Wardens Blog

Went up to Mynydd Myddfai with various people from BBNP to look at the pipeline restoration work. Was quite impressed with the effectiveness of the work they’ve carried out so far though it’s evident that Graham the parks conservation officer has had to push very hard to get their work up to standards. In the afternoon me, Graham, Judith, Paul, Toby and Wyn went up onto the hill to carry out some heather condition surveys. Unfortunately the very small patches of heather we did eventually find where in very poor condition. There was much discussion as to the best way to restore the heather cover in the area and more information on the subject can be found here:

 http://horticulture.cfans.umn.edu/vd/h5015/99papers/schuna.htm

Mynydd Myddfai

Spent today putting in another stile with the volunteers down at Pont Melin Fach. Spoke to the landowner and he said that someone had already used the stiles we put in last week which was great!

Spent another day with the BYDP youth team today. We where in the same place - Island Fields - but we where dragging out the branches we’d cut down last week and and burning them on a bonfire (which raised a few eyebrows from passers buy!). In the afternoon Paul baked some potatoes on the fire and we all had a delicious afternoon snack!

I had a great day out today helping Ron from the education team run a guided walk. It was organized for a primary school group of around 40 children (divided into two groups). We set off from Dan-y-Wenallt education centre and went up Tor-Y-Foel. It took us the whole day to walk the circular route and the children where quite exhausted by the end of it but we all had a great day out.

Today was the staff day out. We met at Brecon HQ where we all picked up our pack lunch then headed down to the waterfalls area in the minibus. At Gwaun Hepste car park we had a short discussion and introductory session and then we asked the staff to take the questionnaires and assess how effective the signposting mock-ups on the red route where. The day went really well - perfect weather all day - and it was great to get outsiders insights into the effectiveness of the new signposts. It was also interesting and helpful to hear their views on other issues in the waterfalls area.

Me and Richard went down to the waterfalls area today to put in the mock-up signs and posts for the staff day out.

Spent today at Island fields in Brecon with the Brecon Youth Development Project (BYDP) which is an intervention programe involving six participants in their teens and is run in partnership by BBNP, the polics and CCW. The project will run for 4 months and we’ll be meeting every Tuesday. Today we’ve been thinning out a section on woodland in Island fields where there have been problems with groups of young people meeting and drinking. Thinning out the woodland will not only improve the woodland structure but also will hopefully prevent young people gathering there as there is no longer anywhere to hide.

For the last few days I’ve been preparing for the staff day out next Friday. I’ve been making mock-ups of some new signposts that are going to be instaled as part of a new project and doing a bit of research on the Sgwd yr Eira issues.

Volunteer day today. Me, Rex, Fransesca and Derek went down to Pont Melin Fach and put in two stiles along a new permissive footpath. Paul arrived later on to help us out and we needed the help as well - the second stile happened to be located on what seemed to be the remains of a drystone wall - not very easy digging!

Spent this afternoon carrying out another visitor survey at Gwaun Hepste car-park. This time though it was dead - I only managed get two surveys in the whole afternoon!