Thanks to Society member Chrissie Verduyn for letting us know that Clun Valley Fairtrade has become the first River Valley Fairtrade in the UK. No need to say any more; the leaflet says it all (click images to open in new windows)

Clun Valley Fairtrade Flyer 1

Clun Valley Fairtrade Flyer 2

Visit by Church Stretton Tree Group

We hosted a successful visit to Brineddin Wood by Church Stretton Tree Group on Sunday 16th August. We had already given a slide presentation to the group back in February. Thirteen members arrived in the afternoon, who were welcomed by four shareholders. We arranged a walk and climb up the quillet steps and then tea and  cake refreshments back at the  village hall.  Many probing questions were asked, some of which we have yet to find an answer to!

Fortunately the sun shone on this year’s Clun Show, and on the Society’s new display materials, skilfully created by Karen Limbrick and Sarah Jameson with funding from Shropshire Hills AONB. Society Board members Karen, Mark, Ollie and Patrick manned (personned?) the stand and held good quality conversations with probably 20 or 25 visitors to the show, some of whom knew of us, while others did not. Karen was additionally busy helping children make Bug Hotels and God’s Eyes as you can see form the photo where Lily Davies from North Wales is holding up her creation.  The stand’s next outing is at the Bucknell Show on 5th September.

Lily Davies with her God’s Eye (parental permission granted for photo)

Saturday 1st August is the day of the Clun Show and Carnival. Come and visit our Society’s stand. Admire our new display materials, encourage other people to talk to us, and watch children making Bug Hotels and God’s Eyes out of recyclable materials.

After completing the building of nearly 100 steps to access the community woodland, we held a short ceremony on Saturday 30^th May to officially open them. The ‘Mudlarks’ were invited along with shareholders and other locals to bring the wood to life with song. Their singing seemed to cause a gentle breeze to pick up and rock the trees, while Becky Sherman’s mezzo-soprano’s solo caused an echo in the valley!

The Mudlarks cutting the ivy creeper to officially declare the steps open

Our AGM took place on Thursday 9th July. Afterwards the guest speaker Dr. David Parsons, from the University of Wales, talked to a packed village hall about the project he is coordinating on the origins of the place names of Clun and district in 2016. Patrick Cosgrove organised a place-names quiz and there were a lot of questions for the speaker at the end.

The RVCBS has been awarded a grant by Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund for a project: “Brineddin Community Woodland: Engagement, Learning and Conservation.” The Project involves creating promotional materials which will support our presence at three local shows. Come and see us at the Clun and Bucknell shows on 1st August and 5th September! We also hope to be present at Craven Arms Discovery Centre’s Wood Fair in September. We will be purchasing some new tools for further woodland management work around the quillet in the winter months. These will also be put to good use by children from Clun School and Bishop’s Castle Community College when they visit the quillet in the next few months. We are also liaising with Shropshire Wildlife Trust on an interpretation board.

The RVCBS is also involved with another AONB funded project this year. Children from Bucknell School, working towards their John Muir Awards, will be visiting our quillet on several occasions in the Autumn to undertake various exciting woodland activities.

See you at the Quillet!

Both from the Guardian.

The first is a report that a Pine Marten was spotted somewhere in the Clun Valley. It probably wasn’t in Brineddin Wood, but it might be one day. Click here to learn more.

The second is what a lot of wildlife enthusiasts have been waiting for, the launch of the Rewilding Organisation, inspired by George Monbiot’s book, Feral.  Click here for the full story.

L to R: Patrick Cosgrove, Karen Limbrick, Ollie Holder, Phil Tidey, Simon Jameson. Front: Millie.

In February 2015 we decided that in order to keep up-to-date with current affairs in the world of woodland management, and to get good advice when we needed it, it would be a good idea to join the Small Woods Association. A couple of months later when the weather had improved somewhat, we arranged for Phil Tidey of SWA to visit us at Quillet 2879 and give us his first impressions. The weather was reasonably kind, the bluebells starting to show through and all board members except Mark were able to meet Phil. His over-riding impression was that the unusual division of the wood into quillets and the sweeping lines of the wood down one side of the valley supported the Society’s view that this is an important site, and one where great benefit couuld be gained by working with owners of other quillets. On more practical  lines he suggested some selective thinning of trees in a few areas to let in light, and maybe ring-barking some of the weaker oaks to create standing dead wood. Both these techniques would help greatly in widening the diversity of flora and fauna. Click here for back to home.