We were at Forest Farm yesterday (1 August) to make a start on clearing out  the feeder stream.

The feeder stream used to bring water from the River Taff at Radyr weir for use by  the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works , but that closed in 1957.

As you can see, it had become pretty choked up with trees:

But after a couple of hours of some people in waders wielding saws…

… everyone helping to carry out the brash (the cut-down trees,  branches and logs)…

… and a good deal of clearing up of dead wood and litter (mainly loads of plastic drinks bottles) that had been causing more obstructions…

… there was a lot more light and the stream was flowing much better (at least until it encountered the next blockage, anyway):

We used all of the brash and logs to make a dead hedge…

… in an attempt to keep animals (mostly inquisitive dogs) from causing undue erosion of the stream’s banks.

A great start to what will undoubtedly be several years of work — we cleared about 10m,  but there’s about 1km that needs attention!