http://cardiffkeepwalestidy.blogspot.com/
As of today, Saturday 22nd January 2011. The Cardiff Friday Mornings Blog has been superceded by the broader and newer"Cardiff Keep Wales Tidy Tidy Towns" Blog as shown above.
This will include other events and matters relating to my and others activities other than Cardiff Friday Mornings Project.
Chris
Saturday 22 January 2011
Tuesday 18 January 2011
14.01.11 Pontprennau Pond Work
Location: Greenacre Drive just off Heol Pontprennau
Date: 14.01.11
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
In partnership with Cardiff Council's Parks Department we helped to rejuvinate this threatened pond habitat.
Overtime, willow trees have grown up in and around this pond which is causing serious harm to its status. This is due to overshading, eutrophication due to excessive leaf litter and drying out. To address these problems, earlier in the week we coppiced some of the pre-marked willow trees, dragged them out of the pond and stacked them for chipping and recycling for compost. In total, five tipperloads of willow was taken away for composting and 2-bags of litter were collected from in and around the pond.
Today's work continued on from the work performed by volunteers on the Tuesday. The rain that fell on Thursday 13th was so fierce, the water levels in the pond rose by almost a foot. This meant the easy access part was tricky, the island was submerged and the trees on the bank were now in the pond.
Today, we had Rhian from KWT (who is also a local resident), John (a Cardiff River's Group volunteer) and 5-vols from LS Healthcare. By the end of play, we had cleared all of the marked up trees ready for chipping and collected another bag of litter.
Date: 14.01.11
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
In partnership with Cardiff Council's Parks Department we helped to rejuvinate this threatened pond habitat.
Overtime, willow trees have grown up in and around this pond which is causing serious harm to its status. This is due to overshading, eutrophication due to excessive leaf litter and drying out. To address these problems, earlier in the week we coppiced some of the pre-marked willow trees, dragged them out of the pond and stacked them for chipping and recycling for compost. In total, five tipperloads of willow was taken away for composting and 2-bags of litter were collected from in and around the pond.
Today's work continued on from the work performed by volunteers on the Tuesday. The rain that fell on Thursday 13th was so fierce, the water levels in the pond rose by almost a foot. This meant the easy access part was tricky, the island was submerged and the trees on the bank were now in the pond.
For more information contact Chris Partridge by Email: chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
or telephone: 07717 412 270
07.10.10 Chapelwood Coppicing
Location: Chapelwood Coppice
Date: 07.01.11
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
The Cardiff Friday Mornings Project kicked off the New Year with a coppice of mature hazel in partnership with Kevin one of Cardiff Council's Community Park Rangers.
Date: 07.01.11
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
The Cardiff Friday Mornings Project kicked off the New Year with a coppice of mature hazel in partnership with Kevin one of Cardiff Council's Community Park Rangers.
This gem of a woodland has some of the finest mature stools of hazel in Cardiff which in combination with patches of dense brambles and some woodbine (honeysuckle) is ideal habitat for the dormouse which is a European Protected Species.
We were tasked today with coppicing some of these stools to ground level which will allow the trees to rejuvinate. This process has been practiced in the UK for thousands of years. Like then, Kevin plans to use the cut material for alternative uses. Next week the rangers will be performing some hedgelaying with the stakes and binders coming from the woods today.
The group over the last couple of months have performed some coppicing so now know their way around the trees and tools, but these were the largest they had cut so far.
With each stool, we cut from stems from the outside to the inside of the stool and we processed each stem as we cut them. The thicker stems were cut into 5.5 ft lengths while the thinner sections were left longer to be the hedgelaying binders.
Stacks were made of stakes and binders and at the end of the morning we transported these back to the truck and tied them down securely.
The left over brash was stacked into habitat piles. Traditionally, these would be sub-separated into pea-sticks (useful in gardens or allotments) and the smaller brash collected into bundles called faggots for firing the ovens at home. In future coppices, it would be great to tie this in with allotment members who would take away the pea sticks back to their allotments.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
We were tasked today with coppicing some of these stools to ground level which will allow the trees to rejuvinate. This process has been practiced in the UK for thousands of years. Like then, Kevin plans to use the cut material for alternative uses. Next week the rangers will be performing some hedgelaying with the stakes and binders coming from the woods today.
The group over the last couple of months have performed some coppicing so now know their way around the trees and tools, but these were the largest they had cut so far.
With each stool, we cut from stems from the outside to the inside of the stool and we processed each stem as we cut them. The thicker stems were cut into 5.5 ft lengths while the thinner sections were left longer to be the hedgelaying binders.
Stacks were made of stakes and binders and at the end of the morning we transported these back to the truck and tied them down securely.
The left over brash was stacked into habitat piles. Traditionally, these would be sub-separated into pea-sticks (useful in gardens or allotments) and the smaller brash collected into bundles called faggots for firing the ovens at home. In future coppices, it would be great to tie this in with allotment members who would take away the pea sticks back to their allotments.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
10.12.10 Riverside Car Park Clean Up
Location: Riverside Car Park
Date 10.12.10
Time: 10-13.00
Flickr Slideshow
Despite the cold weather, staff from Keep Wales Tidy’s Tidy Towns initiative wrapped up warmly and joined volunteers for a clean-up of the Taff Trail. Volunteers from Ludlow Street Healthcare, local resident Matt and Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy in partnership with Cardiff Council’s Street Cleansing, rolled up their sleeves to tackle overgrown and fly-tipped green spaces near Canton Court.
Seven volunteers and Chris collected two tipper loads of green waste and approximately 15 bags of rubbish including metal scaffold posts, a wooden chair, a shopping trolley which had been left and moved around the car park for weeks, concrete bollards, building rubble and a pig’s head in a bag. All waste was taken away by Street Cleansing which was organised by Lucy Prisk, Cardiff Council’s Tidy Towns Officer.
Chris Partridge said, “The project is going from strength to strength. This week we helped clear a potential greening up site for a small community garden site. These sites were overgrown with buddleia and brambles and collected litter which had blown in and large amounts of flytipping. The coppicing of the buddleia will allow to shrub to flourish next year in a much better state, while allowing us access to all the rubbish which had accumulated there for years. There was still more general litterpicking around the car park to be done which can be tackled on another visit.”
Date 10.12.10
Time: 10-13.00
Flickr Slideshow
Despite the cold weather, staff from Keep Wales Tidy’s Tidy Towns initiative wrapped up warmly and joined volunteers for a clean-up of the Taff Trail. Volunteers from Ludlow Street Healthcare, local resident Matt and Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy in partnership with Cardiff Council’s Street Cleansing, rolled up their sleeves to tackle overgrown and fly-tipped green spaces near Canton Court.
Seven volunteers and Chris collected two tipper loads of green waste and approximately 15 bags of rubbish including metal scaffold posts, a wooden chair, a shopping trolley which had been left and moved around the car park for weeks, concrete bollards, building rubble and a pig’s head in a bag. All waste was taken away by Street Cleansing which was organised by Lucy Prisk, Cardiff Council’s Tidy Towns Officer.
Chris Partridge said, “The project is going from strength to strength. This week we helped clear a potential greening up site for a small community garden site. These sites were overgrown with buddleia and brambles and collected litter which had blown in and large amounts of flytipping. The coppicing of the buddleia will allow to shrub to flourish next year in a much better state, while allowing us access to all the rubbish which had accumulated there for years. There was still more general litterpicking around the car park to be done which can be tackled on another visit.”
Sessions are organised by Keep Wales Tidy who welcome any volunteers who are available to help out on Friday mornings. Events will be listed on the Keep Wales Tidy website
(http://www.keepwalestidy.org/events), but those interested can be added to the mailing list by contacting Chris using the information below. Existing groups working in the area are welcome to join in.
If you would like to join in or want more information contact Chris Partridge on 07717 412 270 or email: chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
03.12.10 Taff Embankment and the Marl, Grangetown
Location: Taff Embankment and the Marl, Grangetown.
Date: 03.12.10
Time: 10- 15.00
Flickr Slideshow
Worked today with LS Healthcare and Cardiff Rivers Group's Dave King in Grangetown. We met in Channel View Leisure Centre Car Park and walked over to the Marl collecting and sorting litter into recyclables and non-recyclables as we went. We split into two groups, one tackling the bonfire area and the other nearer to the water. The group next to the water found and pulled out loads of rubbish including an old really smelly mattress and an old wooden chair frame. Here we collected 4 large recycling bags and 10 large green bags. On the bonfire area, we litter picked around the field and stacked everything near the bonfire for later recovery by Parks Services. Here we collected about half a tonne of rubbish.
After about an hour and a half we returned to the cars and said goodbye to LS Healthcare.
Dave King and Chris Partridge (KWT) then litterpicked on foot all the way from Channel View up to the Taff Embankment to a reported flytip. This was really bad where someone had a new kitchen fitted and just dumped it there. Moreover, there was a load of cardboard containers for children’s safety equipment and a dog partition for a car. The evidence has been handed to the local authority who will hopefully deal with this shocking behaviour.
Along the way to this we came across several other flytips including one fresh one containing heavy garden paving slabs, soil an another old mattress and other waste. There is no standard vehicle access here so it may not have travelled very far from its original home. There was even a missing top rail to make the flytiping easier for the perpetrators. Dave and I moved the manageable material and bagged most of it for disposal by Parks Services.
We picked back over the path all the way back to channel view.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
Date: 03.12.10
Time: 10- 15.00
Flickr Slideshow
Worked today with LS Healthcare and Cardiff Rivers Group's Dave King in Grangetown. We met in Channel View Leisure Centre Car Park and walked over to the Marl collecting and sorting litter into recyclables and non-recyclables as we went. We split into two groups, one tackling the bonfire area and the other nearer to the water. The group next to the water found and pulled out loads of rubbish including an old really smelly mattress and an old wooden chair frame. Here we collected 4 large recycling bags and 10 large green bags. On the bonfire area, we litter picked around the field and stacked everything near the bonfire for later recovery by Parks Services. Here we collected about half a tonne of rubbish.
After about an hour and a half we returned to the cars and said goodbye to LS Healthcare.
Dave King and Chris Partridge (KWT) then litterpicked on foot all the way from Channel View up to the Taff Embankment to a reported flytip. This was really bad where someone had a new kitchen fitted and just dumped it there. Moreover, there was a load of cardboard containers for children’s safety equipment and a dog partition for a car. The evidence has been handed to the local authority who will hopefully deal with this shocking behaviour.
Along the way to this we came across several other flytips including one fresh one containing heavy garden paving slabs, soil an another old mattress and other waste. There is no standard vehicle access here so it may not have travelled very far from its original home. There was even a missing top rail to make the flytiping easier for the perpetrators. Dave and I moved the manageable material and bagged most of it for disposal by Parks Services.
We picked back over the path all the way back to channel view.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
26th November 2010 - Hailey Park Willow Removal
Location: Hailey Park
Date: 26.11.10
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
This carried on from the work started with Blackhorse's Time2Care volunteers in October (http://tinyurl.com/5tgfw2t).
7 volunteers from Ludlow Street Healthcare and 2 Cardiff Rivers group volunteers joined Gareth (Cardiff Community Park Ranger) to clear the last of the willow from this section of the grassland in Hailey Park.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
Date: 26.11.10
Time: 10- 12
Flickr Slideshow
This carried on from the work started with Blackhorse's Time2Care volunteers in October (http://tinyurl.com/5tgfw2t).
7 volunteers from Ludlow Street Healthcare and 2 Cardiff Rivers group volunteers joined Gareth (Cardiff Community Park Ranger) to clear the last of the willow from this section of the grassland in Hailey Park.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
Thursday 11 November 2010
10.11.10 Grangemoor Park trial for Cardiff Friday Mornings Project
Location: Grangemoor Park Opposite Starbucks
Date: 10.11.10
Time: 10-12
Flickr Slideshow
This event was with Community Ranger Alec and a team from Ludlow Street Healthcare supervised by Barrie.
This part of the main mound has lots of stones which are excellent habitats for slow worms and excellent snail breaking areas for thrushes. In between the stones are plenty of goat willow and buddleia. These needed coppicing to help to contain their presence on this open space. Alec gave the team from LS Healthcare a talk on the site and Chris from Keep Wales Tidy gave them a tool safety talk and demonstrated what we were doing today. Some of the stumps were quite large, so we decided to prune them with loppers and saws, leaving easily manageble stumps to be cut later by the Ranger's chainsaws. We cleared a decent area in our 1.5 hours and the wood was stakced in 2 large piles, which would be later reduced with chainsaws making a better habitat pile. Alec told us, that although it was build on an old spoil tip, the area of grassland adjacent to where we were working has a stable colony of breeding skylarks (birds). These are classified as a priority species under the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. As such, he will be looking for a team of volunteers next September to help with the grassland management in an attempt to further increase and support this important and magnificent species.
We also collected one bag of rubbish and found another site for a litterpick on another day.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
Date: 10.11.10
Time: 10-12
Flickr Slideshow
This event was with Community Ranger Alec and a team from Ludlow Street Healthcare supervised by Barrie.
This part of the main mound has lots of stones which are excellent habitats for slow worms and excellent snail breaking areas for thrushes. In between the stones are plenty of goat willow and buddleia. These needed coppicing to help to contain their presence on this open space. Alec gave the team from LS Healthcare a talk on the site and Chris from Keep Wales Tidy gave them a tool safety talk and demonstrated what we were doing today. Some of the stumps were quite large, so we decided to prune them with loppers and saws, leaving easily manageble stumps to be cut later by the Ranger's chainsaws. We cleared a decent area in our 1.5 hours and the wood was stakced in 2 large piles, which would be later reduced with chainsaws making a better habitat pile. Alec told us, that although it was build on an old spoil tip, the area of grassland adjacent to where we were working has a stable colony of breeding skylarks (birds). These are classified as a priority species under the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. As such, he will be looking for a team of volunteers next September to help with the grassland management in an attempt to further increase and support this important and magnificent species.
We also collected one bag of rubbish and found another site for a litterpick on another day.
For more information contact Chris on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org
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