Reserves in Glamorgan
1. Coed Garnllwyd
Ancient broadleaved woodland with some scrub and a meadow. Coed Garnllwyd forms part of a woodland complex which occupies the southern and eastern sides of the small Nant Whitton and Nant Llancarfan valleys.
2. Coed Llwyn Rhyddid
A mixed secondary woodland supporting a large heronry. Coed Llwyn Rhyddid is a mixed woodland partly planted sometime in the last hundred and fifty years. Herons have been recorded in the Hensol area since at least 1872.
3. Coed y Bedw
Ancient broadleaved woodland, which is located across the boundary between acidic and calcareous soils. The site has been modified by past mining activity, and evidence of this is still present, and responsible for much of the uneven topography.
4. Coed y Bwl
Coed y Bwl is an ancient ash woodland situated on the northwest side of the Alun Valley. The reserve is best known as a Wild Daffodil wood, with these flowers dominating the field layer on the southern part of the wood in early spring together with Wood Anemone, whilst on the northern slopes Bluebell predominate.
5. Cwm Colhuw
Coastal calcareous grassland, ash woodland and scrub. The reserve is situated on the southern slope of the Afon Colhuw. The reserve contains part of the boundary bank and ditches of an Iron Age Promontory Fort.
6. Lavernock Point
Lavernock is made up of a number of habitats, principally coastal Jurassic limestone grassland and scrub. The Oak Copse north of Fort Road is home to the elusive Purple Hairstreak butterfly. The Old Hayfield south of Fort Road was last cut for hay in 1984 and has been recolonised by meadow species. The North and South Meadows are separated by a belt of scrub containing a World War II Battery, now a listed Ancient Monument.
7. Parc Slip
A restored opencast site consisting of grassland, woodland, wetlands, including a lake with bird hides. These grassland areas provide feeding and roosting habitat for Snipe in winter, and nesting sites for Lapwing, Meadow Pipit, and Skylark in summer.
8. Pwll Waun Cynon
The site has a selection of habitats including a large pond, marsh, flood meadow, acidic Oak and Ash woodland and scrub. The reserve is situated in an area that was previously known as one of the most polluted parts of the UK in the days of the adjacent Phurnacite plant.
9. Taf Fechan
Ancient broadleaved woodlands, calcareous grasslands, river, and cliffs. The Taf Fechen LNR comprises of about 2.5 km of river with steep valley sides of Carboniferous limestone. The river has eroded the limestone into a narrow gorge in the centre of the site.
10. Y Gweira
Marshy grassland and lowland wet heathland. Royal fern has been found in two areas associated with the ditches on the site.
11. Baglan Reserve
12. Blaenant Y Gwyddyl
Blaenant y Gwyddyl is an area of ancient semi-natural broadleaved woodland on thin Coal Measures' soils, on the north side of the steeply sloping valley of the Nant Gwyddyl. There are several non-woodland habitats including the rocky Blaenant y Gwyddyl river bed fed by streams flowing down the valley side, several large glades, and bare rock exposures near the two attractivewaterfalls.
13. Berry Wood
Ancient mixed deciduous woodland. The oldest and largest trees, principally oak, are to be found on the western side of the reserve today, and the remainder is made up of even-aged stands of multi-stemmed Oak, Birch, and Ash.
14. Betty Church & Cwm Ivy
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Ancient broadleaved woodland, plantation, calcareous pasture and quarry. Cwm Ivy Woods and Betty Church reserve is situated on the western extremity of the north Gower limestone escarpment. The reserve is in two parts; a section of woodland and pasture, separated by a private woodland and house, from a small limestone quarry. The two sections of the reserve are linked by the public footpath.
15. Bolgoed Quarry
Bolgoed is an old sandstone quarry, last worked in 1955. The habitat consists of open-canopied mixed secondary deciduous woodland of Ash and Birch with a ground layer dominated by Ivy and Bramble. The remainder is dominated by dense gorse scrub.
16. Broad Pool
Broad Pool is a large body of freshwater lying in a shallow basin on the limestone plateau beneath Cefn Bryn. It is one of the most conspicuous and best known features of central Gower. The Pool is known to have been in existence in 1645.
17. Coed Gawdir
An acidic pond, within an ancient woodland site under restoration. The site is centred on a pond, which occupies about one third of the reserve area. It is fed by a stream, which enters the pool on the eastern side, and has an outflow in the western bank. The aquatic vegetation is dominated by Flote-grass, and rush species line the margins.
18. Craig Cilhendre
Craig Cilhendre is upland oak woodland, part of which is ancient in origin, with some patches of wet woodland, situated on a steep north-facing hillside. Several broad tracks which date from earlier coal extraction, including the route of a former tramway run through the reserve. A sandstone cliff about 8 metres high, and over a kilometre long, runs through the reserve at the top of the slope, offering fine views over Alltwen.
19. Elizabeth & Rowe Harding Reserve
Carboniferous limestone quarry, plantation, scrub, and surrounding woodland. The quarry face is of national geological interest, notified as an SSSI, exposing alternate beds of crinoidal limestone with clays associated with thin seams of coal, a geological exposure unique in Wales.
20. Gelli Hir
The reserve grades from wet Oak/Birch/Willow woodland in the south and east to drier Ash, Sweet Chestnut, Sycamore and Beech, woodland in the north and west, with Alder along the Ilston brook. There is an understorey of hazel coppice with stands of Holly in places. The variety of habitat types also include open rides, streams and a pond.
21. Hambury Wood
Ancient woodland on an abandoned sea cliff. A memorial seat at the centre of the northern boundary of the wood offers fine views of Whiteford Point, the North Gower saltmarsh, and Burry Estuary.
22. Killay Marsh
This urban nature reserve has a rich diversity of habitats which include marsh/marshy grassland and a large area of wet woodland, drier broadleaved woodland, dry neutral grassland, fen and swamp, and is the remnant of a much larger area of valley mire.
23. Kilvrough Manor Woods
Kilvrough Manor Woods comprises of two areas of woodland, on either side of the A4118¸ south Gower road in the Parkmill Valley. The woods are mostly ancient semi-natural and broadleaved, made up of a canopy of Ash, Oak, Beech, and Elm, with a Beech plantation making up a large part of the southern woodland.
24. Llanrhidian Hill
Limestone grassland, scrub, and quarries. Much of the site occupies a steep north-facing slope on Carboniferous Limestone, giving fine views overlooking the Burry Estuary. This is a site to see the locally rare Marble White butterfly.
25. The Lucas Reserve
Wet woodland, grassland and scrub. The Lucas Reserve‚ takes the form of a long narrow field sloping northwards down to Burry Pill.
26. Melincwrt Falls
Ancient upland oak woodland, stream, and waterfalls. The spectacular eighty foot high waterfall on a tributary of the Neath River was sketched by Turner in l794. The woodland floor is carpeted with Bluebell, and Enchanter's Nightshade taking over later in the year.
Due to the local humid atmosphere in this narrow valley, twenty species of ferns have been recorded on the reserve and bryophytes are well represented. The breeding bird assemblage, typical of this habitat, includes Redstart, Wood Warbler, and Pied Flycatcher, with Dipper and Grey Wagtail regularly seen along the stream at all times of the year.
27. Peel Wood
Secondary broadleaved woodland within a disused limestone quarry. Peel Wood occupies the site of the former Callencroft quarry. The woodland canopy is dominated by Sycamore, with Ash and Oak as a lesser component.
28. Prior's Meadow
Secondary mixed deciduous and wet woodland and lowland meadow. The woodland canopy is made up of a considerable mixture of species. The meadow also contains a great variety of grasses and sedges, and more than 100 vascular plants have been recorded.
29. Red Jacket Fen
This is a lowland fen situated in a narrow valley between Pant y sais fen and the Neath Estuary. The site is bordered by railway embankments on two sides which are in the ownership of Network Rail. The Trust’s property is a rectangular strip on the western side between the railway and the Tennant Canal.
30. Redden Hill Wood
Redden Hill was originally a planted ancient woodland, with a conifer plantation when the Trust first acquired it. The conifers have cleared and mixed deciduous woodland dominated by Ash has been allowed to naturally regenerate.
31. Redley Cliff
Coastal limestone headland, with secondary broadleaved woodland, scrub, and grassland. Redley Cliff lies on the limestone headland at the western end of Caswell Bay. The remains of Caswell Cliff Fort, a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument of national importance, are visible at the summit.
South Gower Coast Reserves
32. Deborah's Hole
Sea cliff, calcareous grassland, and heath. Deborah's Hole is named after a small inaccessible cave which during archaeological excavations in the nineteenth century yielded Stone Age tools, which are to be seen in the Royal Institution in Swansea.
33. Long Hole Cliff
Sea cliffs, limestone grassland, heath, and caves. Long Hole Cliff is named after a small cave in the centre of the reserve which during nineteenth century archaeological excavations yielded Stone Age tools and the fossil remains of Ice Age animals which can be seen in The Royal Institution in Swansea.
34. Overton Cliff
Sea cliffs, limestone grassland, heath and scrub. Feral Rock Dove use the ledges on Overton Cliff to nest, while Jackdaw use the cave and rock face. Green Woodpecker might be seen foraging for ants amongst the anthills in the grassland.
35. Overton Mere
The reserve is called after the bay over which it looks. The reserve has almost the full range of South Gower Coast habitats ranging from Hawthorn and Blackthorn scrub, through mixed gorse and heath, open limestone scree, to improved and unimproved limestone grassland.
36. Port Eynon Point
Sea cliff, foreshore, limestone grassland, heathland, secondary ash woodland, and quarries. The reserve is regionally important as a sea watching site particularly in late July and early August, though interesting birds are usually present throughout the year.
37. Sedger's Bank
Rocky foreshore, beach, and relic sand dune grassland. Sedger's Bank makes up a large part of the most western edge of Port Eynon Bay and the entirety of the nature reserve can only be seen on the lowest tides of the year.