Dean Green Team

Wildlife Conservation Group in the

Forest of Dean

Gloucestershire

Summer Outing 2006

The summer outing for the Dean Green Team was to see the Red Kites flying at the Bwlch Nant yr Arian centre. Click here.

12 Oct 2008 2.00 pm - a tour of the Cyril Hart Arboretum at Speech House has been organised to coincide with a new volunteer group who will be working in the arboretum over the coming months. Botanist and dendrologist, Tony Tichen, will identify and give amazing information about the trees and explain where many of them come from.

There is to be a new volunteer group based in the arboretum who will be meeting once a month to do work on tidying the site, changing the tree naming tags and planting new trees. If you are interested then come and join us for the first meeting on 3rd November 2008 11.00 am to 3.00 pm

There is a course at the Royal Forest of Dean College, Five Acres for those of us who need to know more about tree identification!

It is for 8 weeks from 18 September to 13 November at 14.00 to 16.00 pm on Thursdays and costs £60 or £45 for concessions to enrol.

One of the members of the Dean Green Team, Hayley Clayton, has been doing a survey of the birds who frequent the lake and marshes around Woorgreen Lake during the winter. Click on the links below to view her results.

The wild boar in the Forest of Dean are regularly invading the villages now. This one spent the day in the village school field and has returned so the children need to be on the look out for it! It seems to be enjoying the crab apples!

The Work of the Wildlife Trust in the Forest of Dean by Rosie Kelsall
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust
Venue: St Margaret Mary's Catholic Church Hall, Cinder Hill, Coleford GL16 8HN
Contact: Helen Williams (local volunteer)
Tel: 01594 510384

The talk will be about the wide ranging work of The Trust in the Forest of Dean District from Nature Reserves to surveys and Parish Projects to forward planning.
This talk is taking place at St Margaret Mary's Catholic Church Hall, Cinder Hill, High Nash, Coleford, GL16 8HN and all are welcome, Admission £2 to include refreshments.

Last week the BBC AutumnWatch program showed a film of the wild boar in the Forest of Dean. This has created a lot of interest and the Forestry Commision advise people not to approach the boar as the sows with piglets can be very protective and the male boars are very large but as the boar are secretive animals it is unlikely to come across them!

The Forest of Dean Angling Club have contacted us regarding the Otter Watch with some very useful information concerning otters seen at Steam Mills lake. Below is the report submitted by Nigel Phillips who can be contacted on nigel.phillips@yahoo.co.uk

'The otter frequents Steam Mills Lake and has been here to my knowledge for approximately one year.

I was clearing the stream that feeds the lake as a participant in one of the work parties that the Forest of Dean Angling Club organise throughout the year. I noticed the paw prints in February 2006 and searched for spraint which I discovered.Soon after we found evidence of fish kills and that that several of the fishing platforms that we installed were being used to open mussels, the shells and small stones being left after the meal!

I believe that 'he' has made his way here from the Wye via the inlet stream that originates from the upper Drybrook/Mitcheldean area. We had seen mink here on odd occaisons over the last 10 years and thought that perhaps this was the culprit. The Otter has been seen twice but not to my knowledge in the last 3-4 months. The club has a match at Steam Mills this Sunday and I shall both enquire if he has been seen and look for evidence.If I become aware of his presence no doubt it will be of interest to your team.

The angling club, of which I am a committee member, has been engaged in promoting the biodiversity of the waters under our control and we regularly stock the lakes and maintain the surroundings at our own cost both in time and money. I regard Steam Mills as a huge success, we now see Kingfishers as well as Heron and have a thriving population of Wild Brown Trout that use the feeder stream to breed. Last year I discovered a Badgers sett extremely close by. It may seem strange to the lay person but as anglers I suppose we tend to take these things for granted and without realising do our best to improve the environment for the fish which also has a knock on effect for the general biodiversity of the area.

The club has become a member of the Brown Trout Trust and are actively promoting the Environment Agency Brown Trout Strategy, we are also working with the Agency to promote the biodiversity of the area.'

Dry Stone Walling - January 2007

A tuition day to learn the arts of dry stone walling was taught on 23 January 2007 at the Buckstone on Staunton Meend. Mr Chris Hodges gave us instruction and the results can be viewed here and he can be contacted on www.drystonewaller.co.uk..

To see the Dry Stone Walling diary click here