New funding stream comes online for Poor Mans Wood
Poor Mans Wood, near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire has become the first WTSWW nature reserve to have its application to the Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) grant scheme signed off by the funders, Forestry Commission Wales.
Many of the Trust’s woodlands have been entered for the BWW grant, but Poor Mans Wood has now been approved, which will facilitate significant management over the next five years to improve the biodiversity value of the woodland and assist with the maintenance of public access.
Works in the woodland have already begun with Trust staff clearing a new glade and removing selected beech seed trees to preserve the characteristic structure of this sessile oak woodland.
Poor Mans Wood, or Gallt y Tlodion, a 41 acre woodland that lies one mile north east of Llandovery, has a notable history. It was donated to the town by Vicar Pritchard in the sixteenth century so that the townsfolk could “on foot only, enter on the property demised, for the purpose of taking dead wood for fuel, being such amount that they can carry on their backs”. The Wildlife Trust has leased the woodland from Llandovery Town Council since 1983.
The open oak woodland as a varied ground flora, with much bilberry and heather in the upper slopes, but with many spring flowers in the lower areas that will make the site well worth visiting in the coming months- including bluebell, lesser celandine, wood sorrel and wood anemone.
Future work planned under and funded by the BWW grant will include footpath maintenance, new nest boxes, woodland management including thinning and further glade creation, and the production of a leaflet to help visitors navigate and understand the reserve they are visiting.
For more information about Poor Mans Wood, go here
Records for grey squirrels sought from the Tywi Forest area
Readers of our magazines and e-newsletters will be used to hearing appeals for records of red squirrels from the Tywi Forest, through our involvement with the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Partnership (MWRSP). Well, for a change, we are appealing for records from the conifer forests… of grey squirrels!
The red squirrel population in mid Wales is being helped out by an important project being carried out by Forestry Commission Wales. Building on the work undertaken in recent years out by the MWRSP which has been investigating the status of this rare and elusive animal, Forestry Commission Wales are carrying out research that will help them to see how best to conserve the red squirrel population that exists there.
Part of the work over the remaining weeks of 2009 is to find out how far grey squirrels have moved into all conifer forests both public and privately owned that make up the Tywi forest complex in mid Wales. Red squirrels have retreated to the conifer forests because here they have a slight advantage over the grey squirrels, which out compete them in deciduous woodland, once widely used by reds in Wales.
Normally sightings of grey squirrels go unrecorded but to see how the greys may be affecting the distribution of the reds in Tywi forest it is important that we start recording the presence of grey squirrels from now until the end of 2009.
If you have seen a grey squirrel within this specific area of the Tywi forest complex, then please let us know by going to the MWRSP website at www.wwbic.org.uk/redsquirrelproject. Here you will see a map of the area where we would like to have records of greys and the information we require - a six-figure grid reference (you can get help with grid references from the OS website http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm) of where the grey squirrel was seen, the number of grey squirrels seen and what they were doing.
You can also find out about more about red squirrels in mid Wales and the work that the MWRSP has been undertaking. Thank you!
Tidy Towns funding makes footpath improvements possible at Castle Woods Nature Reserve, Llandeilo
With assistance from a large number of enthusiastic volunteers, work as been progressing all summer and autumn to make some significant improvements to footpath surfaces in Castle Woods nature reserve, in the Dinefwr Estate, Llandeilo.
This latest project on visitor access improvements has been supported by Tidy Towns, a Welsh Assembly Government funded initiative, delivered in partnership by Carmarthenshire County Council and Keep Wales Tidy.
Funds given to the Wildlife Trust have enabled many hundreds of metres of footpaths through the woods to be levelled, widened and resurfaced with an all-weather quarry scalping surface. In addition the main track down to Llandyfeisant Church has been scraped to remove many years accumulation of leaf litter and mud, making access for local dog walkers and people with buggies much easier.
Volunteers from all across Carmarthenshire, including groups from Trinity College in Carmarthen, have got stuck in with over 60 volunteer days committed to the project so far. Thanks are also due to the National Trust, whose staff have been very supportive in helping us move many tonnes of stone around the estate, and to the Wildlife Trust reserves teams from Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, who have both visited twice as part of the Trust’s rolling scheme of joint workparties across the western counties.
Between now and the end of the year, the project will also be funding some interpretation panels, which will help visitors learn more about the reserve and it’s very special history and wildlife.
Castle Woods has always been a very high profile site by virtue of its location within the historic Dinefwr Estate. We hope that these improvements to access will help even more people enjoy this flagship reserve- whatever the weather!
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Eminent Polish Conservationist to visit Carmarthenshire
The Annual Lecture of the East Carmarthenshire Group at The Civic Centre, Llandeilo provides an opportunity to hear renowned Polish Conservationist Marek Borkowski talk about the outstanding wildlife and habitats of his native North-east Poland.
Marek lives in the extensive Biebrza Marshes a wetland which is home to hundreds of nesting Cranes and White Storks as well as most of the World population of Aquatic Warblers. White-winged Terns, Little Crakes, Corncrakes, Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff and Great Snipe all abound in this exciting place. This marshland also provides a home to Elk and Wolf and is home to may interesting plants including orchids..
Just an hour or so away lays the primeval forest of Bialowieza bordering Belorussia. This enormous area is home to many species of woodpecker including all found in Europe. All European flycatchers, Golden Orioles, hordes of Hawfinches, Pygmy and Tengmalm’s Owls, Hazel Grouse, Black Storks and Spotted Eagles are all to be found in the dense woodlands. The forest is also home to Lynx, Wolf and European Bison. The latter were first reintroduced into the wild in this area and now thrive in this superb wilderness.
Marek Borkowski was the first person in Poland to purchase a privately owned nature reserve. He acquired a large area of marshland which is home to Great Snipe and species which depends on large traditional areas to lek as part of its breeding cycle. Marek continues to manage this area and much more using his near wild konik horse to graze the pristine grassland.
The lecture starts at 7.30pm on Wednesday November 18th and the entrance is £2.50.
Why not come along and learn more about this amazing part of Eastern Europe.
Tidy Towns funds improve access at Castle Woods nature reserve
A significant grant from Tidy Towns is supporting staff and volunteers to improve the quality of access at the flagship reserve of Castle Woods in the Dinefwr Estate, Llandeilo.
The funding is making improvements to the paths that make access to the woodlands possible. In the eastern woodland blocks, paths are being resurfaced with timber and local quarry scalpings. This is making the paths easier to walk all year, but also makes the route more visible and therefore easier to follow. This will contribute to reducing damage to the woodland habitat, where previously visitors have tended to wander off the designated route and into the woodlands.
The funding has also paid for contractor time to clear many years of accumulated leaf litter and mud from the main trackway that leads from the estate down to the Ffairfach end of Llandeilo and the Tywi bridge, past Llandyfeisant church. This will make walking easier for local visitors from Llandeilo town and people with buggies and wheelchairs, now providing a solid surface where in places this route had previously been ankle-deep in mud.
Volunteers have been key in undertaking the path improvement works and will continue to be an essential part of the project until its completion at Christmas time. Additional works planned include new information panels to help visitors identify some of the wildlife they see during their visits and learn about the history of the woodland.
The next workdays planned to continue working on the footpath resurfacing are November 13th and November 25th. Anyone interested in helping out should contact Lizzie Wilberforce on l.wilberforce@welshwildlife.org
Marsh Fritillary population steady in Carmarthenshire
Volunteers met on a Friday in mid September to undertake the annual larval web count on the Trust reserve Rhos Cefn Bryn, near Llannon, in Carmarthenshire. The survey involves looking for larval (caterpillar) webs- at this time of year, the marsh fritillary caterpillars are gathered in groups on the leaves of their foodplant, Devil’s Bit Scabious, under a silky web. This makes them relatively easy to spot, and therefore to count, as part of the Trust’s annual monitoring programme.
The survey of the larval webs is an annual event on all the Trust reserves where marsh fritillaries are present. The survey involves a systematic sweep of all suitable habitat, in an attempt to gain a total count of all the webs on the site- everyone working their way slowly across the reserve in lines, heads bowed, eyes peeled. The surveys are also used to record other wildlife on the site- very rarely do we get so many people spending all day staring at the ground! Everything from reptiles, to small mammals and other invertebrates are spotted and recorded en route.
This year on Rhos Cefn Bryn a total of seven larval webs were recorded- down on 2008’s count of 15, but still the second highest count since 2002 and within the limits of reasonable variation. This is good news, given that both 2007 and 2008 were recognised to be bad years for butterflies in general, with poor summer weather conditions. Adult marsh fritillaries are flying between mid May and mid July, and fortunately early summer 2009 was fairly warm and dry, conditions the butterflies need to fly and lay their eggs. Four adults were spotted on a warm day in mid June by the Trust’s Senior Conservation Officer, Nigel Ajax Lewis.
Anyone wishing to visit Rhos Cefn Bryn can find details of the reserve here or a more detailed leaflet is available from Lizzie Wilberforce on l.wilberforce@welshwildlife.org
Funding secures conservation of rare ant colony in Carmarthenshire
Cors Goch Llanllwchis a nationally important lowland raised bog, which lies a few km south west of Carmarthen, one of only six good examples of its kind remaining in Wales. The Wildlife Trust owns 19 hectares of the site to the south side of the railway, the first part being bought by the Trust in 1980. The bog is a characteristic domed shape, a feature created by accumulated peat, and is covered in a mixed vegetation that includes Heather, Purple Moor-grass, Cotton Grass and Deer Grass, with occasional pools which are filled with Sphagnum mosses.
As well as being important for its vegetation communities and rare plants, Cors Goch is also home to a number of rare invertebrates, including the Small Red Damselfly and the Black Bog Ant, the latter being a priority species known from only two other sites in Wales. It was discovered on Cors Goch in 1991, and observations over the years of Trust ownership have recorded up to 300 colonies of this spectacular ant on the reserve.
Its isolated location makes the management of Cors Goch a challenge, but HLF funding in recent years allowed the completion of a large length of fenceline which will hopefully allow future grazing of the western side of the bog, where Purple Moor-grass is becoming increasingly dominant. Now, extra funding received from the Countryside Council for Wales is enabling the construction of extra fencing which will allow us to graze the areas inhabited by the black bog ants more carefully. The work will fence the ants into a miniature compartment of their own, which will be gated, and which will permit the grazing cattle to be admitted or excluded to the area and give the control that allows careful management of the habitats according to the rare ant’s needs.
Anyone wishing to visit Cors Goch should contact Lizzie Wilberforce on l.wilberforce@welshwildlife.org, reserve leaflets are also available on request
Volunteers declare war on alien plants in Carmarthenshire!
July has seen a great battle in Carmarthenshire- a war of attrition- between dedicated Wildlife Trust volunteers, and luxuriant growth of the alien, invasive plant species Himalayan Balsam in the flagship Wildlife Trust nature reserve Castle Woods in the Dinefwr Estate, Llandeilo.
Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is an attractive, but non-native species which is increasingly visible in our countryside. A relative of Busy Lizzie, it is also known by a number of other names including Jumping Jack and Policeman’s Helmet- after the exploding seed pods and flower shape respectively. In Welsh, it is known as Jac y Neidiwr. It was introduced to the UK in 1839 for its aesthetic contribution to gardens but was already recorded from the wild by 1855. Since then it has spread rapidly across the UK and is particularly common on riverbanks and in marshlands.
Unfortunately, the Tywi Valley is just one of many in Wales that has been colonised by this voracious plant, and it has reached the Trust reserve of Castle Woods, spreading rapidly through the woodland and along the edge of the floodplain. Fortunately, though, Himalayan Balsam is (for an invasive species) relatively easy to control by manual pulling and stacking of the plants before they set seed.
With this in mind, throughout July, Carmarthenshire’s hard working volunteer team has been grafting away, seeking out these plants in the woodlands, and pulling them up in an attempt to eradicate them from the reserve and bring about a reversion to our native flora. Around 28 person days have been put to the task, and in all weathers- sun, rain… and even thunder! Plants have been pulled from the woodland, fished out of ditches, and even sought out from nooks and crannies of trees where they had managed to set seed.
We would like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has contributed to this mammoth task this year- and if you see Balsam on any of our reserves, please do let us know- even better, pull a bit up as you pass!
Ffrwd Farm Mire visited by expert naturalists
A number of expert naturalists have visited the Carmarthenshire reserve Ffrwd Farm Mire in recent months, adding valuable information to the reserve records and making useful recommendations for the management of the site. The 19 hectare reserve, near Pembrey in south Carmarthenshire, is part of the Gwernydd Penbre SSSI and includes large areas of reedbed and marshy grassland, with some wet woodland and scrub.
CCW’s Lowland Peatland Survey team visited in late June to map the vegetation communities across the reserve. The map of NVC (National Vegetation Classification) plant communities will be a big help in making detailed decisions about the management- which areas get mowed, which areas get grazed, and which sections need special treatment for the unusual plants that occur there. A few rare plants were also located, including Oenanthe aquatica (Fine-leaved water dropwort), confirmed on the site for the first time after one single record from 1988.
The site was also visited by CCW staff mapping the use of the site by Cettia cetti (Cetti’s warbler). Cetti’s warbler is one of the special features for which the land was designated a SSSI. Rarely seen but with a powerful song, the Cetti’s warbler breeds in the scrubby margins of reedbeds and overgrown ditches. Because Ffrwd Farm Mire is important for its reedbed and marshy grassland, scrub invasion needs to be monitored and controlled to prevent excessive spread- and yet the scrub is also vital for some of the rare species like the Cetti’s warbler. The maps of breeding warblers on the site will help us to know which areas of scrub are the most important to retain, and balance this with the need to control it elsewhere.