This case study charts the development of a small community woodland group in Llangattock, in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The group is unusual in that it grew out of a desire to find a sustainable local source of quality woodfuel for the community – rather than, as is usually the case, emerging out of a need to manage an existing community woodland asset.
Thursday 15th July at Long Wood Community Woodland, Lampeter
Saturday 31st July at Castell Henllys in Pembrokeshire
A day course in bud grafting will immerse us in a theoretical and practical approach to grafting using buds; otherwise known as chip budding. This method is carried out over the summer months, usually in July.
On this course we will have an overview of all issues relating to rootstock choice, the preparation of scion material and joining the bud to the rootstock to create a successful union. We will also discuss the type of equipment we will be using from grafting knives to tapes, waxes and secateurs. The course will give you a detailed introduction to bud grafting along with a tree to graft and takeaway.
We aim to accommodate all levels of ability in an encouraging and friendly atmosphere.
Please bring along a pair of secateurs, suitable clothing for working outdoors and a packed lunch.
This course will be held outside and follow covid precautions in line with government guidelines.
Places are limited, please book early (see booking details at the top of the page).
9th and 17th August at the Woodland Skills Centre
15 places available on each day
Woodland Skills Centre is a community-owned, not-for-profit Social Enterprise which has a 50 acre site in the heart of the Clwydian Range AONB. There are 40 acres of woodland managed for social, environmental and economic benefit, workshops, Centre buildings, Forest School sites, tree nursery, polytunnels, apiary, wildflower meadow, heritage orchard, allotments and medicinal herb garden. The Centre runs courses in traditional crafts, countryside management, bushcraft and mindfulness, works with schools, runs family events and has a wide-ranging Social Prescribing programme.
The day events for Llais y Goedwig members will look at trees – identification, propagation, uses of timber, place in the ecosystem, edibility and toxicity, look at the woodland management plan and how it seeks to achieve its objectives and look at how social benefit is delivered by various means including the Social Prescribing programme.
The day will run from 10.00 until 15.00. drinks will be provided but please bring your own lunch. If you re travelling some distance for the event, it may be possible to arrange camping overnight on the 8th or 16th August so you’re ready to start bright and early on the day of the event. Please indicate when booking if you would be interested in camping overnight and we’ll be in touch to discuss cost etc.
This course will be held outside and follow covid precautions in line with government guidelines.
Places are limited, please book early (see booking details at the top of the page).
Winter is well and truly here, with a dusting of snow on high ground. Through the woods the purple shimmer of birch twigs, the deep green of the yew, and the red shine of the holly berries are just as festive as any tinsel or shop decor.
We’re still feeling a warm glow from this years community woodland Gathering, which for the first time we held virtually. We had a fantastic three days of talks, discussions and demonstrations on topics ranging from wild woodland products to the climate emergency with over 240 people taking part. There was a real feeling of cooperation and mutual support through these difficult times.
If you’re a member of Llais y Goedwig this is your Newsletter! Contact us if you have anything you want to be featured.
Llais y Goedwig Gathering 2020 – Report
Find out about this years community woodland gathering, packed with useful links and contacts, plus a focus on what we learnt and how we are going to take forward the issues, ideas and priorities that emerged.
This has spurred us on to reanimate our ‘Voice of the Woodlands’ YouTube channel where we’re busy uploading extracts from the Gathering.
First sites announced for National Forest – “Among very best woodland in Wales”
Fantastic that Coed y Bont and Spirit of Llynfi Woodland community woodlands have been chosen to be part of the National Forest. There will be more opportunities to get involved, and to quote Iolo Williams “…this will be our National Forest – I would encourage all those with an interest to get involved and be a part of its creation as the project progresses.”
Coed Blaenwern
Coed Cadw are inviting the local community to adopt a wood on the outskirts of Lampeter: an opportunity for a community woodland group to manage their own woodland for the benefit of people and wildlife.
Advisory Note – Working with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.
The latest Llais y Goedwig Advisory Note has been written to help groups better understand the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act goals and the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources principles. It suggests ways that you can incorporate them into a management plan which you can use to deliver your group’s activities, and when applying for funding.
This month we have two fantastic blogs to read, so grab a cuppa and settle down by the fire for:
Communities Creating Christmas
The Allan Shepherd from the Wales Community-Led Housing Network extends you a very cordial invitation to attend their Communities Creating Christmas network event on December 17th. As part of the festivities please bring a digital gift to share with the network. A recipe, a piece of advice, a game to play, music or song, a policy or an idea that has made your housing group progress or your life better.
Coppice Crafts with the Woodland Skills Centre
Saturday 16th – Sunday 17th January 2021
Willow weaving and management, habitat surveys and more! Plan your 2021 training programme with a range of courses at Denmark Farm
Project management
25, 28 January & 1 February 2021
This course is for anybody who has responsibility for developing and managing projects as part of their everyday work.
Read about further work on birch tapping and processing with some new funding we’ve been able to access through the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) programme managed by Farming Connect.
Watch a recording of the presentation about this from the Gathering.
Useful Woodland Links
www.llaisygoedwig.org.uk
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
www.makinglocalwoodswork.org
www.coedlleol.org.uk
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Unit 1
Dyfi Eco Parc
Machynlleth
Powys
Wales
SY20 8AX
As my time at Llais y Goedwig comes to an end I reflect on the past few years we have been working to develop Magu Coed, a network that has arisen out of the Communitree project*, for those intent on raising trees. There is such a shortage of local provenance trees available in Wales, which forces organisations to import trees, with the added risk of importing disease, and even in some cases, trees with different flowering times to the local variety. The events and training are hopefully reducing that risk by giving people the skills and confidence to grow their own local provenance trees, and helping to meet the demand for more trees in Wales.
The events have pulled together people from all sectors; seed savers, growers, volunteers and professionals, farmers, trades people setting up in business, conservation charity staff, and public sector officers who are needing to increase the local provenance stock for their planting targets. We now have nearly 200 people on our mailing list and have run around 25 workshops and site visits at tree nurseries and woodlands across Wales.
We have officers from two of the three national parks participating in the network, as well as large conservation charities such as the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust. We have staff from councils creating nurseries in Ynys Mon, Conwy, Denbigh, Pembrokeshire, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouth.
It is heartening to see all sectors working hard on this to contribute and to collaborate, and it is interesting how the demographic of those seeking out this information has changed – there is a definite movement in Wales to grow more local tree seedlings, which is impacting across all sectors. And of course this is also why Llais y Goedwig and Coed Cadw have teamed up to help small scale tree nurseries and growers, with training and networking.
Thanks to the involvement of David from Prees Heath Trees, a commercial nursery in Shropshire, who donated a day of his time to join and support 25 of us with some training at Aberduna; The North Wales Wildlife Trust’s nursery. He even showed us some clever heritage kit which Aberduna now uses. This allows a traditional nursery worker to plant 10-15000 seedling plugs into the field nursery in a day.
It is called ‘Planking out’. David advised us that as a commercial nursery he wants to work with other nurseries whether they are social or private enterprises, and that it is in the interest of nurseries to collaborate in order to hold on to customers. So when he has an order that he can only partially fulfil, he will contact other nurseries in his network and buy some of their stock to fill his customer’s order.
We had some great tutors on the programme this year – highlights included;
Bryan Dickinson and Jenny Wong from Wild Resources Ltd who taught us about the science of tree genetics and how little it has changed over 10,000 years since the last ice age, how genes are turned on or off according to the climatic conditions; about the hazel stands on the shore at Nant Gwytheryn which may be evidence of the first arrival of hazel after the ice age; and the large stands of over 150 veteran crab apple trees at Abergwyngregyn which may be the largest stand in the UK.
Alisha and Rebecca from the Woodland Trust/Coed Cadw taught us about the importance of biosecurity at nursery sites – such as careful boot cleaning,to avoid cross contamination from other woodlands or nurseries which may have diseased material; they also gave us a useful grounding in the political reasons why trees are still being imported from abroad, even though the dangers of bringing in yet more diseases is well known.
Steve Wilson gave us another year of foundational information on the many different ways tree seeds need to be treated in order to grow trees successfully from seed and how to give them the best start in your own tailor made composts which mimic the forest soil.
With funding approved for another year of CommuniTree we will be able to host more training in 2023 / 4 when my role will be taken over by my colleague Jayne Hunt. Here Jayne describes some of the highlights for the network coming up;
“ We’ll be following the progression of courses from seed collection to growing on, with a few of the popular tried and tested courses from years 1 to 3 as well as new courses and resources to help nurseries certify their trees and work collaboratively to supply the trees to the market. We need to ensure Wales future forests thrive, and the CommuniTree project is supporting community and small tree nurseries across Wales to help meet that objective”
For more information on CommuniTree and the thriving regional Magu Coed networks please get on touch with Jayne on jayne@llaisygoedwig.org.uk
The CommuniTree programme was made possible through Coed Cadw, The Woodland Trust in Wales, with support from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Nature Networks Fund, delivered by Heritage Fund on behalf of the Welsh Government.
The Llais y Goedwig Policy Advisory Group held it’s first meeting this year in early April, with Community Woodland Group members, Associate members and LlyG staff and directors attending to pool ideas and expertise to help raise the profile of Community Woodlands in the policy arena in Wales.The group will be meeting regularly over the coming months with plans to:
If you would like to take part in Advisory Group meetings or have the chance to contribute to debates and consultations, contact policy@llaisygoedwig.org.uk for more information
