Guided Walk at Coed Bell, Gronant, with the Friends of the AONB

Earlier in May, Rangers Steve and Imogen held a guided walk for The Friends of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) around Coed Bell in Gronant. This was a chance for the Friends to see the fantastic work the Ranger team and volunteers have done over the last few years managing the site to enhance the bluebell display and to learn how the site is managed for biodiversity.

While there, they also visited the Scheduled Ancient Monument at the south of the site. This area is part of the Sustainable Management Scheme (Grazing Project) and again, the Friends had a chance to see the work the Ranger team have done to reduce the huge amount of bracken and gorse there with the view of getting grazing animals on there in the very near future.

The attendees really enjoyed the visit and a couple even said it was the best bluebell display they had ever seen, and you can see why!

The Green Communities Fund

The Green Communities fund, a partnership project delivered by rural development agency Cadwyn Clwyd and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) with support from Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham councils has supported improvements to outdoor community activities and infrastructure across North East Wales.

43 communities have been supported through the Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing grant, 24 within Denbighshire, 8 in Conwy, 4 in Flintshire, and 7 in Wrexham, all given support to transform their outdoor community spaces for wildlife to thrive and to create desirable places to live, work and play.

11 of these projects are situated in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, spanning Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham.

A total of 4 new Community Miles routes have received funding from the project at Nannerch, Nantglyn, Froncysyllte and Garth.

Llangollen Rural Community Council created two of these routes improving the accessibility of footpaths in Froncysyllte and Garth, to encourage outdoor walking in the villages.

The council aimed to enhance one trail in each village and provided a link to the existing Community Miles route in Trevor, so residents could make better use of the walking routes in their communities, in addition to promoting the area to tourists visiting the World Heritage site.

Corwen Community Garden, a Denbighshire Countryside Service site had experienced repeated periods of water shortage due to a combination of anti-social behaviour and increased spells of dry weather conditions. A new, secure building was constructed from locally sourced Larch with the ability to harvest more rainwater coupled with a 50 % increase in storage capacity. The project also increased the composting ability of the site and created a new fruit bush hedgerow aimed at maximising the productivity of the site for the local community to enjoy. Gwllangollen, a self-funded CIC based in Llangollen supplied locally sourced wool from the Dee Valley for weed suppression to help the newly planted hedgerows.

Two communities, Llandegla and Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, installed solar arrays on their village halls along with battery storage reducing both their carbon emissions and fuel bills. Already carbon neutral with an existing solar array, Llanbedr DC village hall hope their new installation will bring them closer to being one of the first net zero public buildings in Wales. Located within the AONB they received additional funding from the Sustainable Development Fund which contributed to the fitting of low energy LED lighting with all external fittings being Dark Skies compliant bringing added benefits to not only night-time visibility and light pollution but also conditions for nocturnal wildlife.

Outside Lives, a social enterprise located in Gwernymynydd, near Loggerheads, used their grant to substantially upgrade facilities that provide activities and events to support wellbeing and growth. A wildlife pond with a wheelchair accessible viewing platform was created along with improved access tracks throughout the woodland and compost toilets, all created with minimal impact to the environment.

The Outside Lives project was featured on ITV Wales News and you can view it below. 

Sustainable Landscapes Sustainable Places Dark Skies Project

The Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are spearheading a national all-Wales Dark Skies project. Leading on behalf of the eight Designated Landscapes of Wales; Eryri, Bannau Brycheiniog, Pembrokeshire Coast National Parks, and Anglesey, Llŷn, Gower and Wye Valley AONBs, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB will manage the national Dark Skies project.

All Designated Landscapes have dark skies ambitions, all at different stages with everyone doing their own thing locally to improve their dark skies. A commonality that has been found between all Designated Landscapes is capital works that can be done to improve night skies. By working together, the project hopes to have a positive impact on the protected landscapes. The NOS project already has 3 years of successful collaboration and partnership working across North Wales. The goal is to expand this across Wales to enable the project aims to be beneficial to Wales as a whole.

Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB has been granted funding through the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Landscapes Sustainable Places programme to fund lighting schemes and retrofitting projects across the 8 Designated Landscapes between 2022 to 2025. The project will aim to reduce light pollution in these areas and to lessen the negative impacts for biodiversity, climate and public health and for the protection of Dark Skies.

Light pollution is an increasing issue globally, with an increase of up to 400% in the last 25 years. It is only in recent years that the true impact on biodiversity has begun to be recognised. By reducing light pollution in designated areas, the project will improve connectivity by restoring a natural nightscape. Light pollution is a major driver of insect decline, especially winged insects and caterpillars. It disrupts the life cycle of a multitude of species both terrestrial and marine. Restoring natural darkness will strengthen ecosystem resilience and promote recovery of biodiversity. By looking at this on a landscape scale the project can significantly improve nocturnal corridors.

Dark Sky lighting is low energy and low carbon. It will lead to reduced carbon emissions in each designated area. Light retrofitting programmes will also reduce the overall energy consumption within the areas.

As part of the project Ridge and Partners LLP a lighting design specialist company have been procured to work with the Dark Skies project to deliver light retrofitting projects in all eight areas. Ridge will start by visiting each of the eight areas to conduct a baseline light pollution survey and to identify opportunities for improvement and the biggest pockets of light pollution and areas where retro fitting of lights will have a significant impact. They will identify and advise the project on which areas and buildings to target to produce the biggest positive change in light pollution.