The events planned for 2024 can be seen by clicking this link: 2024 planned events
For more details on our monthly workdays, click this link: FoNF workdays
Please check the calendar throughout the year as any changes, plus locations etc, are updated there.
Green Flag Award 2024
This year we achieved our 8th Green Flag Community
Award, an achievement we can all be proud of!
The Green Flag award is an international mark of a quality
green space.
The award recognises that the site demonstrates good
environmental practices, such as sustainable maintenance methods, biodiversity
conservation efforts, and wildlife habitat creation.
The award also recognises the contribution of Nant Fawr to
the physical and mental health of its visitors, providing a relaxing
environment and opportunities for social interaction.
Nant Fawr is actively used and supported by our local
community, with members regularly joining the monthly workdays and programme
events, which is another criterion recognised by the award.
Our thanks go to our members and all who help to maintain this precious
green space.
7th July 2024 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Friends of Nant Fawr Community Woodlands.
To celebrate we will (*) be holding an event to celebrate - so please come along if you can!
Date: Sunday 7 July 2024
Time: 11am - 3pm
Place: Meet at the old Reservoir Car Park, off
Rhydypenau Road. What3Words inspector.rots.survey (see map below).
Activities will include:
- Look at stream creatures through a microscope
- Learn about butterflies/moths/reptiles
- Learn about local environmental groups
- Guided walks around Nant Fawr area
- Follow our Explorer Trail
- Carry out a Scavenger Hunt
- Identify leaves
- Activities suitable for children between 5 - 12 years old
- Prizes to be won!
* In association with Cardiff Council, Welsh Water, Butterfly Conservation,Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, Cardiff Naturalists, Friends of Cardiff Reservoirs and Keep Wales Tidy.
21st January 2024 – This workday was based at the Rhydyblewin end of Nant Fawr. Grass and bramble that had been cut previously was raked up off the meadows and piled to create habitat piles adjacent to the orchard areas. The cutting of this meadow along with the other meadows in Nant Fawr is part of the management plan for Nant Fawr, the aim of which is to regenerate the meadows and encourage the growth of wildflowers. On this workday the volunteers also constructed a drain across the stone path to reduce the effects of flooding in this area and to make the path more accessible.
25th February
2024 – On this workday we
focused on coppicing the willow saplings and raking the cut soft rush on Boggy
Meadow, in preparation for the growing season. Using the cut willow whips the
volunteers started to create a weaved fence/hurdle, that will enclose and
protect the small pond in Boggy Meadow.
24th
March 2024 – The volunteers continued
with the work in Boggy Meadow coppicing the willow and making willow and hazel
hurdles to help protect the shallow pond. Work also started on upgrading the
path adjacent to the old reservoir car park. A drainage ditch was created, and
this work will be followed by levelling out the path, with the aim of reducing
the flooding in that area.
A very kind lecturer at Cardiff University shared this crude list of invertebrates present in the Nant Fawr stream within c 50-100m of reservoir outflow. Enjoy reading about some of the life that thrives here below, and see these photos of more lifeforms in Nant Fawr stream found in our recent family Stream Shuffle!
Flatworms
Polycelis tenuis
Leeches
Glossiphonia (complanata?)
Gastropods
Ancylus fuviatilis
Potamopyrgus antipodarum (non-native)
Radix peregra
Crustaceans
Gammarus pulex
Stoneflies
Leuctra geniculata
Leuctra moselyi
At least 1 other
Mayflies
Seratella ignita
Baetis spp
Ephemera danica
Heptageniidae spp
Beetles:
>1 spp of Elminthidae
Dytiscidae (probably Platambus maculatus)
Caddis
Rhyacophila sp (probably dorsalis)
Hydropsyche sp(p?)
Limnephilidae (Potamophylax/Stenophylax?
Glossosoma spp
Sericostoma personatum
