It is proud to support and be involved in the vital work of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales to protect and enhance the area’s wildlife and environment.

Bluestone is a five star luxury short break destination set within 500 acres of spectacular countryside with a commitment to being a responsible guardian of this important part of Pembrokeshire.

Within the Bluestone design and operating plan are many measures derived from principles of sustainability, or aimed at caring for and enhancing the natural environment.

Part of this work involves working with partners such as the Wildlife Trust. This year Bluestone is planting a Diamond Wood to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. One of only 60 such woodlands to be planted in the UK, it will bring together two parts of the historic Canaston Woods, enhancing an already important habitat for wildlife.

Visit our environmental page for more information.

Our website is www.celsauk.com

With offices in Cardiff and Caernarfon, Cambrensis has worked at the hub of the Welsh media industry for two decades.

Today, it’s one of the few bilingual communications companies in Wales, and services include: strategic public relations and marketing advice, event management (launches, trade stands and conferences), media training and corporate productions, as well as radio and television programmes.

At Barry we manufacture silicon-based products and intermediates for use by customers around the world. We acquired 20 acres of wetland (Cadoxton ponds) close to the site and with conjunction with The Wildlife Trust to carefully restored and preserved the area, it is now used for education, conservation and leisure pursuits. We have a very active partnership with The Wildlife Trust they now manage the site and share an education officer

We have more information about the work we do with the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales on our website.

Westfield Pill New Access by N Walton

This work was funded by Pembrokeshire County Council who have worked closely with the Wildlife Trust on all aspects of the project, mitigating for any disturbance that may have been created. As much as the newly laid track looks a little harsh at present, it will soon dull down and fit more comfortably into its surroundings.

Fine scalpings have been laid down on top of the bitumen so as to be more pleasing to the eye and limestone has been spread along parts of the cycle track and elsewhere to encourage species such as grass vetchling and the small blue butterflyto recolonise the site.

Grass vetchling, ''Lathyrus nissolia''. Photo by sannse

Landscaping has also been implemented to better protect Wales’ largest colony of the bastard balm plant and an area of valuable bird nesting habitat has been fenced and gated so as to prevent disturbance from the public.

A meadow has also been created on the old refuse tip which will be managed to encourage wild flowers to grow and provide suitable habitat for a variety of invertebrates. Japanese knotweed has been, and continues to be treated, preventing its spread onto the reserve.

The revamped pathways have allowed visitors, who are less physically able, better access to this special site and encouraged walkers and cyclists to venture further out of Neyland.

We have had a good response from locals although we must still stress the need for dog walkers to keep their pets on a lead or under strict control at all times in order that wildlife is not scared off. As much as the Wildlife Trust actively encourages people into the countryside to gain a better insight into the wildlife that can be found on their doorsteps, the issue of dog fouling is getting worse. Westfield Pill is one of many urban reserves that suffers from this, with most of the dog waste ending up in bags hanging from bushes along the path.

Westfield Pill New Access by N Walton

Nathan Walton who manages the reserves says “I shall not go on as I can get quite heated on this subject however I would rather people just flick the mess to the side of the path and into the bushes as opposed to going through the effort of putting it in a bag only to then fling it into the vegetation. None-the-less, we of course welcome responsible dog owners to all our reserves, of which the majority are.”

Plastic left lying around the countryside is not only unsightly but can cause serious harm to wildlife. We recently had an example of a peregrine falcon who had ingested a plastic bag and as a consequence had died.

This nationally important lowland raised bog is one of a handful of good examples of this habitat type remaining in Wales. Along its margins, scrub was starting to invade, particularly birch, which contributes to the drying out and degradation of the habitat. These trees therefore need clearing and treating to prevent regrowth.

Cors Goch

We always try to undertake works of this nature during the winter season, to be certain that in removing these trees- even in the case of quite small shrubs- that we are not causing any disturbance to breeding birds. However as you might imagine, working on a bog in the middle of winter- especially one as mild as we’ve had this year- presents its own set of challenges! With tussocks of purple moor grass and ankle-sinking wet pockets between them, even walking across a winter bog takes a lot of energy.

The work at Cors Goch has been made possible by two funding streams. Work at the western end of the reserve has been funded by the Environment Agency, and in the central bog a large area is being cleared and the trees removed under a contract funded by the Welsh Government’s Ecosystem Resilience, Diversity & Compliance (ERDC) Fund.

Oblong Leaved Sundew One of the Features of Cors Goch

It has been brilliant to be able to access this funding and therefore to be able to bring in specialist contractors, who have the equipment to remove the felled trees and chip the brash. Much of the scrub control previously done on the western part of the bog has relied on the ever-energetic Carmarthenshire volunteer team, but pulling trees along the bog to take them off the protected habitat is an exhausting way to spend the day. The volunteer team has instead been able to turn its attention to management of the (slightly drier) rhos pastures!

Now the bog margins are looking really good, and we will continue to work towards restoring improved habitat quality on the reserve, and protecting the many special features for which it is managed.

Putting in Dormouse Fencing

As reported in previous editions of this e-newsletter, the population of dormice had been subject to a recent four-month field study by our PTES-funded intern, Richard Pond. Richard looked at the quality and connectivity of the habitat all around our reserve, and searched for signs of dormice themselves, to establish how they are using the landscape around our own, relatively restricted, landholding. The study also identified opportunities to improve that landscape, trying to find ways of connecting and improving isolated areas of habitat and therefore improving the potential to secure their long-term future.

One of the opportunities he identified was to improve a particular hedgerow about two fields away from the dormouse copse on our own land. The hedgerow at the time of the survey was effectively a line of semi-mature oak trees, with little shrubbery and poor connectivity for dormice, on account of the fact that the field in which it lies is quite heavily grazed by some very curious and friendly horses and ponies!

The owners of the fields have very kindly given WTSWW permission to fence off the hedgeline, to keep out the grazing, allowing us to restore a more traditional hedgerow structure. We were also very fortunate with an application for funding through the county LBAP partnership, to receive money from the Carmarthenshire Environment Partnership, which is now funding us to undertake the necessary management.

Dormouse

So, on a damp and muddy day earlier this month, the team set about creating this fence to protect the hedge. We will be returning in a week or two, to plant up all the gaps with young whips of hazel and other species that will be of value- both in terms of habitat and as a connectivity route- for our local dormice. It has been a great opportunity to reach our direct land management beyond the boundaries of our own nature reserve, and to work with some really great local landowners. So, watch this space- and perhaps in 10 years when the shrubs have grown we will be reporting dormice from this hedgerow!

Following a successful survey, they posted some lovely images on the Manx Wildlife Trust’s facebook page. Having looked briefly at the photographs posted Sarah Perry, CBMWC’s science officer thought that she recognised at least one of the dolphins. Sure enough, having had checked CBMWC’s photo-ID catalogue, Sarah was able to identify a dolphin known as 056 which has been photographed regularly by our researchers since 2005 and was captured in the image below by Phil Hughes whilst on an all day survey with CBMWC on 1^st July 2011.

Dolphin 056 fin by Phil Hughes of Friends of Cardigan Bay

Sarah has continued with this matching process and has now identified three dolphins in total, including a mother who was seen with her newborn calf last September. It’s very exciting to have information and evidence of where some of the Cardigan Bay dolphins are during the winter months and it shows how important it is to share information gathered about the wildlife found in our seas as we still have so much more to learn. We are now also working with Cornwall Wildlife Trust to see if any of the dolphin images they have match any individuals in our catalogue.

Many thanks to Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch and Manx Wildlife Trust for posting some of their photographs.

If you would like further information about CBMWC’s 2012 all day surveys, please contact us on 01545 560 032 or email info@cbmwc.org

Alun Cairns, Conservative  MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, has been invited to attend the unveiling ceremony of the reserve’s new interpretation board - to be performed by Murray McClaggan of Merthyr Mawr Estate – a former chairman of the old Mid Area section of the one-time Glamorgan Trust for Nature Conservation.

With the aid of a £5,000 Lottery Awards For All grant, Trust volunteers  have tapped into their own skills to build the interpretation board cairn from local lime-stone. And the board itself, along with the reserve’s  first-ever colour brochure, was partly produced by members’ photographic  and literary talents.

First Daffodil at Coed Y Bwl 20th Feb 2012

The reserve – leased by the Estate  to the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales – has been in the safe hands of the same volunteering group for many years. Richard Marks, the warden, and Roy Williams started the group in 1972 – and brought in  many helpers over four decades. Also in the team now are Peter Hatherley, secretary of the Bridgend Group, Richard Smith of Butterfly Conservation,  John Sherwood, Tino Antoniazzi, Mike and Rudi Bright.

The volunteers’ good house-keeping earned the wood a Prince of Wales Gwobr\Award in 1975 as part of a nation-wide scheme to improve the countryside.

Native Daffodil L Maiden

Last year the wood and its volunteers were highly commended in the Vale of Glamorgan Biodiversity Partnership’s  Awards for Wildlife.

The prime conservation target has been to save Coed-y-Bwl’s locally-rare wild daffodil population in the wake of Dutch elm disease which ravaged the wood over thirty years ago.

Today, the wood is thriving again after the loss of many trees. But management tasks such as coppicing, boundary wall repairs, footpath restoration and clearance of wind-blown trees and branches, still occupy the group’s regular Sunday morning  work parties.

OPEN-DAY TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS:  Due to restricted car parking,visitors are invited to join a Land Rover shuttle – starting at 1.30 pm – from the Fox and Hounds car park at St. Brides Major The event has been timed to coincide with the daffodils’ peak flowering – and maybe the arrival in the wood of the first of our summer visiting warblers – the chiffchaff.

Article by Richard Marks

Wood mouse c Margaret_Holland

So far, I have seen a high number of wood mice and bank voles in my chosen trapping area, along one of Parc Slip’s many nature trail paths, which is far more than could be expected at this time of the year and so is fantastic at raising my sample size.

My dissertation’s data collection would not have been possible without the permission and help of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. They have supported me throughout my dissertation by providing information related to my topic, helping to collect data and also by providing a base for my colleague and I to rest in during trapping sessions.