Nature for Health

All members of Friends will appreciate and understand the very strong connection between the natural world and our health and well-being – both physical and mental. Not everyone has the same opportunity to engage with the great outdoors though and this is where the “Nature for Health” program comes into its own with a wide range of tempting activities on offer.  The programme is a collaboration between the AONB Countryside Services and Denbighshire Housing and work working in 4 main areas.  Based at Plas Newydd and working mainly in the Dee Valley, I recently had the pleasure of meeting those directly involved, in the AONB Ant Tomlinson and Becky Roberts, whose enthusiasm for their work is infectious.

Ant has always been a keen lover of nature. His work in the haulage industry over many years meant that he was not directly involved in the natural world on a day-to-day basis. It has though given him wide experience and an acute perspective on its importance for our health and well-being. The Nature for Health project has provided him with the vehicle for both a career change of direction and the challenge of communicating his knowledge and commitment to a wider audience.

Becky’s background is in contrast – starting off in sport and recreation and then with a specific role delivering the National Exercise Referral Scheme. Here she provided the chance for recovering patients to continue their rehab through prescribing exercise and access to the outdoors, experience directly relevant to her current work. She is building on this and has plans to develop closer links with local health providers – aimed at signposting those who would benefit to the Nature for Health programme.

The team is always looking for new aspects to develop and one idea currently being explored is discovering “pause points” in local woodland where members can look up and study the tree canopy and learn about its contribution to the natural world. It’s something that might also be progressed in a dark sky context. 

This programme is clearly something that has the potential for much wider application, in north-east Wales and further afield. The contribution experiencing nature and the outdoors can make to our physical and mental well-being is an established fact, but many members of our communities find the right opportunities difficult to access. This is where Nature for Health comes to the fore. The programme also runs in Rhyl and Prestatyn and there is close co-operation between the two teams. We wish Ant and Becky all the very best with the project and look forward to further news over the coming months.

If you would like to get involved book contact Ant 07384248361 or Becky 07748808372 or have a look at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/natur-er-budd-iechyd-nature-for-health-38431912313r

Bryn Alyn is an impressive Limestone hill, overlooking the village of Llanferres and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has an impressive Limestone pavement on its summit. The cave is called Lynx Cave because bones of the now extinct lynx were found early on in the excavations alongside remains of other exotic animal species, like reindeer, auroch, a now extinct giant cattle!, mountain hare and lemming.  Over more than 50 years John Denton Blore from Merseyside has excavated the small cave and found evidence of human activity from the Palaeolithic period, before the last ice age, through the Bronze Age and into the Roman and more recent times. Initially working with a team of volunteers, in more recent years John has single handedly uncovered the remains.

John has been visiting Bryn Alyn since he was a child and knows the area like no other, both the archaeology and the natural history. As a young man he found the cave and started excavating the remains inside. Over 50 years later his collection of ‘finds’, both important faunal (animal) remains and stone tools as well as later Roman artefacts has been lodged with the National Museum in Cardiff and is an important source of material relating particularly to that period of our past from just before the last ice age through to the post glacial times we are now living in.

The material that John has found in Lynx Cave give us a fascinating insight into the area at a time when people were co-existing with red deer and reindeer in the very cold post glacial tundra conditions, hard to imagine now when the area is so lush and green. Both people and animals were adapting and beginning to move back into the area as the climate warmed up after the last ice age. People were hunter gatherers, subsisting off the wild animals and plants that they could find. These animals, auroch, reindeer etc, are not the species which live in the area today. At this early period there are hints of hearths within the cave and evidence that people were using the cave, perhaps to shelter in while on hunting expeditions. Moving forward in time it seems that the cave was used as a burial site in the Bronze Age, around 3500 years ago, their activities disturbed a lot of the earlier deposits which has led to confusion as some of the material is very mixed up, Items dating to the Bronze Age alongside the bones of animals like auroch………It has taken a great deal of painstaking work by John Blore to unravel the story of human activity at Lynx Cave. 

It is this work that has fed in to the work of artist Sean Harris. The project which began in Loggerheads in November will continue, initially working with schools in the area then a residency in the Ruthin Craft Centre in the autumn of 2022 and culminating in an exhibition and animation projection in the Senedd in Cardiff in the spring of 2023. If you would like to get a little taster of this download the app Udfil, which can take you on a journey around Loggerheads led by the animals that lived in the area just pre and post the last ice age, some of the animals found at Lynx Cave.

There is a comprehensive website giving information about the Lynx Cave Home - Lynx Cave Excavations (webs.com) and John Blore has published his work in a report, search for Lynx Cave: 50 years of Excavation 1962 to 2012.

Fiona Gale

Great Crested Newts

Great Crested Newts - our largest of the UK’s native newts, so named for the impressive crest of the male during breeding season. What is not so impressive is the sharp decline that is being seen in numbers of this European Protected Species. Sadly, this has been reflected within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by the staff who conduct annual surveys under license, using the recorded data to monitor population trends.

It is estimated that in Britain we lost over 50% of the breeding population of Great Crested Newts in the 1960s and that we continue to lose 2% of the remaining population every five years. Fortunately for us in North East Wales, we are a potential stronghold with the privilege and the opportunity to do what we can for the species. How? You may ask.

The Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB is home to a great diversity safe havens for nature. All of these habitat types are vitally important in supporting our native flora and fauna but one particularly wonderful habitat that the AONB plays host to is that of ponds. 

Tucked away in forests, on the top of hills or even those found in your gardens, the freshwater habitat of a pond supports a wealth of species, including our native newts. Like many of our habitats though, the number of ponds, especially those in a good condition, is in decline. As part of the winter works programme, the AONB team has been working with landowners and contractors to tackle the issue. 

In pond habitats, in as little as 2 years, vegetation can grow and shade out other plant species that we want to encourage for their diversity. The opportunistic plants also drop their dead organic matter into the pond, resulting in a build-up of ‘silt’ in the pond area and ultimately reducing the suitability of the pond for many species of wildlife. 

This is not to say that all ponds should be deep non-vegetated water. Great Crested Newts lay their eggs in aquatic vegetation so require there to be vegetated margins. A mosaic of habitat types is instead promoted by including vegetation and deep and shallow water areas to cater for as many species as possible.

 To achieve this mosaic, when the silt material is removed from the bottom of the pond, some deep water areas are de-silted extensively and in others only the very top of the soil is removed in a shallow scrape. This sort of scrape can create a useful seasonal pond that may dry up, or an area of water perfect as a nursery for some species to lay their eggs. Once it is removed the silt is first placed on the banks of the pond and left, allowing anything that is hiding in it or the surrounding vegetation to escape back into the pond. The silt can then be used to landscape the area, creating additional small bodies of water and hibernacula for Great Crested Newts to hibernate in through the winter months.

Key to the success of these pond works for the benefit of our Great Crested Newts and other pond dwelling species though, is connectivity. That network of ponds and small water bodies that allow the free movement of these species between populations. Isolation is detrimental to most populations so this ongoing project has been about restoring and creating ponds in a mosaic pattern – some old, some new and all variations in between but, ultimately, all as connected as possible. 

When it comes to pond works the work truly is never done, but the ongoing reward of seeing a pond restored to a blank canvas for nature to take over is wonderful. The next chapter will be waiting with baited breath to see which species decide to call these ponds home!

Evie Challinor

Meet the Team – Ellie Wainwright

Ellie has written for Views before, a personal impression when she first worked for the AONB back in 2018. I was interested to know how things had changed for her since then. This is what she had to say.

Tell me a little about your background first of all.

Well, I was brought up in the town of Brackley, in Northamptonshire, a very different landscape to this one I have to say! Growing up I was always fascinated by the natural world and, when my opportunity came along to go into higher education, I chose a course in wildlife conservation at the University of Kent in Canterbury. I loved the course which also required me to undertake a practical placement. I was lucky enough to work for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust at its headquarters and zoo in Jersey which was an invaluable experience.

What happened next?

When I graduated, I felt that I had the qualifications that could take me anywhere in the world, so widespread are the needs of conservation. The zoo placement, however, had led to something which brought a new influence on my decision making! I’d become friendly with Sam, a Welsh boy studying biology at Cardiff who was also on placement at Durrell’s. We kept in touch afterwards – an awkward commute between Canterbury and Cardiff but well worth it! When we graduated, we decided to stay together and North Wales became our chosen destination. Not quite as warm a base as I’d previously imagined but I quickly fell in love with the area. I was lucky enough to get a temporary post with the Nature for Health scheme in the Dee Valley and things have gone from there.

Yes, I remember you starting with the Nature for Health project

It was a great thing to begin my career and I met some really nice people. It was very satisfying helping them gain more exposure to the countryside. I had been working on the project for a year and a half when Covid intervened and that, of course, created real problems as people were unable to socialise. Fortunately for me, just at the right time another role came up with the AONB Ranger Team in Llangollen after a colleague changed position. I am now a permanent member of the team and I’m really enjoying the challenges of my new role, especially now that restrictions have eased and we can concentrate on our real purpose.

What do you enjoy most about the job?

I love the variety and that we are making a real difference to the things that matter to me – the environment, biodiversity and the sustainability of local communities. It’s great, too, to be part of such a friendly, optimistic, and forward-looking team. Whether we’re planting trees, developing rural skills, talking to children or one of our many other activities, each day brings something new – and there’s nothing I like better than real hands-on work – you should see me with a chain saw!

What do you think about the national park proposal?

I’m all for it. We do such a lot of good in the AONB but with the additional resources we would have as a national park, we could do so much more. I’m expecting it to cover a larger area too, including the northern Berwyn, and maybe more of the hilly areas around Wrexham would certainly be good additions.

What are your thoughts on your future?

Well. I’m perfectly happy building up my skills and experience here at the moment and there couldn’t be a better place to do so. I heard this quote once which resonated: “You’re always just one decision away from a completely different life” so we’ll just have to see how things work out. One thing for sure is that I’ll want to continue contributing to this field, which is vital both for us and for the generations to come.

What about away from work?

I love sport and I’ve been a keen badminton player since schooldays. I’m also really into snowboarding and I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to Grenoble on several occasions. I do have thoughts about spending a winter there coaching at some stage – who knows!?

Time for my final question – what’s your favourite spot in the AONB?

That would have to be the top of Caer Drewyn in the middle of summer. I love to walk up and sit in the middle of the hillfort on a sunny day and listen to the host of sky larks that make their nests in this ancient place. With a wonderful view of Corwen, the Berwyns and the Dee Valley, there’s no better place to be. 

As I left Ellie had disappeared into Plas Newydd’s potting area and was already getting stuck into some work with gardener Lisette. Typical AONB Ranger then!!

IN SEARCH OF WALES, AN ODYSSEY FROM LONG AGO

The first begins, 'I came to Llangollen, which is a small town, or a large village, lying in the shadow of mountains. A salmon river sings to it day and night. It is the sacred Dee. I now had the feeling that I had crossed a frontier. I was in a foreign country .... The River Dee flows through meadowland and cascades over rocks and, beneath the lovely old bridge which Bishop Trevor built five centuries ago, it rushes madly, foaming at the arches.

 The mountains lift themselves all round, some long and gentle, some sharp and rugged, some dark with trees, some green with grass, and others bare and brown, lit up with patches of bright gorse.

To anyone with an eye for landscape its charm is in compression. Here is a little masterpiece in mountains; an exercise in the blending of hill against hill, woodland against moorland. The Vale of Llangollen looks as though nature had made a scale model for a section of the milder Scottish Highlands, and, liking it very well, had also gained a few ideas from Switzerland and the German Rhine. Every meadow, it seems, has its valet and every tree its lady's maid'

He was very inspired by a visit to Dinas Bran ('like an old tooth sticking out of the ground') and goes on to write: 'In the evening, if you would like to enjoy one of the most beautiful short walks in Great Britain, take the right bank of the Dee and follow the canal to the ruins of the Abbey of Valle Crucis. You will see all that is left of a small Cistercian abbey nestling in the shelter of hills and set in that peaceful beauty which the monks loved so well.'

Birds singing, the meadows full of buttercups, the Dee high to the brim rushing through Llangollen, the cloud shadows moving over green hills and the sun shining - on such a morning I set off along the pretty road to Corwen'. So begins the second chapter. It continues with a digression about the pronunciation of Glyndyfrdwy when he accosts a postman:

"How do you pronounce this name?" I asked.

"Glynduvrdooe", he said quickly with the accent on the penultimate syllable and an upward kick to his voice.

"Say it slowly."

Eventually I got it. Like so many Welsh words it looks terrible in print but when spoken is exquisite.

Glyn-duvr-doo-e ...

It is like the cooing of doves in a wood.'

Then follows an illuminating account of the facts and legends surrounding Owen Glendower (Morton uses Shakespeare's spelling as in Henry IV Part One). Finally, he heads north to Ruthin with its 'grave and mellow beauty of age'. 

Ninety years on, his book is still very readable as a colourful celebration of Wales, its culture and its history. A rather different Wales, maybe, with empty roads and Welsh much more widely spoken, but the landscape endures. As he comments: 'Beauty, of course, is one of the basic industries of North Wales'. And don't we know it!

David Smith 

Landscape and Nature Recovery in a Changing Climate

There's no doubt that North East Wales is taking the Climate Emergency seriously. 

Each of the three authorities involved (Wrexham, Denbigh, Flint) now has a dedicated Climate Change Officer in place, all of them tasked with providing solutions to the many environmental problems which are, according to the experts, just around the corner.

And now, behold, we too have our own specialist to look at the specific changes anticipated in our AONB, and to come up with actions to mitigate the effects of more extreme temperatures and precipitation that we must expect.

Step forward Tom Johnstone, the latest addition to the AONB staff. He recently introduced himself to "Friends" at a Zoom meeting, one of our monthly events for members. Without doubt he is a well-informed and enthusiastic young man. Make a note of his name - you will be hearing more about him over the next few years.

He has other responsibilities added to his job description - as well as the climate, he is charged with improving the Green and Blue Infrastrucure (don't even ask!) and importantly coming up with flood mitigation. For this, his area covers the whole of the catchment of the River Clwyd - which is in five Local Authorities. So he will be motoring around the area quite a lot, in his (of course) electric car!

He spoke to us for over an hour and told us all about what he's done and what he's doing. Here's a layman's resume of just a few of his projects:

He's working to improve Blue Carbon, which turns out to be the CO2 that can be sequestrated along our coastline, by planting appropriate saltwater-loving plants.

He's producing a plan for greening-up Llangollen, in all sorts of ways, including traffic management, more trees, edible hedges round allotments, promotion of cycling and demotion of cars, and so on. His written report comes out in April - members living in Llangollen will be interested to read it, I'm sure.

He has adopted Howard Sutcliffe's old idea of having a few fixed-point photography locations. The idea is that a permanent frame for a mobile phone is provided at certain locations, people take a picture of the specific view, and over the years a picture is built up of how the landscape has changed. Watch out for these frames near the top of the limestone crag at Loggerheads and a few other places with good views. 

Tom intends to present a large display at the Eisteddfod at Denbigh, with e-bike demos and various activities to raise awareness of climate issues. He also sees it as an opportunity to practise his Welsh, although it sounded pretty good to me already.

He would like to produce a map of Cycling Friendly Areas, indicating routes where cycling is safer. He noted as an example the extreme danger of the A494 between Ruthin and Loggerheads - there are better routes available, and they should be highlighted.

....and many other projects swirling round his active mind, but this article is long enough.

One last word - his Bible in all this is probably a beautifully produced book called "Landscape and Nature Recovery in a Changing Landscape", work led by NRW’s Jill Bullen in close cooperation with the AONB team. This looks at landscape in our AONB in a quite innovative way and I recommend it. It's online but also available as a soft-back book from Loggerheads and Llangollen.

Mike Skuse

North Wales Resilient Ecosystem Pilot Project: We Need You!

North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) have successfully secured Welsh Government Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 Enabling Natural Resources and Well-being (ENRaW) scheme funding. This ambitious, collaborative project covers Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham to facilitate a more resilient North Wales. 

Part of the project looks to build on the significant progress made in the River Dee catchment, undertaken via the ORW and DINNS projects, and complementing the Upper & Middle Dee NNF project. Alongside this, we aim continue to raise awareness of invasive non-native species (INNS) and biosecurity, while gathering evidence for innovative, sustainable ways to tackle INNS via pilot projects, including:

• Conservation Grazing:

  • chiefly against Himalayan balsam in the Dee catchment. We are looking for land managers and graziers in the area – do get in touch if interested.

• Angling for Action:

  • supporting the new freshwater & marine Fishing in Wales project, helping facilitate the next generation of anglers to experience angling and its benefits & supporting active river habitat management. Would your club like to be involved? Let us know!

• Citizen Science Horizon-Scanning:

  • with the aim of generating a user-friendly, value-for-money, early-warning method to aid rapid response and so help reduce the costs associated with attempting to remove established INNS. Are you part of a Local Action Group (LAG) who are interested? Get in touch!

• Biosecurity Citizens’ Army:

  • pilot the development of a network of biosecurity champions throughout North Wales developed by the WaREN 2 SMS Project, providing them with the skills to train their local community in prevention and biosecurity best practice, increasing resilience to the spread of INNS across North Wales and beyond. Are you part of a Local Action Group (LAG) who would like to take part? Get in touch!

This project includes activities to promote good health, wellbeing and connectivity/networking of local communities. We aim to work with volunteers, members of the public, land managers, local authorities, Rivers Trusts, and sectors such as recreation, health & businesses, while offering support and training to Local Action Groups (LAGs) and local Angling Clubs. Our project webpage is under development so, meanwhile, keep an eye on the North Wales Wildlife Trust website: https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/ for news, events and social media links.

Everyone can help stop the spread of invasive non-native species by using: 

• Check-Clean-Dry (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/index.cfm?sectionid=98) and 

• Be Plant Wise (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/beplantwise/)

Please record your sightings of Invasive Non-Native Species via the Dee INNS Cofnod webpage here: https://dinns.cofnod.org.uk/

We’d like to say a huge thank-you to those of you in the AONB area who’ve helped with our previous projects, such as Our River Wellbeing. To collaborate / get involved with this new project, please contact: 

Kirsty Brown, INNS Project Manager, North Wales Wildlife Trust Kirsty.Brown@NorthWalesWildlifeTrust.org.uk 

Kirsty Brown

OUR VERY OWN NATIONAL PARK

I am sure that our readers will have heard that it is now Welsh Government’s intention that the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley (CRDV) Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) will be promoted to become a National Park. 

Friends of the CRDV recently invited John Harold, who is the Director of the Snowdonia Society, to address them on his experiences working in Eryri.

After telling us how the (very succesful) Snowdonia Society tries to keep an eye on everything going on in Eryri, how it works with volunteers and how it tries to do everything in partnership with other groups, he made two most important points.

Firstly, in the Snowdonia National Park (SNP) it has always been of paramount importance to put farming interests at the top of any landscape policy. After all, he said, farmers were, and are, largely responsible for the landscape we all want to protect, and their co-operation in any schemes to alter and enhance land use was vital, and their help essential. That comes before anything else. 

He also made the interesting observation that there is immense prestige to be had from being a National Park. Although both designations have equal protection, the truth is that everyone has heard of National Parks, but few know what the initials AONB even stand for!  It is a great thing to belong to the UK wide, European and indeed worldwide family of National Parks. To rub shoulders with the Lake District, the Cairngorms, and even Yellowstone, on equal terms, and even to be able to share their conservation knowledge, would be a great thing.

Both designations have equal protection in matters of conservation, but National Parks also have a specific duty to promote "public understanding and enjoyment", in other words to promote leisure activities like walking, cycling, fishing, climbing, sight-seeing, holidaying, tourism, and so on.

This might ring a few alarm bells, but there is a delightful caveat called the Sandford Principle. This states that if there is a conflict between preserving natural beauty and promoting public enjoyment, priority must be given to the former. I'm not sure who Sandford was, but what a super way to be remembered!

This initiative comes at a time of some radical changes in the way Wales is managed. The document "Future Wales - the National Plan 2040" seems to divide the country into places where development is encouraged and places where it is not. I suppose it's always been like this, but the difference now seems more defined. Do look at it and see how chunks of land are divided up. It's easy to find in Google. And important schemes are now called "Developments of National Significance" and are "pre-assessed" for suitability by officials in Cardiff rather than being decided by local planning authorities.  

If something of "national significance" is needed in North Wales, let's say an enormous structure to look for enemy rockets and to launch anti-missile weapons, who would get it - the National Park or the AONB? The highest designation, or the second best?  I think the more protection our hills and valleys get, the better!

As far as planning in our AONB is concerned, applications for development, except those mentioned above, are decided by the planning committees in the three local authorities which have land within the AONB, viz. Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham. This is really not the best way to do it. National Parks have formally appointed Authorities which look after the management of their Parks including deciding planning applications themselves. A clearly better arrangement, I believe.

At our meeting questions were asked about increased pressure from visitors, especially at places that are already often under pressure, like the Iron Gate carpark at Pen Barras, and the carpark overlooking the Horseshoe Falls near Llangollen. Mr. Harold's general feeling however was that while local people from Wrexham, Mold, Buckley, Chester, Birkenhead would continue to visit our locality, people from further away would not often make a special trip here, but would continue to take their leisure and pursue their activities in places they know, ie the Lakes, the Peak District, and of course Snowdonia. By and large, motoring in the future is likely to be short distance, and this may lead to less pressure on honeypot sites here and elsewhere.

I have not mentioned the important subject of funding. National Parks are funded in Wales directly by the Welsh Government, and are very generous compared with funds available to the AONBs. Cardiff understands the prestige of a National Park. The AONB staff here are always hard up for money, and I think there is little doubt that money would become less of a problem with a promotion in our title!

We are at the early stages of a very long conversation about this - it is the most important thing to have happened since our AONB was designated in 1985. There will be public consultations, various interest groups will be consulted and there will surely be arguments along the way.

Our little society, Friends of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, hopes to take a leading part in all these discussions, and we certainly hope that we might be invited to work with, and draw inspiration from, the members of RADCA and other local groups as we move slowly ahead towards the promised manifesto decision.

Mike Skuse