Carmarthenshire has 12 nature reserves which we manage with volunteers guided by the Wildlife Trust Officer and Conservation Manager Dr. Lizzie Wilberforce. There is also a regular programme of voluntary workparties- download the latest Carmarthenshire volunteering opportunities.
Lizzie Wilberforce, Conservation Manager for the West and Wildlife Trust Officer for Carmarthenshire, plus slow worm
Recent highlights 2012:
One of WTSWW’s flagship reserves lies in Carmarthenshire – Castle Woods, comprising 25 hectares of lowland mixed deciduous woodland of national importance for veteran trees and deadwood invertebrates.
Future work: although much has already been achieved, there is still a great deal of work required to restore these reserves to their best condition for wildlife. Alien and non-native species remain a threat to the native flora and fauna.
Several years of work will be required to remove Himalayan Balsam from Castle Woods, and in Gallt y Tlodion, work is required to promote and protect the best oak specimens- for their own sake and for the sake of the other species they host- from polypody ferns to lichens, breeding pied flycatchers and much more.
Although we have secured some funding towards the work that is required, we still require additional support to achieve our aims of improving these habitats for wildlife.
Castle Woods Llandeilo Photo by Lizzie Wilberforce
Also in Carmarthenshire is Gallt y Tlodion (Poor Mans Wood) near Llandovery- a site leased from Llandovery Town Council, to whom the reserve was given so that the poor of the town might collect firewood.
Carmarthenshire reserves manager Lizzie Wilberforce has already worked to deliver new interpretation at both reserves (including panels and leaflets) and improved visitor access with the new benches and picnic tables. Bird boxes have been installed, and invasive species such as Rhododendron reduced dramatically.
In Gallt y Tlodion, beech is being reduced in the canopy to promote the native sessile oak, and new glades provide habitat variety. In Castle Woods, selective thinning is taking place to enhance our future veteran trees
- Dead Hedging March and April are often quieter months on the county nature reserves- at least, in terms of the habitat work undertaken by the Carmarthenshire roving volunteer team. With the breeding season well underway, it’s too late to do much in the way of scrub or tree work- at least, only small bits where we can ...
- A busy season in Gallt y Tlodion (Poor Man’s Wood)
The last month has seen a number of WTSWW workparties underway at Gallt y Tlodion nature reserve near Llandovery. We’ve reported previously the great work delivered by Tir Coed’s ‘Branching Out’ project which has created a hide, new access and four new bridges and benches.
This month the Trust’s Carmarthenshire volunteers have been working on a ... - From Our Archive 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the work of WTSWW in the west of its patch; 75 years since a group of 70 enthusiasts met in Haverfordwest to form the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society, later and via several incarnations becoming the Wildlife Trust West Wales, before merging with Glamorgan Wildlife Trust in 2002 to become ...
- Winter on Carmarthenshire Reserves
Working on our nature reserves in Carmarthenshire in winter seems to mean one of two things- wet feet, or steep hills! As our programme of habitat management reaches its winter season, we find ourselves busy with woodland management, and the control of willow and birch scrub in our wetland and grassland sites- safe in the ... - Rhododendron Season Begins Again!
We all associate autumn and winter with woodland management- as the birds finish breeding and temperatures cool, we start our programme of woodland coppicing and thinning, and the removal of invading trees and scrub on our valuable open habitats such as rhos pasture, meadows and bogs. Felling season is here again.
However, the change of season ... - Celebrating ‘Branching Out’ at Gallt y Tlodion / Poor Mans Wood This month saw the completion of the Tir Coed programme of works to enhance public access to our Gallt y Tlodion/Poor Mans Wood nature reserve near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire. Over the last two years, teams of young people under supervision from a Tir Coed instructor have learned new skills whilst creating amazing new infrastructure for visitors. Last ...
- Thank you to our volunteer red squirrel surveyors!
Last month we reported that WTSWW had been successful with a significant grant (on behalf of the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project) from the Welsh Government’s Ecosystem Resilience and Diversity fund, administered by CCW. The funding was to undertake a major red squirrel conservation project in north east Carmarthenshire, one part of the wider red ...
