A trip to Wales, Chirk Castle - Sunday 22nd March 2026

Five of us met members of Merseyside NT volunteers and ranger Keith in the car park at Chirk on a bright and sunny morning.

Chirk is a small property but the whole estate is a SSSI so is of particular conservation importance.

The rangers have been felling trees that were encroaching on a species rich meadow that’s important for fungi such as waxcaps.  Brash, mainly laurel, needed clearing away, but what’s normally straightforward can be difficult in a protected area.  It couldn’t just be left to biodegrade or provide habitat as laurel is poisonous (it contains cyanide!) and it couldn’t be burnt due to the fungi.  An added complication was the brash was in an area boggy due to recent rain.  So the main job of the day was dragging brash from one end of the field to a firmer section for disposal.

Keith brought a wood chipper to chop up the brash and throw the chips into neighbouring woodland.

But it’s a small machine and only two or three people could work safely with it at any one time. So there’s still a job for the ranger to do in the coming weeks.

The last hour of the day was spent taking down fencing from around some saplings.

The area had been used temporarily for grazing but as the sheep had moved on to pastures new (literally!) the fencing was no longer needed.

The sun shone and the job gave us time to catch up with the Merseyside group.  And working at Chirk is always interesting due to the ecological diversity of the site.  A good day all round.

Jean