News 2018 | Beaufort Hill Ponds

News & Events 2018

JANUARY 2018

On Saturday 6th January we braved the cold and the snow to continue managing the heathland compartment. Once cleared we will use the brush-cutters to remove much of the encroaching brambles, then chip the coppiced material to use on our pathways.

FEBRUARY 2018

On Thursday 22nd of February we continued to manage the heathland as part of our management plan. Our aim was to remove more of the trees that overshadow the heathland, cut back much of the brambles and chip the material to use on our popular woodland pathways.

Heath Management 01

Heath Management 02

Heath Management 03

Heath Management 04

Wood Chipping 01

Wood Chipping 02

Wood Chipping 03

Wood Chipping 04

Wood Chipping 05

Wood Chipping 06

Wood Chipping 07

Wood Chipping 08

Wood Chipping 09

Wood Chipping 10

JUNE 2018

The photos below show that all the hard work in the heathland management and regular mowing of the grass, has created attractive pathways and seating areas from the Highlands Road Entrance and around the Upper Boat Pond.

Attractive Pathways 01

Attractive Pathways 02

Attractive Pathways 03

Attractive Pathways 04

Attractive Pathways 05

Attractive Pathways 06

JUNE 2018

The photos and the text below, were taken from the Ponds & Woodlands Facebook page.

To find out more about the vandalism and the many replies to the report, please click on the logo below.

Vandalism 01

Vandalism 02

Vandalism 03

Vandalism 04

Vandalism 05

Vandalism 06

Vandalism 07

Vandalism 08

Many thanks to the teenagers who had their party here last night that did not take their rubbish home with them. I am also disappointed to see the damage they had done to the trees to fuel their fire. The tree that the bark was stripped off will ultimately die, it has been here for many decades : I have also seen a video and photographs of the teenagers here last night, I am thankful that none was seriously burned as they jumped through a very large fire! The fire was so hot it had cracked every stone that was sounding it, but was also still burning at 11:00 this morning. I am also thankful that the woodlands had not caught fire; we have had a very dry couple of weeks and the outcome could have been very different. This woodland floor is many inches thick of carboniferous materials and would have smouldered for many days dangerously if I hadn't cleaned the area this morning (still needs to be monitored). We have respected teenagers freedom to enjoy activities in the woodlands and in return they have respected the area, sadly in this case not. Please share so that every parent can see the damage but more

JULY 2018

Our visitors today were Peter, Ellen and Mark from Swan Rescue South Wales. Unfortunately one of our cygnets had fishing tackle around its head, including the float!

Thankfully the signet is ok but please, if you do fish these ponds take your tackle with you.

AUGUST 2018 -MOBILITY ACCESS IMPROVEMENTS

John Hillier wrote :-"We received multiple inquiries regarding difficulty people had when trying to access the park with mobility vehicles. All our gates give access to wheelchairs but some disabled individuals enjoy independence and wish to gain access easily. Unfortunately the existing gates prevented them doing so. It was therefore our aim to raise funds to improve access for these users. Hopefully we have accomplished this. Many thanks to every person and group that contributed to this project, it would not have happened without your support. Also thanks to every volunteer in our community that helped with the construction too."

Please note: You will need a Radar key to unlock the gate.

Work on improving mobility access began at the start of the school holidays, with a small team led by John Hillier & Roy Lynch. The work was undertaken during some very warm weather and completed within a week - they should all be very proud of their work and a brilliant end result, below are are some of the comments made on our Facebook page :-

"Amazing well done to you all for all your hard work! Community are so lucky to have such dedicated volunteers. Amazing!!"

"Excellent work and superb improvement to disabled access to the ponds & woodlands"

"Nice to see access for the disabled being introduced, great for people with motability scooters to be able to enjoy such a beautiful place"

"Well done , looking great & great to take the GRANDCHILDREN."

"This will be wonderful for less abled people, as they to deserve to see the beauty we are all experiencing. You all earned the green flag, but you deserve a gold medal."