Old homes for nature get new improvements

Work is underway to improve an old Denbigh home for local nature.

Denbighshire County Council’s Countryside Service staff alongside volunteers supported by nature for health and local stonemasons are hard at work at redeveloping drystone wall areas at Pen Coed (Mount Wood, Upper Denbigh.

Dry stone walls play an important role for biodiversity by providing a habitat for many plants and animals to settle down in.

The walls give strong homes for lichens, mosses, ferns and invertebrate species. A number of birds also use dry stone walls as nesting sites.

Walls can also provide homes for voles, mice, lizards, toads and newts.

Work has started on the drystone walls near the main entrance to the woods which have dropped in height over the years.

Once below a certain height, less species will use the walls, rebuilding the height will help the structure attract more nature once more over the years.

Volunteers supported by Countryside staff and the stone masons from the Carreg Collective were helped to rebuild the walls using traditional masonry techniques to bind the wall height together.

Countryside Ranger Brad Shackleton, who helps managed the wood, said: “It’s been great to start this project with the volunteers and the local stonemasons as these walls can give such a bustling habitat for biodiversity and that is what we hope to bring back to these areas of Mount Wood.”

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, added: “This is a fantastic project for an important area for nature and the local Denbigh community and I look forward to seeing the success when it is completed.”