RSPB woodland Warden Jimmy Carter shows Events Officer Ceri Thomas how its done.
During National Nest box week RSPBs Cymru’s public affairs team left the warm and dry confines of their office to put up nest boxes in the spectacular woodland reserve of Gwenffrwd Dinas.
The reserve nestles in a remote narrow wooded valley north of the town of Llandovery and just south of the Llyn Brianne Reservoir. Its steep slopes are cloaked in oak forest, which provide ideal habitat for birds like pied flycatchers and tits of all kinds.
This hidden corner of Wales with its meandering country lanes snaking beneath steep sided woods and the roof of the high moorland above feels like it hasn’t changed in centuries..and it probably hasn’t!
Primeval is a word that entered my mind when I walked on the squelchy moss laden woodland floor and thorough gnarled and twisted branches of the woods on the reserve! It feels that sometimes humans have never imparted their print on some of the secluded glades of the forest.
This part of Wales gets a higher rainfall than most, but on the day the torrential rain of recent months stayed away with a mere gentle drizzle wetting the spongy moss and a brisk breeze shaking the creaking branches.
Ably directed and led by woodland warden Jimmy Carter, (who traverses the steep sided slopes like a Himalayan goat while balancing around six nest boxes under his arms!) the eclectic public affairs team of varying physical ability set about nailing the sturdy nestboxes to trees throughout the wood. The varying DIY competence of the group soon became apparent, with the hammer on nail hit rate of some struggling to reach one in ten while others hit the spot nine times out of ten! To avoid embarrassment these people shall remain nameless!
However long it took the Public Affairs team did achieve in placing dozens of Nest boxes in the woods for pied flycatchers and tits to nest in come the spring. In these times when getting the word out about Nature on social media is all important this was a day when the hammer for once was indeed mightier than the mouse!
From a personal standpoint the day at Gwenffrwd Dinas brought back the days of visiting the area as a child. Living in Llandybie-which is around 45 minutes down the road- a visit to the valley and a spin around the reservoir was a treat on a sunny Sunday afternoon. As a child, I was always enthralled by tales of Twm Sion Cati a semi mythical/ real life highwayman/ drover poet who bestrode these hills and it is said hid here when being pursued by the authorities. He was reputed to live off the land until it was safe to reappear. His hideaway cave is located somewhere in the woodland. The whole experience reminded of a strange nursery rhyme my father taught me as a child and in which he told me he was taught as a child! He is a youthful 71. I’ve tried but you won’t find it on google! it must be buried deep in the oral folk tradition of rural Carmarthenshire
Twm Sion Cati bola pren,
bwyta dwy lygoden wen!
Bwyta bywch, bwyta tarw,
bwyta dwy lygoden farw!
Twm Sion Cati wooden stomach.
Eats two white rats! Eats a cow, eats a bull
Eats two dead rats!
It sounds better in welsh and importantly it rhymes! Go here feel the spirit of Twm and get a feeling of an older ancient Wales and let nature wrap itself around you! It is a truly magical place!http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/g/gwenffrwd-dinas/about.aspx
Some of the intrepid public Affairs team