Category: News

Ash Dieback Update – March 2022

This winter we have done what we could to tackle diseased ash trees at most risk of falling onto the road and our footpaths. As spring approaches we hope we will soon see signs of regeneration.

 

As we have reported in previous BET Bulletins and project updates, the majority of the ash trees on BET’s reserves are showing signs of ash dieback disease. There is no treatment for the disease and in the coming years these trees will, almost certainly, die and collapse. In our Spring bulletin we will provide a full update on the work we have been carrying out to tackle the effects of the disease. In the meantime here is a short summary.

In July 2021 we commissioned an independent survey of our trees to assess the risk that diseased trees posed to road and path users. The highest priority was to make the road and neighbouring houses safe. In September we employed a contractor to take down the trees which would fail onto the road. As the trees were unsafe to climb, heavy equipment had to be brought in and Cheston Combe road closed for a fortnight.

The work on the roadside trees was not fully completed and in February another contractor finished the upper section of Cheston Combe in a couple of days. Again a cherry picker was used to gain access to the overhanging branches and remove them carefully from around the overhead cables. The work was done with only a few minutes delay to passing traffic – saving us the cost of another complete road closure.

During the winter our volunteers have also made a start on removing smaller diseased trees close to the main bridleway through Jubilee Stone Wood. We will need to use contractors for the larger trees close to paths, but only urgent felling can be carried out now that the bird nesting season is upon us. In the summer we will assess the state of trees identified in the survey to determine which should be felled next winter. We hope that some trees may survive, but this programme of checking and removing unsafe trees will continue for several years.

A variety of colours have been used to mark diseased trees. The majority are orange which means they are not currently deemed to be the highest risk but need to be monitored. Note, some trees on the road side of our boundary are the council’s responsibility, but were marked with orange by a contractor in error.

In the meantime, we will continue planting new trees.  We have previously planted over 150 trees and expect to plant a further 200+ this spring, which is more than have been felled. The tree whips include a native mix of oak, silver birch, rowan, hazel and spindle which will increase the diversity in our woods. We also expect to see the understorey and wildflowers thrive in the increased light on the woodland floor.

BET Trustees

Ash Dieback Update – September

The disease is killing hundreds of trees on the BET reserves and, very reluctantly, we have to take action to keep the roads and our visitors safe.  Work will be starting on September 20th,

 

As we have reported in previous BET Bulletins and project updates, the majority of the ash trees on BET’s reserves are showing signs of ash dieback disease. There is no treatment for the disease and in the coming years these trees will, almost certainly, die and collapse.

At the end of last year we obtained quotes for felling diseased trees which could fall and strike a road or public footpath. At this time, the consensus was that approximately 300 trees would have to be felled. Our chosen contractor successfully felled an initial number of trees in March with the majority to be felled this autumn. 

Unfortunately in the meantime there have been a number of serious injuries and fatalities involving the manual felling of diseased ash trees. This has lead to a change in the recommendations for felling affected trees and so now, whenever possible, specialist mechanised equipment should be used to fell diseased trees safely. Our chosen contractor has therefore had to bring in one of the few local companies with the appropriate equipment and experience to fell the most dangerous trees adjacent to roads and houses.

In July 2021, with numbers of ash trees affected by the disease increasing rapidly, we commissioned an independent safety assessment on all trees bordering roads, houses and footpaths. This survey recommended that we would now have to fell approximately 800 trees to ensure the future safety of visitors to our nature reserves.

Badgers Wood footpath 14-9-21

The felling of the roadside trees and a proportion of the path-side trees is now planned to start on September 20th. Heavy equipment will be used on the road to fell, extract and cut up the trees. Sections of Cheston Combe and Lower Church Town will need to be closed between 9:00 and 15:30, approximately, on weekdays for two weeks. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by closing the road and some paths.

Having seen examples of previous work by the contractors, we are confident that they will do what they can to minimise the impact of this extensive felling on the reserves. We have also taken steps to obtain the necessary Forestry Commission licence and to mitigate the risk to protected species.

It is with deep regret that we have to carry out this extensive felling, but BET has a legal responsibility to ensure, as best we can, the safety of our neighbours, visitors and road users from the serious effects of rapidly decaying trees on our nature reserves. If we ignore professional advice and there was an accident, BET could be deemed negligent.

We are very grateful to all members who donated to our fund raising appeal, to the Tarmac Landfill Communities Fund and for an extremely generous donation from Ken Edis and Backwell Logs, whose sales in the Bristol area support the Backwell Woods Restoration Project.

BET Trustees

 

Clarification of tree markings

The felling is being phased over a number of years and the initial phase is to make the road safe and fell those marked with blue spots. Those with just an orange spot have been identified as likely to need to be felled in the next three years. We will monitor the progress of the disease and tackle them if and when the crown has declined by more than 50%. Trees close to paths which have reached this stage are being marked with green spots. Diseased trees away from public footpaths will be left to decay without felling. 

When we had a detailed survey of the trees conducted by the independent arboriculturist earlier in the year, a small number of trees other than ash were identified with significant disease or decay and needing to be felled. These included six sycamore and two small-leaved lime, which have been marked with blue spots. As these are at risk of falling onto the road we are having them felled whilst the road is closed.

There are a number of ash trees on the road side of BET’s boundary which are the responsibility of North Somerset Council, although some were marked with orange spots in error during a survey last year.  We contacted NSC to suggest they tackle these trees during this road closure that we have to pay them for, without success.

 

 

 

 

Ash Dieback

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so generously to our fund raising appeal. We are now in a position to plan for the tree felling we have to carry out for safety reasons.

In the latest BET Bulletin, we describe the situation we are now facing with the ash trees on our nature reserves. Many are succumbing to the ravages of ash dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus) and all those infected will die.  Over the past few years, we have been monitoring the situation closely and have now reached the stage when, with great reluctance on our part, trees need to be felled for health and safety reasons, before the decay makes them unacceptably dangerous to visitors.

We will have to fell all the diseased trees at risk of falling into Cheston Combe Road or in striking distance of our bridleway and footpaths.

We have received quotes from several professional tree surgeons, all of which will greatly exceed our reserve funds. The cost to BET will be in the region of £20,000.

Since BET bought the two reserves in 2006 and 2009, our main source of income has been the annual subscriptions paid by our members, which have remained at just £5 per person and £10 per family. Many members have kindly supplemented this with donations. Our annual income has been around £1,500 and our financial reserves currently stand at around £10,000.

Our financial position means that, reluctantly, we needed to appeal to our members and friends to help us meet the cost of making our nature reserves safe again for visitors. We know how much people from the village and further afield enjoy walking in the BET woodlands with their wealth of wildlife. During the lockdowns, we received many kind words of thanks showing how much people have appreciated the beauty and tranquillity of the reserves during these difficult times.

Our Members have responded incredibly generously to our appeal. The money contributed has enabled us to secure a grant for the rest of the costs of the work.

We plan to start some felling in late February and to complete the work in the autumn. We are also investigating the use of logging horses to extract the timber from the woods, which would be traditional and exciting!

We will publish more details about the project once confirmed.

Thank you for your time and support.

The BET Trustees

Further donations are welcome. Our membership form gives details of how to make a donation. (Click here to download a copy). Gift Aid is also a very important source of income for us so, if at all possible, please tick the Gift Aid box on the form.

For those of you who buy on Amazon, did you know that they will give 0.5% to the charity of your choice, on most purchases? Just use their alternative site Smile.Amazon.co.uk. You can nominate Backwell Environment Trust in Your AmazonSmile account profile. Every little helps!

 

 

 

 

The Adventures of Nova!

Nova the Golden Retriever records her visit to BET!

Nova and her owner Dean have visited many beautiful locations in our area and recorded their walks and adventures. They have produced some wonderful guides to local walks, from the perspective of dog walkers, and shared them on Facebook and in four downloadable volumes.  www.facebook.com/novalovesadventures/   

We were thrilled to see their description of the BET woods and the accompanying delightful photos of our sights and features.

“This place is amazing and definitely our favourite local spot, no matter what path you take there’s always something interesting to see.”

Have a look at Dean’s amazing illustration of BETland!! Click on the picture to see a large version and explore all the wonderful details.

They have also produced a useful guide to the reserves for those who haven’t been here before.

Their Facebook page has over 3,000 followers and has similar great guides to other walks including Towerhouse Woods, the Strawberry Line and Brean Down.

Thank you to Nova and Dean for promoting BET!

 

The Cabin Restoration

When we purchased our second woodland reserve in 2009 – Badgers Wood – BET acquired a semi-derelict building. This was once a garage belonging to Quarry House and was used to house the Rolls-Royce! By 2012 the garage was in a very sorry state, with the roof in imminent danger of collapse, despite being propped up by ash tree trunks. It was decided that, to save the building, urgent repair work was needed to strengthen the side walls, build a supporting front wall and replace the roof structure.

This was more easily said than done – but we are incredibly fortunate to have some very skilled and dedicated volunteers who have been working tirelessly to complete a dramatic restoration.  Their hard work has included digging foundations, building a 10-foot high block wall, laying concrete and steel reinforcement along the tops of the side walls, cutting and drilling stone, welding door frames – and carefully aligning the 5 new laminated roof beams before fitting 27 curved sheets of corrugated steel. 

What an achievement! You can see the fun the guys had with the roof, in Andy’s timelapse video:

In addition, overhanging trees were removed, tons of soil and other debris excavated from around the outside, and repointing of the stonework carried out. Brilliant new windows have also been supplied and fitted – all free of charge – thanks to the generosity of Brorn Windows of Congresbury. http://www.brornwindows.co.uk/

The transformation has been amazing and now, in October 2014, is complete, with new doors and the front cladding back in place. The refurbished BET Cabin will be a great base and shelter for our volunteers and participants on our events, and should now last for many more decades. 

Here are some impressive before and after photos – plus pictures of the opening event and BET Members celebrating a fantastic achievement!

Enormous thanks are owed to the core team of Gerry, Andy, Don and Tony. BET would also like to thank neighbouring members David and Jean Glasson for their great support throughout the project, use of their driveway and water supply!

The Geology Trail

After much discussion by the trustees about the possibility of a high-level cliff path in Badgers Wood, the project was given the go-ahead in the spring of 2013 and was finally completed in October 2014.

The Geology Trail  The trail, constructed in 2014, is around 350 metres long and runs along the base of some of the fantastic limestone cliffs to be found in this part of the woodland. The first and last sections have been relatively straightforward, but it was the bit in the middle, close to the cliff faces, that have required the full engineering skills of the trusty BET volunteers.

We decided to start the trail in the middle, so if we ever felt we couldn’t overcome some of the more challenging technical problems, we could always simply walk away and no one would be the wiser! The problem was that some sections of the trail had to be constructed on a very rocky, steep slope so the only real solution for us was to attach metal cages to the rock faces, fill them up with many tonnes of rock and then put the trail on top. Although this took a long time to do, I’m very pleased with the finished result as it’s now quite difficult to see the sections of trail that would once have been in thin air just a couple of years ago.

The Geology Trail branches off the Fern Way close to the start/end of that trail. One word of warning though…. the trail does have some short, steep sections and you may need a head for heights on the more ‘challenging’ middle section!

The route of the trail is shown on the updated BET Map.

A selection of photos taken during the formal opening of the trail can be found here: Opening Celebrations – Oct 2014

The Fern Way

During 2011, the various working parties put in considerable hours on the reserves. This new path in Badgers Wood is a fine example of what volunteers can achieve with a little instruction.

Enjoy discovering this atmospheric path through the woodland.

The Fern Way The footpaths and trails on BET’s nature reserves, high up on Backwell Hill, can give you a great sense of space and openness with fantastic views and wide expanses of sky all around you. However, there is another side to the reserves which, until now, was completely inaccessible to all but the most intrepid visitor.

Badgers Wood has a hidden, magical woodland world just waiting to be discovered which you can do on our 500 metre long trail created in 2011. The trail starts close to the public footpath off Church Town and winds its way through stunning broadleaf woodland, gently gaining height to emerge at two locations in a small valley path opposite the bridleway in Jubilee Stone Wood. It also has the advantage of creating a circular walk as well as bypassing the steep steps down from the upper parts of the reserve. Along the way you’ll pass large yew trees apparently growing on the top of huge boulders, our newly restored pond, literally thousands of intensely green ferns, dramatic exposed limestone cliff faces and veteran oak and yew trees to name just a few of the many highlights.

Directions Enter Badgers Wood from the lower, ChurchTown, entrance. Walk up the public footpath for 20 metres and you will see the BET ‘cabin’ in front of you. Take the minor path off to the left in front of it. You will pass the new steps to The Layers meadow after 10 metres and as the path starts to descend, the new woodland trail is on your right, initially lined with stones.

Look out for the seat made by Peter Speight