Fourteen apprentices from BT were supported by 2 supervisors and 1 manager in clearing rubbish followed by coppicing of hazel stools from Chapel Wood, Cardiff. They were supervised throughout by Chris Partridge from Keep Wales Tidy.
We visited and performed some coppicing here in January as a Cardiff Friday Mornings Project. One thing we noticed was how stinking this woodland was with rubbish. Hopefully the pictures here (before the litterpick) demonstrate this. The aim was walways to return here, perform more coppicing, but importantly remove as much of the rubbish as possible.
Altogether we removed 30 bags of recycling and 5 normal rubbish bags. This clearly demonstrates how wasteful we are in parts of our society. Moreover, we collected about 1/ tonne of other larger pieces of material including 2 chairs, 1 burned out cigarette machine, 1 tv, various pieces of plastic and scrap metal, 2 cones, 1 football, 1 rugby ball and 2 golf clubs. All of this waste was taken away by Cardiff Council Parks Services.
Following this, the group learned about coppicing, its history, its importance for wildlife (especially dormice) and how to perform the coppicing safely and carefully to give the plant a good start to its latest rejuvination. A local resident told us that the last time the hazel was cut was 30 years ago!!! We then processed the wood into stakes and binders for hedgelaying and the top brash was cut or pea sticks to be used in Bute Park.
The team were fantastic and even created a novel way of mass transporting the hazel to the pick up site.
Well done and a credit to BT. Hopefully with the really hard work done, it may be possible to raise interest in a local group to help manage this true gem in Cardiff.
For more information call Chris Partridge on 07717 412 270 or chris.partridge@keepwalestidy.org.
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