Sites
Little Vawnog Nature Area
This delightful little woodland can be found, unexpectedly, at the end of Foxwood Drive off Bersham Road near Wrexham Town centre. The woodland is also accessible from the Clywedog Trail which runs for 9 miles from Minera Lead Mines to Kingsmill following the course of the Clywedog River.
Little Vawnog is owned by Offa Community Council and includes part of the Clywedog River, native woodland and grassland areas. This diverse habitat is important to preserve for the varied species of invertebrates, birds, amphibians and mammals that rely on these differing types of habitats. The tree species present include native woodland trees such as oak, ash, aspen, hazel, holly, beech and chestnut.
WoodsWork started managing this area in the Spring of 2021 in the midst of lockdown, however we have still managed to run regular volunteer community events every month, including creating habitat boxes, building dead hedges and planting native bluebell bulbs. Other work we have done at the site includes regular path clearance, organising for the felling of diseased ash trees which have succumbed to the voracious ash dieback disease and fighting a constant battle against the invasive Himalayan Balsam. We have also successfully secured funding to deliver community activities such as building bird boxes and woodland relaxation events and are continuing to search for funding to improve the path network. We encourage volunteers to join us at Little Vawnog between 10am and 12 midday on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month throughout the year during which time we will be doing a range of conservation and management works on the site, please get in touch if you would like to know more.
Penyffordd Community Nature Area
This area of land has recently been leased by the community council to manage as a nature area and WoodsWork has been tasked with delivering a series of community volunteer events to help to improve this area for local people and wildlife.
The land can be found at the end of Abbotts Lane and Alyn Drive at the southern end of the village of Penyffordd and runs parallel alongside the A550 for some distance. It contains a variety of native oaks and ash as well as large areas of bramble and blackthorn. Although a footpath runs along one side of the land most of the area is currently inaccessible to people and of limited value to wildlife due to the abundance of brambles.
Starting in January 2022 WoodsWork will be running regular community volunteer events on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month from 10am until 12 midday. During these sessions we will be clearing areas of bramble and creating footpaths to make the area more accessible for walkers, planting native tree species and fruit trees, building and installing bird boxes, planting native wildflowers where appropriate and creating habitat piles of sticks and logs. All members of the community are welcome to join us to help in the development of this area with the plan of improving community access and creating more space for wildlife. We look forward to seeing you there.
