Miranda Krestovnikoff

The Unknown Wales Conference is about presenting the best and the unusual wildlife within Wales’ countryside and urban areas.

The conference is happening on the 19th May and again is being held in partnership with the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Please come along to this fascinating event, from slugs to shearwaters we love them all.

We still have a few spaces left, to book your place call 02920 573148

We’ve been to Coed Maidie B Goddard for a few days to do some footpath work. We used the timber cut in the winter while we were thinning to create some more causeway footpath and steps within the woodland where the path gets very muddy.

Heather in Flower at Coed Simdde Lwyd by Em Foot

At Coed Simdde Lwyd and Caeau Llety Cybi we’ve been repairing the fencing to keep livestock in and/or out! Lots of removing staples and then hammering new ones in. At Caeau Llety Cybi we’ve also put in a couple of stiles and steps to allow access to the green lane running through the middle of the site and create more of a circular walk.

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped this month. If you would like to volunteer with us in Ceredigion there are work parties twice a week out on the reserves, year round, contact Em on 07980932332 or e.foot@welshwildlife.org or to find out more about Ceredigion reserves visit: http://www.welshwildlife.org/locations/ceredigion/

Jewel Anemones Paul Naylor

The consultation considers 10 potential sites, on the basis that only 3-4 will eventually be designated.   Welsh Government have decided that these new sites will be highly protected, and are intended to supplement our existing protected sites.  The full consultation is available here.

Achieving a well-managed network of Marine Protected Areas in Wales will be critical if we are to achieve our vision of Living Seas.  However, we need your help to show the level of support for Marine Protected Areas in Wales, and you can do so in two ways:

·         Sign our Petition Fish campaign online or in person at one of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales reserves.

·         Look out for details in the next e-news of how to respond to the MCZ consultation to show your support.

This was in unintended competition to local ramblers, Scouts and other enthusiasts who had also planned a walk from the same starting point heralded by local dignitaries and two AMs.

Bracelet Bay by George Hopkins and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

But the Trust members were focused on the special flora and fauna wildlife of the Welsh coastline, and they were not disappointed. As the walkers made their way to Pwll Du Bay, Whitethroats and Stonechats sounded their presence from the cliffs and a lone seal relaxed in the calm waters off-shore.

Even in this small section many of the spring flowers that characterise so much of the Welsh coastline were evident in abundance, including Early-purple Orchids, Spring Squill and the native Bluebell.

Later in the year this can be a good site for Grayling butterflies, but Wall Browns and Speckled Woods were on duty this day to mark the special occasion. Of course, it could have been just the fine weather that had coaxed out, but Trust members were left to wonder what more might lie ahead on Wales’ magnificent coastline.

Peter Hatherley – Bridgend Local Group

At Port Eynon Point this has become a persistent problem as the Cotoneaster is spreading and tends to blanket and shade out all other species within its range. There are many important and rare mosses at this site that we are specifically concerned about along with the biodiversity of the rich flora you would associate with a limestone escarpment.

Cotoneaster Flowers c Sten Porse Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 Unported

However cotoneaster does have wildlife value. Cotoneaster is used as larval food plant by several of the moth species including grey dagger, mottled umber, short-cloaked moth, winter moth and hawthorn moth (Scythropia crataegella).

It is a nectar plant for brimstome and red admiral butterflies. It is a valuable source of nectar when often the bees have little other forage in the June gap. The flowers are also good for many other insects and insect- feeding birds. And in the autumn when the plant is full of red berries they are a highly desirable food source for blackbirds, blackcaps, fieldfares, redwings and waxwings

It is a delicate balancing act for managers of wildlife reserves when writing up their management plans. Everything you do has an impact on the site and the species that use it.  The management plan for Port Eynon Point is for the removal of the cotoneaster as it threatens the site and if left unchecked could create a long lasting problem that has severely damaging ecological implications. In the right place cotoneaster’s wildlife benefits are obvious, but in the wrong place it causes conservationists headaches.

The children enthusiastically took part in a wildlife quiz along the old towpath route on the eastern border of the reserve, which sits in an attractive tunnel of green formed by the old willow limbs meshing together overhead. They searched for clues and hidden pictures of wildlife amongst the trees and learned about where the species live and why.

Pembrey Primary School visit Ffrwd L Wilberforce

With Lizzie’s help, the dormouse boxes were also checked for inhabitants, although no dormice were found on this occasion! Nonetheless many of the boxes were being used by breeding great tits, so they were still providing an important resource, and the children enjoyed the suspense of finding out which boxes were occupied.

The works at Ffrwd Farm Mire are part of the ‘Branching Out’ project run by the woodland charity, Tir Coed.  Branching Out delivers hands-on workshops in traditional green woodwork construction techniques, as well as sustainable methods of woodland and countryside management, to disengaged young people.

In addition to creating beautiful wooden structures that can be enjoyed by the local community, the young people can achieve Agored Cymru (OCN) accreditation, with support from the WCVA GwirVol programme and the Tudor Trust.  For the past 2 years, Branching Out has worked on a number of WTSWW reserves and helped to develop the personal, social and vocational skills of groups of young people in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, while also improving recreational opportunities for the local community.

The schoolchildren from Pembrey certainly enjoyed their introduction to the reserve and the new facilities installed by Branching Out; hopefully they will now also return to the nature reserve in their own time and make the most of this jewel on their doorstep.

Branching Out is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government and is a component element of the Countryside Council for Wales’ Communities and Nature project.  This project works to improve visitor facilities at natural sites in Wales, with the aim of increasing visitor numbers, and providing benefits to local economies

Only 3km north of Cardiff, Coed Y Bedw is an ancient broadleaved woodland of over 16 hectares, spread across both acidic and calcareous soils.

Pied Flycatcher R Parry

The wood consists of a variety of tree types ranging from dry beech woodland in the north and west to wet alder carr along the valley bottom where the acidic Nant Cwmllwydrew winds its picturesque way through the trees. Beneath the canopy, there is a wide range of shrubs and flowers, many of which are ancient woodland indicators such as spindle, ramsons (or wild garlic) and bluebells.

This diversity of habitats supports a wide variety of invertebrates (including the uncommon giant lacewing) and woodland birds. Year round resident birds such as treecreepers, nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers and tawny owls are joined in the summer by visiting migrants including willow warblers, blackcaps, redstarts and pied flycatchers. The latter species in particular is something of a Welsh speciality; preferring the open oak woodlands more frequently found on hillsides in the west of the UK.

pied flycatcher at nest box by L Maiden

Many of these bird species nest in holes in trees, but unfortunately not all of them can dig their own holes as woodpeckers can and with standing deadwood being at a premium, one of the most effective ways of improving a woodland for these species is to install artificial nest boxes. This is particularly important for pied flycatchers as they often struggle to find unoccupied nesting sites as by the time they return to the UK from their wintering grounds in West Africa species such as blue or great tits have already taken up residence.

The grant, among other things, will help provide a range of nest boxes, including many long-lasting woodcrete boxes suitable for the pied flycatchers. There will also be some specialist treecreeper nest boxes and rather more substantial tawny owl boxes.

It has been a few years since pied flycatchers have been confirmed as breeding in the reserve so hopefully they will find these new boxes suitable!

Pied Flycatcher by L Maiden

In addition to birds, bat boxes will also be installed to provide extra roosting potential for common and soprano pipistrelles known to be present at Coed Y Bedw. All these boxes will then be monitored every year in partnership with the local community in order to produce a long-term picture of how various bird species are faring in the reserve.

Due to the support from Environment Wales and Biffaward, WTSWW will be able to improve the woodland habitat itself by selectively thinning and coppicing some areas to increase the habitat diversity and create habitat piles for amphibians and invertebrates. Ponds within the reserve will also be managed more effectively and access to the reserve will be improved for the benefit of the local community by repairing bridges and footpaths.

Vaughn Matthews

Conservation Officer
Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales
The Nature Centre
Fountain Road
Tondu
Bridgend
CF32 0EH

Wales Coast Path launch Aberystwyth L Wilberforce

The day got off to an auspicious start with bright sunshine, some of the first we’ve seen for a while. WTSWW and Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre both had stands in the marquee and we were busy all day, as local residents and tourists streamed in to celebrate the launch of this fantastic path, which gives the public access to some amazing scenery and wildlife, as well as many Wildlife Trust reserves which lie along the route.

We were able to hand out lots of information about our coastal reserves as well as encouraging people to sign a scale for our Petition Fish- the Wildlife Trusts’ campaign for greater protection of our marine wildlife. Around 400 people signed a scale at the Wales Coast Path launch alone, which is a great boost to our campaign in Wales, so thank you to everyone who signed! If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to sign up, you can still do so on the Wildlife Trusts’ Petition Fish website.

Wildlife Trusts Wales has also worked with the other Trusts in Wales to produce a really usefulleaflet that acts as a guide to the 32 nature reserves which lie on or immediately adjacent to the coast path which you can download here or pick one up from your local Wildlife Trust office or visitor centre.

To look at the evidence in context, we have to go back to the first principles of the problem of bovine TB, which exists in both the cattle and badger populations (and in many other species).

Badger by Jon Bowen

If we want to reduce levels of bovine TB in the long term, or even eradicate it, we have to reduce the percentage of animals in each population that carry the disease- in other words, reduce the disease prevalence. Although other species are susceptible to bTB, the focus is on cattle and badgers because it is within and between these species that the risk of transmission is highest, thus perpetuating the problem.

To reduce the percentage of badgers with bTB, vaccination is undoubtedly the best way forward. Culling reduces the number of badgers- it does not, and cannot, reduce the prevalence of disease within the population. This is because with cattle you can cull only animals that have tested positive for the disease, but in badgers the culling has to be universal, because they are wild animals and any other approach is either unfeasible or risks perturbation, and hence the spread of the disease.

In fact, evidence from the ten year, £50m Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) showed that badger culling increases (in fact, approximately doubled) the prevalence of bTB in the few remaining badgers, probably due to perturbation and interaction between the surviving badgers. So there is a higher rate of infection in the remaining badgers, which will form the basis of the recovering population- taking you back to square one- or much worse.

Vaccination in the most general sense is a tried and tested technique of disease control in both human and animal populations. In addition, the vaccine that will be used- BCG- is the same one that is used on humans to vaccinate against TB. It has been tested on badgers and has been shown to reduce symptoms. What has not yet been proven is how this will translate into improvements in TB levels in cattle- but unlike culling, we know it can’t make anything worse, because it does not cause perturbation and the movement of badgers.

Specifically compared to culling, vaccination has many advantages resulting from the fact that it cannot make bTB worse. For culling to stand any chance of reducing bTB, it has to meet strict criteria on geographical extent, hard boundaries badgers cannot cross, high percentage of land accessed and of animals trapped- failure to meet any of these could cause an increase in bTB. With vaccination, none of these are risks- every badger vaccinated is a step in the right direction, but there are no critical thresholds.

One common case made against vaccination is that it ‘can’t cure sick animals’. Everyone knows vaccination is preventative not curative, so the point of fact is valid. But over time, vaccination reduces the prevalence of disease by protecting young animals and allowing the infected part of the population to die out. The task will undoubtedly be slower and harder where infection rates are higher, but the trend will be a reduction in prevalence, unlike with culling, where the trend is of increased infection rates.

Another common criticism of vaccination is the cost, as the BCG currently has to be injected, since there is not yet a method of oral delivery. However, trapping and vaccinating is comparable in cost to trapping and culling; in fact, even during assessments for the development of the previous culling policy, vaccination was deemed a slightly cheaper option. Vaccination costs more than shooting, but with vaccination there is no cost of carcass disposal or testing. Therefore differences in cost should be modest, and in time, a much cheaper oral bait method of administering the vaccine will be available.

There has also been a lot of publicity recently surrounding the possibility that some landowners may choose to act illegally and control badgers on their own land in response to a bTB breakdown, including coverage of illegal killing of badgers on a recent edition of Y Byd Ar Bedwar. Some believe that such action, if legal, would resolve the bTB problem by taking out ‘sick setts’. However the RBCT demonstrated such compelling evidence that the localised culling of badgers increased the bTB problem that they closed down that trial early, because of the negative impacts it was having. It is imperative that this message is spread as widely as possible if we are to reduce bTB rates.

What is clear is that if collectively we are serious about the aim of eradicating bTB, we must reduce the prevalence of the disease in all species that carry it. That means taking action to reduce the disease in both cattle and badgers. At the moment, the only mechanism for reducing the percentage of badgers catching the disease is vaccination, and that is why the Wildlife Trusts believe that this is the best outcome- not only for our wildlife, but for cattle and for those that own them.