Cath Cobb Wood Volunteer Event Sat 7th February 2026 10.00am - 12.00pm

We joined our Park Ranger at Cath Cobb Woods .The rain didn't dampen our spirits!

21 awesome volunteers gave their time and energy, in the constant rain, to help our local environment and community. It was a tough task but you gave it your all, thank you. It was great to have a couple of new faces too.

Most of the group worked on coppicing hazel trees. After a safety lesson from Ranger Rhodri, the volunteers got to work using saws to cut the hazel.

Coppicing allows more light into the woods so our native woodland flowers can flourish.

We created a big habitat pile with the tops of the tree branches, this will make homes for lots of little bugs and insects, maybe small mammals too. We also made stakes out of the thicker Hazel branches which will be used as part of dead hedges in projects across Cardiff Parks.

The rest of the group got to work on vegetation management, cutting back bramble and lots of holly that is growing quite fast and making it difficult to walk along, through the pathways within the woods. With shears and loppers, we cut back and raked some patches to open up the pathways. Making is easier and safer for visitors to walk through.

Cutting this vegetation back, it will increase the amount of light getting to the ground and then hopefully, in time, will encourage more flowers to bloom, like Wood Anemone and Lesser Celandine.

A few volunteers also litter picked throughout the Woodlands too, filling 4 bags with rubbish.

Thank you all for your efforts. A big thank you to Paula Morgan Community Champion, and staff at Tesco St Mellons for their donations of water, fruit and biscuits, a lovely, uplifting boost for our volunteers for the work they put in. It was a very physical task, made even more difficult with the rain, so the refreshments were even more appreciated, thank you.