Cardiff Garden Wildlife Survey
As many of you will know by now, the Wildlife Trust of South and Wales (WTSWW) has been running a Garden Wildlife Survey in Cardiff, aiming to discover the hidden biodiversity treasures that live in our Capital City.
The survey forms were delivered to homes in Cardiff throughout spring 2009 with the aim of involving residents to record the wildlife they see in their gardens and all the different habitats that make gardens such important refuges for wildlife in urban areas.
To date WTSWW has received over 500 completed survey forms, which equates to over 2,000 volunteer hours and many new species records (Table 1), including 91 records of hedgehog and seven new records of Great Crested Newt – a European Protected Species.
| Species / Habitat | Number of New Records |
| Hedgehog | 91 |
| Bat Roost | 5 |
| Slow Worm | 31 |
| Great Crested Newt | 7 |
| Peacock Butterfly | 54 |
| Song Thrush | 104 |
| House Sparrow | 178 |
| Pond | 161 |
| Bird Feeders | 476 |
Table 1 shows the number of new records for a nine of the 43 species and habitat questions asked during the survey.
WTSWW has been overwhelmed with the positive response to the survey and would like to thank all those volunteer recorders for taking part and making the survey such a success.
The data collected will be used to help WTSWW to undertake further conservation work in the Capital City, by highlighting where gaps in wildlife habitat occur. Once this is known we can link up existing habitat through habitat creation to act as wildlife corridors across Cardiff, ensuring that plants and animals are able to move more freely and colonise new areas.
Of course WTSWW cannot do this without the continued help and support from the people of Cardiff who have been so enthusiastic during the survey. It is hoped that together we can provide wildlife havens even in the most urban areas of Cardiff for the benefit of wildlife and people.
For more information on the survey or how you can improve your garden for wildlife, please contact:
Robert Jones Parry
Conservation Manager
Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
Fountain Road
Tondu
Bridgend
CF32 0EH
01656 724100
Cardiff Local Group
Starting in October 2009 the group have new arrangements for our meetings. They will be meeting
in the Wallace Lecture Theatre (0.13) of the Main Building, Cardiff University. The indoor meetings will be at 7.30 pm on Thursday evenings. These meetings will be held jointly with the University's natural history society: WildSoc. The programme for the next three months is included below.
Thursday 15th October, 7.30 pm. Indoor meeting.
Dr. Lizzie Wilberforce, one of the Wildlife Trust Senior Conservation Officers, will talk about Red Squirrels in Wales.
Thursday 12th November, 7.30 pm. Indoor meeting.
Zoe Banks, the Cardiff Bay Ecologist, will describe the Wildlife of Cardiff Bay.
Saturday 21st November 10 am. Outdoor meeting.
Visit to Cardiff Bay led by ecologist Zoe Banks. Meet in the public car park by the St. David's Hotel.
Thursday 3rd December, 7.30 pm. Indoor meeting. PLEASE NOTE THIS DATE HAS CHANGED
Sgt. Ian Guildford of South Wales Police will tell us about Wildlife Crime.
Sunday 17th January 2010, 9 am. Outdoor meeting.
Cardiff Birdwatch led by Rob & Linda Nottage in conjunction with the Cardiff Naturalists. Meet by Roath Park 'Wild Garden'.
Thursday 28th January, 7.30 pm. Indoor meeting.
Mark Winder , County Ecology for West Glamorgan, will give an illustrated talk on Spiders.
Please note that non-members of the Trust are very welcome to attend any of our meetings, although obviously we hope that you will decide to join the Trust.
Please check out our website for a map of the new meeting location: http://www.wtswwcardiff.org.uk
For further information, or to be added to the mailing list, please email: info@wtswwCardiff.org.uk