Carmarthenshire has 12 nature reserves which we manage with volunteers guided by the Wildlife Trust Officer and Conservation Manager Dr. Lizzie Wilberforce.
Latest News in Carmarthenshire
Lizzie Wilberforce, Conservation Manager for the West and Wildlife Trust Officer for Carmarthenshire, plus slow worm
Recent highlights 2011:
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
Volunteers With New Tools Photo by Lizzie Wilberforce
We’ve been making the most of the winter to restore part of the margin of our Cors Goch NNR nature reserve, just west of Carmarthen.
This nationally important lowland raised bog is one of a handful of good examples of this habitat type remaining i... This year has been particularly exciting in Carmarthenshire. We have had some wonderful conservation finds this year.
Early this year Carmarthenshire volunteer Richard Pond found a very rare musk beetle on Frwd Farm Mire. The musk beetle is mainly a... A new wildlife watching hide has been completed in Gallt y Tlodion / Poor Mans Wood nature reserve near Llandovery. The new hide has been constructed by young volunteers through the Branching Out project, which is led by Tir Coed, in partnership with W... I am excited to have embarked upon a survey and monitoring project of the hedgerows and small woodlands that surround Rhos Cefn Bryn Wildlife Trust reserve in Carmarthenshire. I am very grateful to the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species who have awar... A workparty clearing reeds from the ditches at Ffrwd Farm Mire nature reserve near Pembrey, in Carmarthenshire, turned up an unexpected rarity this month, in the form of a Musk Beetle Aromia moschata.
WTSWW volunteer Richard Pond found the spectacular...
