About the reserve

Coed Trellyniau is a fragment of a once-larger ancient woodland known in Medieval times as Coed y Gelli. It sits within an agricultural landscape and is linked to other scattered woodlands by ancient hedgerows and tracks that are the last refuge for many native plants and animals. In spring, the woodland floor is carpeted with a succession of wood anemones, wild garlic and bluebells; plants which show that Coed Trellyniau has been wooded for hundreds of years. Today, the planted beech timber has little commercial value but the woodland and surrounding countryside are tremendously important for wildlife – birds and animals that live in the wood are able to forage in the nearby fields while the hedgerows provide safe corridors between neighbouring woodlands.

Restoration through regeneration

Coed Trellyniau was once ancient woodland that was cleared and replanted with pine and beech as a commercial crop in the 1950s. The Wildlife Trust wants to return the woodland to its natural species composition by gradually thinning out the remaining beech trees, encouraging natural regeneration of native trees from the seed bank. Standing deadwood is left for invertebrates and nesting birds (such as great spotted woodpeckers), whilst some timber is left on the ground to decay, returning nutrients to the soil and providing a home for fungi, insects and small mammals.
 

Directions
At the Cilcain/Rhes y Cae crossroads on the A541, head North (signposted Rhes y Cae). Stay on the road for 1 km and park in a small layby on the Left just after the entrance to Fron Farm caravan park (SJ 186 689). Do not block the field gate. The reserve is a short walk West along a public footpath, across fields and 3 stiles: cattle and sheep are often encountered.