Hendre Lake Island Sat 14th December 9.00am -12.00pm 2024

We had a very special treat for our last volunteer session of the year with a visit to the island of Hendre Lake, thanks to Community Park Rangers Rhodri and Alec. What a fantastic morning we had. Thank you all for joining us for our Christmas event, another morning working on habitat management to help enhance our beloved Hendre Lake.

We started the session with a health and safety speech before making our way over to the island in the morning's glorious sunshine.

The aim was to cut back bramble and vegetation in the glade area of the island. Its tough work but is needed. We also cut back some willow trees and dogwood to help open up the area so smaller plants and flowers will be able to flourish and birds and water fowl, like the Snipes that stay here over winter, can have more ground space for feeding.

We raked the cut vegetation into piles which make an ideal habitat for insects. Just a year ago, this area was full of bramble over 2 metres tall. The Rangers teamed up with Cardiff Rivers Group twice last year to tackle the bramble for a much needed and overdue cut back. Very hard work but so worthwhile, especially as it hasn't grown back as much as expected.

We were lucky to put up some bat boxes too, another way to help the wildlife we get here. After our Bat Walk in September, we learnt about the types of bats visiting the area which include the Common and Soprano Pipistrelle. We cleared some vegetation in this area too so the bats have a clear flight path to and from the boxes. The Rangers will also be putting up an owl box on the island, to help the species and encourage them to nest here.

We've also set up bird boxes set up across the island. We will be maintaining these annually and hopefully can say next year which bird species have been nesting in them. It will likely be Blue Tits but there are lots of species around. On the island, under the blue sky, we saw a Male Bullfinch, gorgeous colour on these guys, Robins, sparrows and a flock of Long Tailed Tits that had a Goldcrest with them. Fantastic to see, and listen to, all the wonderful birds we are lucky to get here.

Thanks again to everyone who has joined us over our first year of volunteering alongside the Park Rangers.