Ruthin heritage house hosts nocturnal nature walk night

Nocturnal nature lovers recently met the residents of a Ruthin heritage site.

The Council’s Biodiversity Team helped unlock the night-time routines of Nantclwyd y Dre’s bat residents during a public event at the house.

As part of the Council’s recent Wildflower Week, a Bat walk night was held at the heritage site to allow the public to experience the mammals coming to life as the light goes down.

The Grade I listed house is home to Lesser horseshoe, Brown Long-eared brown and Pipistrelle bats and has a unique ‘batcam’ for people to watch them in action when the house is open.

Bat detectors and night vision equipment helped the group spot and track the animals in the darkness during the event.

Joel Walley, Ecology Officer, helped lead the group through the night to explore the hustle and bustle of the bat’s busy nights.

He said: “It was great to take the group around this fantastic heritage site in Ruthin which is home to a very strong population of bats. The engagement and interest in the animal’s habits was brilliant and I hope the experience has helped them really get to grips with how all our bat species in the UK navigate life after dark.

Kate Thomson Manager of Nantclwyd y Dre, said: “Visitors to the house and garden can see our maternity roost of bats live through the bat cameras in the attic spaces. They are surprisingly active even in the daytime as they have their babies and rear them here at Nantclwyd. The extensive gardens are full of flowers providing the moths and insects the bats need to feed on! The house and gardens are open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 11 and 5.”

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, and the Council’s Biodiversity Champion, said: “Nantclywd y Dre is a fantastic place for learning about history in Denbighshire and also a very important place for protecting local biodiversity. I am really pleased that members of the public have experienced how the team at the house go the extra mile to protect its many bat residents.”

Wildflower makes a special appearance during week of celebration

A wildflower has taken up residence for the first time ever at a coastal meadow.

The Council’s Biodiversity Team made a new discovery while running a public event to promote Wildflower Week on Prestatyn’s Beach Road East Meadow.

The Council’s Wildflower Meadows Project started in 2019 and has seen over 10,000 individual plants recorded across all sites involved so far. In 2023, along with the county roadside nature reserves which take the total number of wildflower sites up to 140, there will be just over 70 acres of meadows helping and protecting local nature.

The aim of the first ever Wildflower Week was to unlock the bustling life of the county’s meadows through a number of events for the public to enjoy.

And during the event at Prestatyn which included Buglife Cymru on hand to talk about the meadow insect residents, a pyramidal orchid was discovered by the team.

The wildflower has pink flower spikes that forms a pyramidal shape and is usually located on chalk grassland, coastal habitats, scrub, roadside verges, old quarries and railway embankments.

Pyramidal orchids flower in June and July and will attract a variety of butterflies and moths.

Liam Blazey, Biodiversity Officer said: “It was fantastic to find this plant which is very rare across the UK at our site here in Prestatyn. Our meadows are all about bringing back the biodiversity we have sadly lost over the years for our future generations, and this really does showcase what our project is all about.”

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “These sites are extremely important in helping tackle the impact of climate change in the county, they are giving our nature a much stronger chance of surviving and thriving for our future generations to enjoy in Denbighshire.”

The pyramidal orchid has been recorded by the biodiversity team who manage and monitor all the species found on the county’s meadows to help protect and grow future support for them.

This project has also been funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru Enabling Natural Resources and Well-being (ENRaW) Grant which supports projects that improve places where people live.

If you need further information, please email biodiversity@denbighshire.gov.uk

Traditional meadow management comes to tree nursery

A day of traditional meadow management skills was recently held at the Council’s tree nursery.

To celebrate the last day of the Council’s recent Wildflower Week, Countryside staff, the North Wales Scything co-operative and local residents were invited to the St Asaph Tree nursery, based near the business park to learn how to scythe or improve their proficiency in this traditional skill with the help of a local scything expert.

Phil Lewis from Smithy Farm led the demonstration on land at the tree nursery showing the ancient art of helping meadows thrive.

Scything is thought to date back to the Roman ages. It involves using a long-curved blade that is situated on an angle to a handle to allow cutting grass by hand.

The traditional technique was how hay would have been harvested from Denbighshire meadows and pastures before the use of tractors became more widespread.

The technique is friendly to the wildlife that frequents meadows as it gives them time to move on and those scything the change to spot any animals or insects.

It is also a greener way to manage grassland due to fuel free operation and better for physical use due to less hand vibration.

Those present on the day also learnt how to peen and sharpen their scythes and got to try their hand at using a hand/manual hay bailer.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “It was great to be able to help people revisit the past of how meadows were managed and also learn about the benefits of scything against today’s conventional methods.”

School pours in green initiative to tackle climate change

Prestatyn pupils are taking a green approach to a traditional school drink.

Ysgol Bodnant are pouring out a green initiative to give their support to the environment surrounding the school.

Staff have worked to reduce litter produced during snack times at the school through the introduction of greener materials.

The school has introduced more reusable cups and bottles to cut down on waste when giving pupils milk.

Previously staff ordered in 240 milk cartons / small plastic bottles a day. This has now been reduced to 60 small cartons for nursery pupils only, to support their self-serve option and help reduce spillages.

The other 180 pupils now have a plastic reusable cup and each class at Ysgol Bodnant has 10 large glass milk bottles which staff use to decant into the cups.

The cups are then collected and go through the dishwasher in the kitchen and are used again during the lunch time. 

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion, said: “The Great Big Green Week is all about having a go to tackle climate change and its fantastic to see the children at Ysgol Bodnant doing their bit by helping cut down on waste which reduces impact on the environment.

“Well done to the pupils and staff for this great effort which will make an important difference going forward in reducing the impact of climate change.”

Library looks after local biodiversity

New nature homes for smaller wildlife residents have been created at Rhyl Library recently.

As part of The Great Big Green Week’s encouragement for community action to tackle climate change and protect nature, library staff linked up with Working Denbighshire to create a brand-new bug hotel.

Rhyl Library has committed to be ‘Bee Friendly’, providing an area for pollinator friendly flowers and places for insects to live and thrive.

Library and Working Denbighshire staff, plus two participants of the service, built the bug hotel out of old pallets from deliveries, cardboard boxes and tubes.

The new addition to support local wildlife is now situated in Rhyl Library’s garden.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “This fantastic work at the library is really important to help support and improve the local biodiversity around Rhyl. The volunteers and staff have done a brilliant job in creating these vital homes for our smallest wildlife which will benefit biodiversity moving forward.”

Greener transport to support summer maintenance work

The Council’s StreetScene operatives who carry out frontline maintenance duties, has taken delivery of two new electric vehicles (EVs) to support frontline services.

The Council declared a Climate Change and Ecological Emergency in July 2019 and committed to seeking to become a Net Carbon Zero and Ecologically Positive Council by 2030.

A section of this work is reducing the reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles and replacing them where appropriate for the service with non-fossil fuel powered transport.

Already the Council has over 50 EVs in the fleet which include taxis, an electric minibus used in the Ruthin area, a mobile observatory van, bin lorries, EV ATV used by countryside staff, EV vans used for goods transport by different services and EV cars supporting social services staff.

StreetScene has taken charge of two Citroën ë-Berlingo electric vans which will provide teams using them with a range up to 174 miles on a single charge.

They will be used during the summer to support additional resources needed for street cleaning work during the tourism season, as well as general ongoing maintenance duties.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said: “We are working very hard to reduce our fleet’s carbon footprint by replacing fossil fuel vehicles with greener alternatives where it is appropriate for the service.”