Corus help local community go ‘Wild in their Garden!’
Local residents and members of the Parochial Church Council have been busy working for wildlife and making use of an un-used area of land outside of St Mary’s church hall, Shelone road in Briton Ferry. The project, supported by the Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency Wales along with support from Communities First has been funded from the lottery grants programme ‘Awards for All Wales’ and has been taking shape over the last couple of months. The project brief has been to create a formal court yard garden and creation of a wildlife garden complete with compost bins, ponds, wildflower meadows and woodland plants, helping to encourage wildlife into the centre of Briton Ferry. This project has also created spaces for four local schools environment clubs to become involved with the local community and create a garden of their own growing everything from fruit and Veg to useful plants and herbs. Each local school, Brynhyfyd, Llansawel, Tylerynn and Ynysmeardy primary, have been given a raised plot in which to grow their own and also make use of the wildlife garden for outdoor learning with an outdoor classroom installed on the site, this will form part of the extra circular learning with a out of school hours club being established over forthcoming months.
The site provides for all of the needs for the local schools and residents by having different areas across the site from wildflower meadows to formal gardens. The site is within easy walking distance and gives a real opportunity for outdoor learning for everyone.
The project has been a success to date due to the kind support given from Corus who have supplied the project regularly with a band of volunteers who are part of the youth apprentice training schemes at the neighbouring steel works. This practical support has been fundamental to the successes so far with the volunteers getting stuck in on every part of the project including constructing compost bins to weeding the meadow ready for sowing during the heavy rain! The project has shown how a vision in the local community has become a reality with local businesses, schools, wildlife charity and community members working together to achieve positive outcome by taking the project into their own hands. The project will make a real difference to the local environment and provide an oasis for wildlife to thrive into the future.
ChrisMatts, Community officer for the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales added “I would like to say a big thank you to Keith Farron and Nia Davies at Corus for all their ongoing support and an especially big thank you to the apprentices who worked through all weathers to help this community achieve their vision”.
The project is ongoing and aims to hold the unveiling on the 31st of July this year and will be opened by Dr Brian Gibbons AM.
Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project
WTSWW have continued to contribute to this important mid-Wales project, with involvement from Lizzie Wilberforce (WTO Carmarthenshire) and Em Foot (WTO Ceredigion). The project has recently been successful in receiving a grant of around £15,000 from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. This will allow the group- which also includes Brecknock Wildlife Trust, CCW, Forestry Commission, Carmarthenshire Powys and Ceredigion County Councils and private foresters, to pursue red squirrel conservation in mid Wales in the coming year.
We will be actively involved in survey and trapping work, with the aim of finding out more about the population of red squirrels in mid Wales and their genetic makeup. We will also be undertaking habitat survey work, for which we will need volunteers- anyone interested in getting involved should get in touch with Lizzie on l.wilberforce@welshwildlife.org We will also be arranging a number of education days for local schools, to get children from the immediate area outdoors to look at red squirrel habitat and understand a little more about their very special neighbours. The project ran a similar education day in 2008 with schoolchildren from Cilycym and Cynghordy which was a great success, and giving us great enthusiasm to expand our education programme.
Meanwhile, the group also continues to work with private landowners and Forestry Commission Wales to try and secure forest management practices and plans in the mid Wales area that will favour red squirrels, as well as delivering the woodland owners’ commercial needs. This includes retention of key species such as lodgepole pine that provide critical food resources for the red squirrel- and influencing the felling plans to retain habitat connectivity. This is, of course, an ongoing process- so watch this space!
Spring arrives for dormice at Rhos Cefn Bryn!
Spring has officially sprung, and thanks to monitoring by reserve voluntary warden Jacqueline Hartley, the awakening of the dormice at the Rhos Cefn Bryn nature reserve in Carmarthenshire has been spotted.
During the first monitoring visit of the year on 18 April, a single torpid female dormouse was recorded in one of the boxes. She was looking a bit damp and spiky, but was soon brushed off and returned to the box, none the wiser.
This record is good news, after two bad summers and all the dormouse records from the site in 2008 being of male dormice. However, in 2008 Jacqueline’s efforts of monitoring dormouse tubes in the hedges were also rewarded with a dormouse nest record from a stretch of hedge never previously recorded as being used by dormice.
The Trust are currently applying for funds to expand the monitoring work at the reserve, hoping to survey for dormice in other nearby woodlands and to look at the all-important connectivity of the suitable habitat by wide hedges and arboreal connections. We will also be undertaking some habitat management on the reserve to improve the small woodland block for dormice in autumn 2009.
Water vole surveys at WTSWW reserves
Water voles (Arvicola terrestris) are Britain’s fastest declining mammal species, it is therefore important to monitor known populations and attempt to locate as many new colonies as possible. To that end, 5 of the Trust’s reserves have been surveyed for signs of water vole activity; Cors Ian (SN673695), Rhos Fullbrook (SN668628) and Llyn Eiddwen (SN607674) in Ceredigion and Ffrwd Farm Mire (SN420026) and Cors Goch (SN326185) in Carmarthenshire.
Despite suitable habitat being present at both Carmarthenshire reserves, no evidence of water voles was found at either. This may have been due to predation by American mink (Mustela vison) or historic drainage of the sites making them previously unsuitable.
On a positive note, all three of the Ceredigion reserves showed evidence of use by water voles. Rhos Fullbrook has perhaps the least suitable habitat; consisting of a rather rocky, shallow stream, and consequently had the least signs of activity. Only one latrine, one dropping and one pile of feeding remains were seen, along with approximately a dozen burrow entrances. It is a good sign if they are using suboptimal habitat however, as it could signify strong populations in adjacent land. Some water vole signs were also seen in private land downstream of the reserve.
Both Cors Ian and Llyn Eiddwen appear to have healthy populations of the species, with 30 latrines found at the latter site, concentrated in the ditch running from the southern edge of the lake. At Cors Ian, the pond created in February 2006 by the Environment Agency appears to have been very successful; burrows and latrines around the margins providing positive evidence of colonisation by water voles. The stream running through the reserve also shows signs of water vole activity along its entire length. Other WTSWW reserves with suitable habitat may also be surveyed in the near future.
Bryophyte Survey of Castle Woods
The Trust were lucky in spring 2009 to have Castle Woods nature reserve, in the Dinefwr Estate, Llandeilo, visited by bryophyte expert Sam Bosanquet.
Various bryologists have visited the reserve over the years, including Francis Rose, and a field meeting of the British Bryological Society (BBS) in 1978. However, the site- which is well characterised with regard to its botanical and lichen interest, remains less well understood in terms of its liverwort and moss flora.
The survey, which took place over two days in early spring 2009, produced a total of 278 records, of 114 species. Thirty six of the records were from Llandyfeisant Church!
A number of interesting species grow in the reserve, some highlights include:
Eurhynchium schleicheri was recorded new to Carmarthenshire on steep, lime-rich soil below the Castle. It looks similar to the common E. hians and E. praelongum, but has twisted leaf tips and creeping underground stems. This is a south-eastern species in Britain - it is locally common in Monmouthshire, grows in one or two sites in Glamorgan, and is at the western edge of its range in Castle Woods.
Marchesinia mackaii forms black patches on limestone outcrops below the Castle. This leafy liverwort is known from further up the Tywi Valley in the Rhandirmwyn area, as well as in south-west Carmarthenshire near Pendine, but the Castle Woods colony is the first record from central Carmarthenshire.
Taxiphyllum wissgrillii - this subtle calcicole, known from just 5 sites in Carmarthenshire, was recorded from the reserve by the BBS in 1978 and was located again by Sam Bosanquet in 2009 in south Castle Woods.
Phaeoceros laevis was the only Hornwort recorded from the site. It grows in small quantity on a bank in Llandyfeisant churchyard. Hornworts are the third group of bryophytes, distinct from both mosses and liverworts, and are named after their long, horn-like spore capsules.
Scapania nemorea and Scapania compacta grow on the roof of Llandyfeisant churchyard along with Racomitrium heterostichum and R. fasciculare. This assemblage is more typical of rocks in upland Carmarthenshire and is very unusual in such an artificial situation. Even more unusual are slender stems of the bog liverwort Cephaloziella hampeana that creep through the Scapania patches.
Scouts lend a helping hand in Poor Mans Wood
The birds of Poor Mans Wood, near Llandovery, have been given a helping hand by 1st Llandovery Scouts.
The steep oak woodland reserve, which runs up the valley side to the north east of Llandovery, is home to a wide range of woodland bird species such as redstart and pied flycatcher. The pied flycatchers on the reserve make extensive use of the bird boxes on the site, some of which have been reaching retirement age (a few even having been destroyed by grey squirrels!)
The Llandovery Scouts made and installed both bat and bird boxes for the reserve in spring 2009, and the new boxes have already attracted pied flycatchers to make their homes.
The reserve is currently in the process of being entered into the Better Woodlands for Wales grant scheme, which will pay for further new bird boxes and woodland management. The reserve ground flora is dominated by heather and bilberry in some areas, and in the lower stretches by bluebells and wood anemones- well worth a visit in the spring as the bluebells reach their peak.
Sea Trust is a marine arm of the Wildlife Trust based in Pembrokeshire but our work encompasses the whole of the South West Coast, along with our Wildlife Trust Partners, Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Group.
Our slogan is; “Local People taking care and responsibility for our Wildlife” and we aim to recruit volunteers and raise awareness within our communities as well as the wider world.
From Easter 2009 in partnership with Pembrokeshire County Council, we have an exhibit in the Ocean Lab Fishguard Harbour. It will also become a base for our activities and events throughout the year. These will include guided walks and porpoise picnics, Beach Safaris, as well as a photographic display and competition. We will give further details in forthcoming e-newsletters...
If you want to get involved with our work come and see us in the Ocean Lab, where we have two spaces, The yellow3 Submarine, with DVD shows as well as the “Sea Here” exhibit in the Tower. For enquiries about the ocean lab, ring 01348 874737 10-4 pm
Sea Trust volunteer Richard Crossen has also helped us to set up a “Whales in Wales” Blogs which features updates on Cetacean activity (Whales Dolphins and Porpoises) around the Welsh Coast, to find out more click below!
http://whaleswales.blogspot.com
Sea Trust “Dolphin Survey” boat trips
Come along with Sea Trust on the Celtic Wildcat and sponsor our work by helping to pay for the hire of the boat. A £50 donation will allow you to come along with us for a full days dolphin survey and pay for the cost of hiring the boat. Spaces are limited. This really is a fantastic opportunity to see incredible marine wildlife and contribute to conservation... real eco tourism!
We meet at Neyland Marina, @ 8.30 on the day for a 9.am start and are usually not back until 6 pm which gives us plenty of time to find Common Dolphins and see the beautiful Pembrokeshire Coastline and Islands including the fantastic gannet colony of Grassholm. Click here for more details.
We will also be holding our fourth Stena Sea Trust Dolphin-Othon from Saturday 29th Aug’-Fri 4th Sept
£15 per person; includes return trip to Ireland with Sea Trust volunteers surveying on the outward trip. Meet Fishguard harbour, 1.30 pm we stop over in Ireland from 6pm to 9. pm (We need to be back at check in for 8.30 ) you will need money for food and drink, Join us for a meal in the Harbour View Hotel allow around 25 euro’s per head, or bring a picnic to eat on the beach at Rosslare...
Join us on the bridge wings of the Stena Europe as we cross over to Ireland and spot Dolphins Porpoises and sometimes Whales! Also fantastic Sea Birds. Species seen in the past include: Risso’s, Common and Bottlenose Dolphin, Harbour Porpoise and Minke Whale! Sea Birds include; Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwater, Puffins, Terns etc.
Probably the best chance to see Risso’s in British waters!
Please be aware!
The Dolphin-othon and boat trips tend to sell out quickly especially the weekend dates.
All marine events are subject to cancellation and refund in the case of unsuitable weather or unforeseen mechanical problems
We expect everyone to act in a sensible, safe and reasonable manner, and enjoy themselves
The Harbour View Hotel is a 15 minute walk from the ferry and uphill, you need to be reasonably fit.
We can’t guarantee you will see dolphins on any of our trips, they are wild creatures, but we do have a 90% success rate.
To book or for enquiries, Contact; info@seatrust.org.uk