Basket cases

With the advent of bright, cold weather, we thought it was time to get stuck in to more of the conservation tasks we’d talked ourselves in to doing. This time it was pollarding the willow osiers in the withies at Nant & Ty Capel at the north end of Bardsey. The osiers were traditionally cut by the islanders to take willow wands to make their lobster pots. The wands would have been cut on a two/three year cycle creating a sustainable supply of material that also creates good habitat for migratory birds and wildlife. With the demise in the demand for willow for lobster creels, the withies have mainly been managed for the birds and can quickly become overgrown. However, Jo Porter at TY Pellaf has revived basket making for new uses like washing and vegetable baskets. With this fresh incentive to manage the willow withies, we set about cutting the willow in Nant & Ty Capel withies. It involved about half a day cutting and pruning. As well as selecting willow wands for weaving ,we also pruned the willow, especially some of the old growth, to encourage whippy regrowth that will be suitable to cut in the next year or so. Out of the wood we took out we made seven good bundles of willow wands that will be woven in to various design of basket on the island by Elaine, Emma & Jo. We then chipped most of the wood that was left, which will be used for composting the loo at the farm at Ty Pellaf.

Jim