The Story So Far...
In September 2015, the City and County of Swansea - or CCS - won the tender to help renovate the site at Llys Nini, carrying out the works involved from the Lottery Grant. In addition to the environmental work, they have also helped us to come up with a plan for the site as a whole, to improve access, educational opportunities, and develop links with the community.
On this page is the timeline of what we've achieved so far in 2018 to make this happen.
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January, 2018
We started 2018 as we meant to go on - with a lot of hard work! The Prince's Trust returned to give us a few days of their time, and we cracked on with the top part of the new stone path being laid around the top of the Horse Field. Once completed, this will hopefully give us a new wheelchair-accessible loop for visitors to use. The Trust were fantastic, and worked like troopers - well done, gang!
We also welcomed several primary school groups from local Swansea schools, who got the chance to go into the woods with Elanor and learn about hibernation.
And finally, the new boardwalk leading down to the otter ponds had its official opening, courtesy of Nationwide Building Society, who part-funded it. Thanks, team!
A Feast Fit for a King
Kingfisher
March, 2018
Spring has sprung! Or at least, it was supposed to. Instead, winter decided to hang around for an extra half season. Although Swansea never got particularly snowed under, everywhere else did, meaning no one could travel here. This led to our St David's Day fair and trail having to be cancelled, along with several planned volunteering sessions.
It did, though, give us a very beautiful video of the otter ponds, as the snow and winds on one day became so strong they triggered the sensor! Fortunately, the frog and toad spawn seemed to survive without too many issues - as both sink, the majority was beneath the ice, and so largely escaped unscathed.
There were more school visits to the woods, though, a volunteering session from some UWTSD students to hang up new mouseboxes, and a corporate volunteering visit from HSBC to help us set up for our Easter Trail...
Winter is Coming
Snow
May, 2018
May began with something of a bang, weather-wise - after winter overhung into spring earlier in the year, spring promptly collided with summer and got obliterated as the sun came out to play. We began with some volunteer-aided woodland work, cutting through ivy on the ash trees to help them resist their ash dieback for a bit longer, and checking up on a cohort of saplings planted two years ago in Cae Erw. Volunteer of the day was Kite the Brittany Spaniel, who very kindly litter-picked for us as we went.
Surveying continued as the bluebells bloomed and the frogspawn spawned. More corporate volunteers came and helped to tidy up the site, doing some light bramble-bashing and giving our picnic benches a new lease of life with a lick of creosote. HSBC also sent us some fresh hands to continue with the Horse Field path, now that the weather would let us. And, as May wound to a close, we filled half-term with a Superhero Trail that proved so popular we had to extend it for another three weeks!
July, 2018
July began with several days' worth of volunteering from pupils at Dylan Thomas Community School in Swansea, followed by several more from Birchgrove Comprehensive; and WOW did they work hard! We've honestly never had such enthusiastic and hard-working volunteers of any age, let alone teenagers. And that was in spite of the unrelenting heat as summer stretched into a drought! They never complained, and did it all with a smile. Massive thanks to pupils and staff at both schools, they were an absolute pleasure and a delight to work with.
And, they got a huge section of the Horse Field path done, and also woodchipped the paths in our maze! An incredible achievement.
More path was also laid by more corporate volunteers, so it's nearly complete now. Surveying in the heat turned up a fascinating variety of invertebrates, including moths and spiders. And we finished the month by starting off our fortnight-long Detective Trail, timed to cover the beginning of the summer holidays.
All Aboard
February, 2018
February was cold and wet! But we pressed on anyway. Some volunteers gifted us with a rowan sapling, which we will save for our next Big Plant. More school groups came to explore the woods, and we opened our first trail of the year over half-term - our Love Your Woodlands trail. Visitors took a handout each containing a checklist of signs of spring to spot in the woods. In spite of the rain the trail was a huge success, with parents telling us that their children found it both informative and fun.
Meanwhile, the ponds filled with frog and toad spawn - and, down at the otter ponds, our camera trap caught our first ever kingfisher to be recorded on site. But what is in its beak...?
April, 2018
April kicked off with our Easter Trail, which this year was themed around the Wizard of Oz! For the Easter holidays, the Roman Road became the Yellow-Brick Road - with the help of a large tub of yellow biogedgradable sports field marker paint. We also had the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and two witches for the visitors to meet!
In addition to the trail, there were more school visits, HSBC dropped in for a volunteering session, and Toyodo Gosei took up tools to help us build a screen to go along the Otter Boardwalk to hide visitors as they make their way to our eventual wildlife hide. In spite of the rain, a great time was had by all.
And finally, survey season kicked off again! Elanor, armed with volunteers, began the annual survey of species across Llys Nini.
Spring Sprang and Summer Rang
June, 2018
The Superhero Trail finished in June, and we followed it up with our first ever Pokemon Go Community Day to encourage people to explore our nature trails. It fetched a modest turnout, but the people who came have continued to do so each month with each successive community day, and many had never been to Llys Nini before; so a success, we feel!
Surveying continued, and as the sun grew hotter through the month, we started finding a wealth of lizards and adorable baby toads. So cute...
And finally, we were given a collection of hazel saplings! Most likely they won't all survive the heatwave, but those that do will be planted out this autumn in Coed Gwaelod.
August, 2018
August so far has contained more school visits; and, finally, some long-awaited rain! Hopefully this will revive our grasslands, which had gone several fetching shades of brown.
It's Hot Drought-Side
