series of ditches internally on the reserve have had their routine maintenance of vegetation and silt removal. With bankside vegetation being flailed back and submerged vegetation dug out with excavator and spread across bank and field margin. These important channels of water, designated under the Magor Marsh SSSI for their rare aquatic invertebrate and flora assemblages, which require good light intensity and warmth through spring and summer to complete their life cycles. Without this management, the water channels gradually fill in with silt, the bankside vegetation will become denser with bramble and scrub, becoming heavily shaded areas that may only periodically hold shallow stagnant pools. 

We have also targeted the reedbed north of a ditch aptly coined water vole alley, for both ditch bankside clearance and willow coppicing through the reedbed, in order to limit the successional progression of willow woodland through this wetland habitat. 

Over in the Eastern Valleys 

Our valleys volunteers have been working hard across our sites this February. Our leaky dams were in need of some repairs along the Nant Merddog at Silent Valley following the very heavy storm events throughout the winter. The dams are well fixed in place and able to do their job of slowing the flow and creating gravel beds. Unfortunately, this stretch of river suffers from plastic pollution, legacy litter from the old tip further upstream. A river clean was held to clean of this stretch to remove all the plastic that had materialized throughout the Winter. Over one afternoon, 17 bags of rubbish was collected from the river bed and banks, along with some larger metal objects.  

Off our reserves 

Over the winter, we ran a series of work tasks at Blackrock Quarry, an old quarry near Clydach that has historically been a fantastic spot for butterflies. However, in recent years, the quarries south facing limestone grasslands and bare ground have been encroached by cotoneaster, an invasive non-native species, introduced in 1879 from Asia as an ornamental plant. 

With permission from the land owners, Badminton Estate, and the help of Monmouthshire Moth and Butterfly group volunteers, we worked hard to remove the cotoneaster and re-open areas of the site. This will allow the native limestone grassland species to regrow and support the array of butterflies that used to thrive here, including the Grayling butterfly, one of our 10 Vulnerable Species of Gwent: Ten vulnerable species recovery | Gwent Wildlife Trust

Top species sighted 

A big indication of winters loosening grip - the first chiffchaffs have been heard at Magor Marsh! These small olive-brown warblers have a distinctive call that even the most novice of wildlife watchers can pick out over the chorus. Although we have some resident birds, most of our chiffchaffs over winter in Africa and they are one of our earliest birds to return at the start of spring. 

Make sure to listen out for their call when you are next out and about - ‘chiff chaff chiff chaff’