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!