Otters, holts and cross-border activities

Cardiff shares its borders with several counties and every now and then we join up with KWT colleagues to look at a cross border activity. Earlier this week, I joined up with Ian Harvey, KWT's Tidy Town's officer for the Vale of Glamorgan to look at a joint Vale/Cardiff Event for this summer. It was also an opportunity to meet a Vale Biodiversity Officer to verify the signs of an otter. Ian works very closely with Llamau over in the Vale and he took them out along a river looking for tell tale signs of otter spraints deposited on elevated mounds or stones. One of the Llamau vols found a pile and this was confirmed by the Biodiversity Officer on our visit.

A little further away, we had a look and agreed a potential site to build an otter house, called a holt with one of Ian's groups.

We took a walk then to the flyover of the A4232 where it passes over the Ely. This was stinking with rubbish which we think is a result of car drivers chucking it out of their windows with some of this blowing away. A massive job for a massive group of fit volunteers especially with the steep banks to contend with.

Slideshow of spraints and the litter:

19.04.11 Whitchurch Brook Clean Up

Today we responded to a request from a local resident to help clear the brook running behind the 3 Elms pub in Whitchurch and upstream along to the shops.
Map of event:

View 19.04.11 Clear Brook behind 3 Elms pub in Whitchurch in a larger map
Three volunteers, John, Ron and Sue, gave up their time on a glorious Sunny day in a beautiful stream to remove 2 flatbed loads of house bricks and rubbish including guttering, various pieces of wood and metal, 2 bags of litter and 2 bags of recycling. While we were there we also gave a quick street clean to College Road.

Sue, one of the volunteers used a wheelbarrow for the first time and was thrown in the deep end loading up the barrow with bricks followed by moving them to the collection point. Sue said "the hardest part was getting the balance point right". John Wilkinson, who requested the tidy up added "the tyre could have done with a bit more air really". John then thanked everyone for giving up their time to improve this watercourse.

The materials were stacked carefully along the footpath and were removed by a Parks Waste Services Team about 1 hour after we had all finished the clearance work.

Slideshow of the event:

16.04.11 Sawing of the stakes in Old St. Mellons

The hedging vols in St. Mellons turned out on Saturday in Old St. Mellons for the final touches to the hedge and a celebratory picnic.

Before we started, Cllr. Jane Rogers performed a solo litterpick and dog poo pickup around parts of the park. We knew it was quite bad around here for dog poo as we had to tiptoe around several piles while hedging.

All that remained was moving all the brash to one site. Following this we cut the stakes down to the height of the binders, or hetherings, and wove in any sticking out pieces of hedge.

Following this we enjoyed a picnic to celebrate the end of the hedging as well as seeing leaves emerging from stretches of the hedge showing that we'd done a good job.

15.04.11. Cardiff Friday Mornings Project. Recreation Ground Behind Harris Avenue in Rumney

Today 3 volunteers stepped up the help clear some of the litter from the rec behind Harris Avenue in Rumney. We collected 11 bags of rubbish including 5 recycling bags, part of a car radiator and some mysterious heavy plastic boxes.

The biggest problem today was the shredded cans. One of the volunteers, Stephen, said "It was nice to think that by picking up these razor sharp pieces of metal we could have prevented serious injuries to playing children or dogs"

Chris Partridge, Keep Wales Tidy Officer for Cardiff added "These occurrences are entirely preventable if users of the rec used the provided bins or took their litter home with them".

Here is a slideshow of the event.


Map of Work Done:

View 15.04.11 Harris Ave Fields Trowbridge/ Rumney in a larger map

14.04.11 Knocking in the marker post on the Keep Wales Tidy Coppice in Bute Park

Today, we finished off the coppice work that we planted in Bute Park as part of Climate Change Week. The plan for today was to knock a fencing post into the ground, saw the top off at an angle and then nail a Keep Wales Tidy/Tidy Towns Waymarker to the top.

It was far from the blue sky that we experienced when we planted them in the ground a few weeks ago and we weren't scared of a little rain, however, the tools were quite heavy. As such, I recruited help from our Chief Executive, Lesley Jones, and Alaw Ceris from the Cardiff Office to carry the tools onto site and then complete the task in hand. It was very nice to see that the trees looked in good condition with most of them budding out into leaf.

Here is a slideshow showing the work we did today:



This Keep Wales Tidy Coppice will be used by Cardiff County Council's Parks Department to provide a sustainable resource for items such flower supports within Bute Park and for stakes which can be used throughout Cardiff. It will also be a valuable edcational tool for local schools and other visitors to Bute Park.

12.04.11 Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Coch Litter pick

Today I went over to Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Coch where we did a litter pick around the perimeter of the school which contained loads of litter. The pick involved 12 members of the ecocommittee where we collected 3 bags of recycling and 3 bags of rubbish over an hour and a half.

The children also learned a little about hawthorn trees, which I'll be testing them on again next time I come along.



The school will be putting in an application for free B&Q vouchers from our "Have a Wild Weekend for Wales" with the hope to add some wildflowers onto a grass bank which is frequently and heavily littered near the school and football ground. For information on Have a Wild Weekend for Wales visit here.

09.03.11 Radyr Cardiff Rivers Group Clean Up

Saturday saw a return to the land downstream of Radyr Cricket Club which we last visited as part of the Great Taff Tidy. Following this event we were unable to return until the ground was suitably hard, the river low and more people available to move the tonnes of rubbish on this long bank.

28 volunteers in 4 hours removed over 2 tonnes of waste was removed in boat 12 trips. Waste included bikes, tyres, traffic cones, 750cc motorbike, a wheelchair, large metal wheelie bin, 2 lifejackets and of course, about 10 trollies. Cardiff Council will dispose of all collected waste.

The most remarkable part of the day, were the distances involved in removing this rubbish, where the longest distance was 500m! - No wonder I spent all day Sunday eating.


View Saturday 9th April Cardiff Rivers Group 10-2pm in a larger map
The following video shows how we moved some of the rubbish from it position to the docking area:



The other option was to drag items across which can be quite tricky:



On the event there some massive items including a large frame of a motorbike. This was way to heavy to carry over to the docking site so we improvised using my wheelbarrow, with some of the weight taken away from it using my iron bar to lift it like a perpendicular Sedan Chair.



Once the rubbish was transported to the docking area, the waste was loaded onto the Council's Park Department and then dragged from the far bank and pushed and lifted by four CRG'ers in Waders.



Here is a slideshow of the pictures throughout the day:



Photos taken by Cardiff rivers Group can be viewed here.