It was a bracingly cold morning’s work for the 13 volunteers who cut down loads of brambly overgrowth from the banks of Whitchurch Brook, where it passes under Heol Gabriel.
They also removed miscellaneous items from the brook itself, including about a dozen balls (foot and rugby), a huge piece of perforated metal…
… and a toilet seat.
20 volunteers from CRG, working in partnership with the Council’s Community & Urban Park Rangers, spent a gloriously sunny morning tacking some horrendous domestic fly-tipping in what could be a beautiful green space behind Snowden Road & Caerwent Road, Ely.
First order of the day was cutting through all the bramble and other vegetation to actually get to the rubbish — huge thanks to the Rangers for wielding brushcutters and hedgetrimmers.
Then it was a matter of everyone picking up what was clearly years’ worth of fly-tipping, with the best-before dates on the crisp packets and drinks cans accurately recording when the many layers had been deposited.
And it wasn’t just “litter” — it included two fridge-freezers, half-a-dozen mattresses, several now-deflated paddling pools, three armchairs, five TVs, two vacuum cleaners, lots of children’s toys, and
bags full of disposable nappies.
Everything had to be carried over very uneven ground, negotiated past assorted metal structures intended to keep bikes out, and thenmoved down a 30m long 1m wide alleyway before it could be loaded onto vehicles.
We have no idea how many bags we filled with rubbish — there were just far too many to keep a count of — but all-in-all the morning’s haul filled five tipper trucks, with about half-a-trailer-load of scrap metal.
Obviously, we could only clear so much in two hours and, sadly, there is still at least the same amount again still to remove. And that’s only what was visible — the dense vegetation covering most of the rest of the area no doubt hides lots more.
What’s truly baffling is why anyone chose to throw it over a back fence* — most of it would have been taken away for free in regular general waste or recycling collections.
*given how inaccessible the area is, there’s really no other plausible explanation for how it all got there.
There were just half-a-dozen of us at Parc Tredelerch, on what turned into a beautiful late-autumn morning, but we managed to finish off the reed cutting by the boardwalk.
This will help to prevent the reeds completely blocking the channel, and creates a mixture of habitats, which will suit various different species.
Despite their usual nesting season still being about 3 months away, some coots had decided to build a couple of nests, one on either side of the reed beds, so we made sure to work well away from them — and they were straight back onto them as soon as we were out of the water, so we were happy that we hadn’t deterred their head start.
(That said, once they realise that the start of winter is not really the best time to have a clutch of chicks, they’ll probably abandon the nests and start again nearer spring.)
Another very-wet-but-worthwhile morning at St Mellons Business Park for 16 volunteers, plus Jess from the Park Rangers (and Rhod, too, at the beginning & end).
Many of them were tackling a pond that has become stagnant and covered in algae because of being shaded by some very overgrown trees (predominantly willow, plus some dogwood) around the edge.
Removing selected trees will let some much-needed light back in and the pond should recover, once enough oxygenating plants get re-established. The cut-down trees will be chipped, and the woodchip used for mulch.
Others did a litter-pick of the surrounding area and collected 22 bags of rubbish…
plus around 60 large NOx canisters, which were added to the 200+ that were dropped off by people who’d collected them during their own litter-picks elsewhere.
Many thanks to Ben from the council’s waste management team for collecting all the rubbish at the end of event.
Nine volunteers carried out some scrub clearance at Grangemoor Park this morning, as part of the Park Rangers’ long-term management of the park as a mosaic of habitats, to maximize biodiversity.
They removed self-seeded dogwood, alder, hawthorn, willow and other shrubs & trees from an area that will be maintained as rough grassland. The brash was used to continue building a dead hedge along the lower edge of the cleared area.
And, after all the rain we’ve had recently, one of the previously dried-up ponds had water in! (Sadly, it also had a lot of litter in it, too, but that’s a job for another day.)
We aim to return to Grangemoor Park regularly over the next few months., to get as much work done as we can before spring arrives.
24 volunteers from CRG & St Mellons Clean Up spent an extremely wet morning tackling Cath Cobb Woodlands — litter-picking the woodlands and grassy areas, and removing rubbish from the stream.
They were, at least, rewarded by some sunshine and a rainbow just as they finished, plus some welcome refreshments, thanks to Paula Morgan, Community Champion at Tesco St Mellons.
They collected 75 bags of miscellaneous rubbish — mainly the usual suspects of drinks cans/bottles, crisp & confectionary packets, plastic bags, and food containers (jars, packets & hateful polystyrene). There were some drinks cans that dated back to the late 80s/early 90s!
They also found 40 large NOx canisters, which were added to the approx. 200 dropped off by people who’d collected them on their own litter-picks. These will be made safe for recycling and weighed in as scrap.
We spent the morning making a good start on clearing reeds from the lake, by the boardwalk…
… and doing a general litter-pick around the parc.
Thanks, as ever, to our great volunteers!
22 volunteers collected 60 bags of rubbish, a car door, 10 different chairs, 3 shopping trolleys, a dustbin, a sofa, and a garden umbrella.
Overall there was one truck full of bagged rubbish, another truck full of the bulky waste, and a trailer full of scrap metal.
Around 20 volunteers tackled Fairwater Park, litter-picking the paths, fields and woodland, and clearing rubbish — including the almost-inevitable nextbike — from as much of the stream they could access (which wasn’t a lot, given how overgrown it’s become in recent years).
The woodland areas clearly provide numerous secluded venues for various activities — primarily eating and drinking, based on the litter collected, but also other pursuits, given the items of underwear, condom wrappers and pregnancy test sticks (five!) that were also found.
The final haul was 33 bags of miscellaneous rubbish, plus the usual assorted larger items, including three traffic cones, bits of a moped fairing, a wicker chair, part of a strimmer and a garden rake.
And another 185 NOx canisters were made safe for recycling — that’s over 500 processed in just the last 4 days!
