Nature's Recovery at Penrhiw

Penrhiw, Llanfihangel Rhydithon
by Rhys Baker, Conservation and Land Manager

Penrhiw Estate encompasses ninety acres of land in the Aran Valley. It was created over the last forty years by David and Francesca Garman with the sole purpose of conserving the wildlife of Mid-Wales. Originally farmland, with the exception of a few copses, the Garmans transformed Penrhiw by planting over 10,000 native, broadleaf trees, creating wetland areas and restoring wildflower meadows, once common throughout Radnorshire before the advent of intensive farming.

At times, overlooking Penrhiw you could be mistaken for believing you have been transported back in time. Due to careful management the pastures and wetland in the Craffryn area and towards St Michael's Church hark back to the meadows of a bygone era, even though for many local people these times still remain in living memory. Against the tide of swift technological progress and government-led initiatives the Garmans believe such natural wonders should not remain in memory alone and so Penrhiw is somewhat of an anomaly in the surrounding valley, providing safe haven for the local wildlife.

Rhys Baker, Conservation and Land Manager

I have been managing the estate for seven years now, four wonderful years under David and Fran’s supervision and three since David’s passing in 2019. It provides me with a joy I have found nowhere else. Solitude, when needed, is easy to find, the peace of mind which often comes hand-in-hand with physical work and knowing that our work is centred on the improvement of habitats keeps me well-stocked in job satisfaction. That’s not to say that some days/weeks aren’t hard. Like many of us my mental health is not always at its best. Sometimes that solitude might feel overbearing. The weather can turn and smother your best-laid plans, drenching you in disappointment as well as moisture from above. But in general I can say that my job outside in all weathers keeps me gleefully on my toes. I would recommend it to anyone. My good friend Tom Sternbauer works with me, providing not only help but also humour, fresh perspective and different skillsets.

During the spring and summer, aside from the work of keeping footpaths clear, tidying the lawn areas and repairing fences, we spend a lot of time surveying the flora and fauna, including our annual orchid count (this year well over the 600 mark). We are also afforded help and advice from RWT staff and associated experts. Sorcha Lewis and I expound upon the virtues of mustelids together and survey our small mammals, Janice Vincett has opened our eyes to the truly magical world of invertebrates and without Ray Woods’ regular visits we wouldn’t know one mildew from the next… personally, I might still need some more time on that. Say, 50 years or so.

Common toad by Dawn Monrose — Common Toad *(Bufo bufo)* by Dawn Monrose

This year we have dug out two new ponds, one ephemeral (especially after this summer!) and the other constantly fed by a beautifully clear spring. It has brought me great joy to watch it be so quickly discovered and colonised by frogs/toads, dragonflies and erm… horsehair worms.

For a lot of people the change in the seasons can be a difficult thing and I am as glad as anyone to finally see the Welsh springtime, but the change in season brings with it a change in work for us and a chance to exercise a whole different set of muscles in… The Rural Winter Olympics! Our autumn will usually begin with planning: which trees need making safe; which areas are going to have more trees planted in them; where do any new bird boxes need to be placed. And then comes the fun part…the saws. We start with coppicing our hazel into fencing stakes and binders for hedging. Any over-stood hazel is cut into firewood and stored. We will then move into the woods and thin any dangerous trees/branches. 70 percent of the wood will be turned into firewood, the rest will be left in wildlife piles. Last year we built a 6-metre bridge over a deep drovers lane to provide us more quad and trailer access to a difficult woodland. The timber making up the bridge was sourced from our own larch plantation and milled by us on site hopefully offsetting the carbon used on our visits to the builders’ merchants.

My favourite job of all comes next: Hedgelaying. To the uninitiated this is the process of carefully half-cutting the stem of trees planted in a line allowing them to lay diagonally across each other before holding them in place with stakes and binding the top with those hazel binders mentioned earlier. Still being attached to their roots the trees not only keep growing, but put up new shoots from their base thus thickening the hedge and providing more nesting opportunities for birds and sources for pollinators. And breath, Rhys. I truly love this process, you are always learning and even though the job is aesthetically pleasing once laid, it becomes even more so when you see the new stems growing up and out of the pleachers and the brambles wrapping themselves around this new habitat the very next spring.

Another very rewarding job is the tree planting. Since David’s passing in 2019 we have carried on his work with vigour in all weathers. I remember looking up through a snow blizzard at the top of the hill and seeing Fran and Tom slogging away with frozen hands planting and protecting hundreds of sweet chestnut whips and feeling a great sense of pride and gratitude for both them and the precedent of perseverance David had set us all before leaving. By the end of this year the three of us will have planted 3000 trees since 2019.

And now onto the stars of the show: The wildlife.

The birds that call Penrhiw home are many and varied: from diminutive goldcrest, wren and treecreeper that flicker throughout the woodland; to the corvids in constant dispute with the raptors. Tawny owls fill the night with their hoots and wails and ravens frequently pass cronking their ancient calls. Willow and marsh tits inhabit the wetland and garden areas along with warblers, black cap, yellowhammer, lesser redpoll and mistle thrush. Sparrowhawks strafe the hedge lines with a fiery eye on everyone else. Shy woodcock feed along the steep-sided dingles. The summer migrants bring an added splash of exoticism, with redstart, pied and spotted flycatcher, hobby, swallows, swifts and martins all arriving. I was very privileged to see a garganey duck and on several occasions the unmistakable green sandpiper. A moment I will not soon forget! One of the high points of the year for us is our annual visit from the BTO to ring and record the birds making use of our many nestboxes.

Hare in field — Brown hare by Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

Using trail cameras and scat surveys we monitor our mammal populations all year round and are proud to say almost every species in Wales can be found here at Penrhiw. Brown hare are at home in the upper woodland and meadows along with their abundant rabbit cousins. Wood and yellow-necked mice are common throughout, as are bank and field voles. Their larger and far rarer relative the water vole can be seen feeding if you are very quiet approaching the ponds. Water shrew are also present.

Badger in woodland — (c) Silvia Cojocaru

My childhood obsession with mustelids is well-fed at Penrhiw. Otter, polecat, badger, stoat and weasel have very robust populations here, their unique personalities usually providing the most entertainment when perusing camera footage. Indeed the only member of the British mustelid family we are yet to find is the beautiful pine marten, although thanks to the Vincent Wildlife Trust's incredibly successful reintroduction of the species to Mid-Wales and their presence just up the hill in Radnor Forest, it will hopefully only be a matter of time before they turn up at Penrhiw. A fresh sighting and one I have dreamed of since I was very young was that of an otter at its leisure in our largest pond, fishing for tench and utterly unbothered by my presence as it laid in the weed and crunched through its catch. We frequently find ourselves face to face with the beautiful roe deer that have recently decided to call Penrhiw their home. Muntjac are also sighted but are much harder to see due to a more nocturnal nature and smaller stature.

Botanists enjoy the spring and summer bonanza of plant life on display throughout Penrhiw. From the wood anenomes, celindines, sorrel and bluebells politely taking turns to carpet the woodlands, to the floods of colour in the meadows with too many species to name and the otherworldly sight of orchids and devil's bit scabious around the ponds. As a result of these areas, the insect population is huge: stunning solitary wasps; butterflies, moths (including Cloaked Carpet, Beautiful China Mark, Burnet and Tiger Moths); bees (including tawny mining and mountain bumblebee); grasshoppers and beetles. Making lunch of some of the above species are common toads, greater crested and palmate newts and common lizards.

We have several public footpaths running across the estate and visitors are gladly welcomed to enjoy it as much as we do, so please feel free to make yourselves known to us if you would like a more personal tour or just turn up and have a walk around.