Blog

Rain won’t stop the determined.

We have held some great ‘Mindfulness Bushcraft’ sessions at Coed y Werin gaining new skills whilst on a journey of wellbeing.

Leaving our worries behind we embarked on a journey of personal discovery. We ‘Soaked’ up the serene atmosphere Coed y Werin has to offer whilst learning woodland crafts of shelter building, whittling, foraging, and so much more.

We enjoyed great activities with fabulous company, in amazing surroundings, undertaking challenging but rewarding tasks.

We explored mindfulness – nature connection practices and skills to help manage stress, enhance well-being, to build personal resilience and to help increase our ability to cope with difficult or stressful situations.

We talked about how to use the natural environment to give ourselves the headspace we sometimes need, to take a breath of clean, fresh air.
Trees are not only an essential part of a healthy ecosystem they also play a great role in making people feel better. Being in the woods enables better uptake of oxygen, improving our lung and heart systems giving us clarity and the feeling of wellbeing.

The feedback so far, from the delegates, has been really positive many saying how much they are looking forward to the next session. The six session course, continuing through November, is fully booked but we hope to deliver more in the future.

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The sessions are being delivered by Chris Partridge and Drock of Coed Lleol the sessions funded through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government and supported by Caerphilly County Borough Council.

We are thrilled once again to be able to announce that for the fifth year running Coed y Werin has been successful in achieving the Green Flag status.  This is a great accolade to the Trust and proof that the hard work and determination, in all weathers, by Trustees and our Volunteers has paid off in once again achieving this award

The land (23 acres) was saved from being developed as landfill by the local community who in 2002 got together to purchase it with a grant from the Local Authority. The Charity ‘Caerphilly Woodlands Trust’ was set up where Trustees were appointed and a strategic management plan, with the help from ecology and geology specialists, was put in place.

Over these past 17 years the dedicated team of trustees and volunteers have tirelessly continued their work with, from time to time, help from local youth groups, schools and businesses turning the woods, now known as ‘Coed y Werin’ the ‘People’s Woods’ into the tranquil wooded haven that it is today.  

Within Coed y Werin is an area that is a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the unique geology, dating back to the carboniferous period, some 350 million years. The rest of Coed y Werin is a Site of Important Nature Conservation (SINC) with an ancient woodland, dating back to 600AD.  We can confidently boast that over 80% of ancient woodland flowers can be found on our site.

“It goes without saying that if not for the help of Trustees and volunteers, we would not have achieved this prestigious award, a recognition of their hard work and dedication”

said Jayne – Chair

Caerphilly Woodlands Trust

Over these past 17 years, guided by our management plan, we have gradually removed conifers and reintroduced indigenous broadleaf species of trees.  This work, opening up the tree canopy and forest floor, has provided greater creation of the natural biodiversity. But there is always lots more work to do and everything we do helps us achieve our aims to meet our Charter to:

• Sustain landscapes rich in wildlife
• Plant for the future
• Celebrate the power of trees to inspire
• Grow forests of opportunity and innovation
• Protect irreplaceable trees and woods
• Plan greener local landscapes
• Recover health, hope and wellbeing with the help of trees
• Make trees accessible to all
• Combat the threats to our habitats
• Strengthen our landscapes with trees

I want to give a massive shout out to all our wonderful volunteers who contribute their time freely to this amazing community activity. Volunteers in Wales have a value of at least £757 million per year but give their time for nothing but for the benefit of their community.

If we are to build a better and safer world for our children and grandchildren we will need the dedication and good will of volunteers like these more than ever. They are truly priceless.

Said Jayne

If you are interested in joining the Caerphilly Woodland Trust or helping out as a volunteer please contact us via our Facebook Page, twitter or through our contact information on our Webpage.

We had another very busy and productive day with children from Hendredenny Park Primary School learning about the importance of trees.

Trees; homes for wildlife, planting trees for the future, keeping us healthy in body and mind, making landscapes stronger and being there for everyone.

We were accompanied by a super film crew @FfocwsMedia who documented the days events and activities interviewing teachers and children.

Each student planted their own tree, kindly donated by ASBP, the children putting their name next to each so that they might come back to check on its growth.

They followed the rubbing post trail and they used their skills to identify trees from leaves and the twigs only stopping for lunch at base camp under the shelter the children helped to set up having hot chocolate and a tasty snack from the camp fire.

These children are the guardians of the future, ensuring we have a livable planet for their generation and beyond. A wise person would say the world was not given to you by your parents it was lent to you by your children. Learning and sharing the importance of nature and the part trees play in this is essential. Decisions we make today will radically alter the landscape and environment we leave to them in the future.

We had a super day, I can safely say the children were all inspired by the woodland surroundings and I’m sure all of them slept well that night, I know I did.

Thank you Hendredenny Park Primary School @year3hddp for visiting us. We hope to welcome you back soon.

Thank you also to Steve Chamberlain from Llais y Goedwig for being base camp leader and Kevin Eadon-Davies CCBC Countryside for helping to make this possible. Fellow Trustee Vernon and I truly appreciated your support on the day we could not have done it without your help.

This past Sunday was a great work session. Great weather and some fantastic volunteers who repaired a number of areas around the pond plugging the gaps where hedging had been damaged or lost over the past year.

We were privileged to have been offered, by the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, 100 trees which we gratefully accepted and used to help maintain the boundaries of the woodland paths

We also had a special helper for the morning, Seren Osbourne aged seven, who came along with her parents. Seren planted a number of trees along a length of pathway now known as Seren’s walk.

You are never too young to volunteer. Thank you Seren.

ASBP donate much-needed trees to celebrate 100th member milestone

The non-profit sustainability organisation The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products (ASBP) donated 100 trees to the Caerphilly Woodlands Trust to celebrate reaching their 100th member milestone.

Now the breeding and nesting season is over, this autumn the Trust will start planting the much-needed Holly and Hedgerow trees in their local woodlands Coed y Werin.

ASBP has a growing presence in Wales and over the past few years has been collaborating with Dylan Jones at Caerphilly Council for their annual awards programme. Last year’s sculptural awards were handmade from local Ash & Cherry at a workshop in Aberbargoed by Dylan and MA design student Phoebe Oldfield, and it is hoped that the 2022 Awards trophies can be made from thinnings from Coed-y-Werin.

Jayne Garland, Chair of Caerphilly Woodlands Trust, was thrilled to receive these young trees and said work to start placing them within the gaps in Coed y Werins hedgrows will start this coming Sunday.

Aproximately 19.4% of Welsh land area is covered by woodlands and trees. It is estimated this soaks up 1.84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) each year.

Trees also help clean harmful pollutants from the air; it is estimated Welsh woodlands removed 16,211 tonnes of PM10 in 2015.

Trees are not only an essential part of a healthy ecosystem they also play a great role in making people feel better, improving health and wellbeing, increasing our oxygen uptake and improving our lung and heart systems. That’s why woodlands are a great place to visit or even volunteer.

said Jayne

Find out more about ASBP and their work at https://asbp.org.uk. or
contact Caerphilly Woodlands Trust to become an ‘environment improver’ by becoming one of their amazing volunteers.

Caerphilly Woodlands Trust is thrilled to be hosting a series of mindfulness sessions delivered within our woods at Coed y Werin by a woodland mindfulness practitioner.

Research has shown spending time in woodlands can lower heart rate and blood pressure, improve oxygen uptake, lung and heart sytems are improved, reduced stress hormone production, boost the immune system, and improve overall feelings of wellbeing.

These sessions have been sponsored by Welsh Government SMS rural development fund as part of the Caerphilly Landscape Partnership Project in partnership with CCBC.

Places are limited & free to members and volunteers or £10 to non members which will also provide you with a one year CWT annual membership. More events like this are planned – a good reason to join.

To pre book a place on these sessions (pre booking essential) please contact Chrispartridge@smallwoods.org.uk or telephone 07759 954 088

Coming soon to Coed y Werin

If you are interested in attending six weekly sessions of mindfulness in our woodland contact us to learn more

It can be easy to rush through life without stopping to notice much.

Paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing.

Some people call this awareness “mindfulness”. Mindfulness can help us enjoy life more and understand ourselves better. You can take steps to develop it in your own life by joining our sessions coming soon to our woods.

Places limited

Each year our work season starts in September and allows us to work in our Woodland to the end of March the following year. This enables us to manage our woodland landcape without disturbing nesting wildlife.

Nesting season here in the UK can last from February to the end of August depending on location, species and weather and is an exciting time for wildlife fans.

As a responsible woodland organisation we, at Caerphilly Woodlands Trust, abide by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the European Habitats Directive 1992, which means we plan our work schedule outside of nesting season and we never touch a site with an active nest.

Yesterday evening we met with Ben Evans from the British Institute for Geological Conservation (BIGC), National Museum Wales to talk about what needed to be done around our Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) the areas of exposed and interesting geology within our woods.

Many people will never have seen where coal comes from so the BIGC with our volunteers some years ago excavated an embankment in the heart of our woods and cut away a nine metre high basin.

Visitors to our woodlands can see the Rhondda No2 coal seam without having to venture underground.

Together we walked through each area and discussed the clearing of green growth over the rocks and what needed to be left and what needed a more concentrated plan of work.

What a super evening it was to walk the woods, sun dappled and brushed by a gentle breeze.

We had a great morning exploring our Woodland with around 30 amazing School Children from Hendredenny School and their teachers. We were also joined by Steve Chamberlain from Llais y Geodwig and Kevin Eadon-Davies CCBC Countryside Officer.

We learnt about the history of our Woods and how it once was used to extract clay for making local bricks for the miners houses. This clay was carried on a narrow guage train along the dram track to be made into bricks and where there still remains an old chimney stack on the site where those bricks were once made. However over the centuries coal, iron ore, stone and clay have all been worked on this Coed y Werin site creating the many wet areas we use as ponds today.

We explored the geology site where you will find over 350 million years of geological history revealed in the exposed rocks. We looked in the loose rubble for fossils that had been trapped in the layers of coal, mudstone and ironstone, formed when tropical swamps covered the area in prehistoric times.

We went on to learn about the rare and unique species of wildlife, flora and fauna found in our woods and the Children took rubbings from the posts installed in key areas indicating what could be found in those places.

We also looked at the many different tree types with our leaf & branch spotters and leaf ID wheels. We appreciated natures way in creating a beautiful tree canopy, dormice could travel through this canopy safely getting around the woods without having to cross on the woodland floor.

The Children then walked around the Long Pond discovering the waterfall and they learnt of the seasons and how that affects the woods and its inhabitants.

Concluding at the Bench we all sat and had lunch in the sunshine. It was a super morning, full of laughter and questions. It was a pleasure to show Team Hendredenny around our Woods.

Caerphilly Woodlands Trust are an active member of the Sustaining Caerphilly’s Landscape Partnership and have made brilliant use of this funding to help the local community explore and engage with a beautiful community managed woodland and learn about why this habitat is important and the wildlife that calls it home.

Said Kevin from CCBC Countryside Team

Some of the recent work, to create and install the rubbing posts and undertake an ecology report, has been funded through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government and supported by Caerphilly County Borough Council, the Sustaining Caerphilly’s Landscape Partnership brings together landowners, community groups and organisations to deliver a range of initiatives that help sustain, enhance and make accessible the beautiful landscape, its wildlife and heritage around Caerphilly and the lower Rhymney valley

Ysgol y Castell year 5 have been undertaking an eco project to look after the bees.

I visited Ysgol y Castell earlier this month and gave a talk to two classes in year 5 about bees and how important they are to us and the planet. The students were so keen to do their bit to contribute to a better future that they set up their Bee Bomb Business. The fruits of their hard work produced £250 which they kindly donated to us here at our Woodland Trust helping to keep Coed y Werin a sanctuary for nature.

We talked about the variety of pollinators and their habitats, how they are under threat and how everyone can take small steps to make a positive difference

We tasted some delicious honey my bees produced last year and I explained how the bees had made it. I hope I didn’t put them off this fabulous natural food packed with goodness.

After tasting some of the honey the students each made individual bug hotels from flower pots, dried reeds, twigs, stones and hay.

Thank you Year 5 Ysgol y Castell and a huge thank you to Miss Curran for organising it. We look forward to welcoming you to our woodland, Coed y Werin, soon.