We moved to Herefordshire five years ago, like many people, we were escaping to the country!

We joined Herefordshire Wildlife Trust as volunteers with the Ross branch and “cut our teeth” helping on sites across the Doward and local area.

Quite by chance, two years ago Tretawdy Farm, which is adjacent to our house, was gifted to Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and lo and behold we suddenly became the wardens for this new reserve. We have been on a steep learning curve ever since and now know a lot more about flora, fauna and ecology. We have been recording wildlife across the reserve, firstly as a baseline and then to measure any changes following management. This also includes a monthly photo survey.

The reserve is 28 acres in size, 8 fields, across a narrow valley which has a stream running through it- curiously named “the Slutty Brook”. The primary objective at Tretawdy is to maintain and improve the wildflower meadows, but also to provide a safe haven and corridor for wildlife and we are delighted to have owls, dormice, polecat, buzzards, kestrels and slow worms along with the ubiquitous squirrels and rabbits!

We run two volunteer working parties each month where we tackle a variety of tasks from bramble clearance to removing old fencing. There is often a bonfire... These work parties have been a lovely way to get to know other people from Llangrove village and further afield. Who needs to go to a gym when you can get a work out in the great outdoors!

We have especially enjoyed putting out trail cameras to see if we can capture any good footage, particularly of nocturnal or shy visitors.  This has led us to get involved with the pine marten project where we have been involved in putting out cameras to see if we could capture any footage of these elusive creatures. Each week we check the cameras, mostly seeing clip after clip of mice and squirrels, but we were rewarded one week with amazing footage….not of a pine marten but a goshawk! That made all the hours of reviewing mice worthwhile!  Maybe one day the pine martens might come from the Doward and use Tretawdy Farm reserve as a corridor to their next adventure!