We manage 11 nature reserves in this area, including the beautiful reserve of Parc Slip which was once a coal mine. It has some fantastic historical features such as the Fountain, a memorial to a terrible mining disaster and we are working with a local heritage society tell more people about this aspect.
Tim Jones Wildlife Trust Officer for East Glamorgan Photo by Sarah Kessell
Recent highlights 2011: In Coed y Bedw, near Cardiff, WTSWW has undertaken significant works on access over recent months, improving paths, bridges and stiles. This has partly been paid for by local residents and the Cardiff Local Group. 50 dormouse nest boxes have been erected to establish whether this species, known to be present locally, is using the reserve.
Another great success has been the production of the Coed y Bedw Nature Reserve film, made by director and cameraman Robin Davies-Rollinson. Meanwhile in the relatively newly acquired Brynna Woods reserve, WTO Tim Jones has coppiced some areas of the woodland to benefit the thriving resident dormouse population, and worked to create a community orchard.
To help monitor the woodland bird species at Taf Fechan, WTSWW has worked with partners to erect 50 nest boxes. It is hoped that some may be used by pied flycatcher – a species which is declining in Glamorgan.
Surveying in Brynna Woods
In addition, Conservation Manager Rob Parry is working with partners to monitor the population of dipper that use the river. Dippers are being ringed and their movements across the catchment are now being monitored.
Future work: Many of the woodland reserves towards the east of WTSWW’s patch need considerable investment of time and resource to work towards the condition to which we aspire, for the benefit of wildlife and visitors.
We have already secured some funding from Better Woodlands for Wales for several sites, and are currently applying for extra resources to support our work at Coed y Bedw. At this site we need to raise £5,000 to match fund a grant application for £50,000 which will be spent enhancing wildlife value and securing better public access.
At other reserves, we are fundraising to support key works such as tackling invasive rhododendron at Coed Llwyn Rhyddid, improving the woodland’s physical and age structure at Coed Garnllwyd, and enhancing the woodland habitats for wildlife at Coed y Bedw.
Our Bridgend Local Group are having a special open day at our beautiful Coed-y-Bwl at 2pm Sunday March 18th. This has been timed to coincide with the display of the woods famous wild daffodil display.
Alun Cairns, Conservative MP for the Vale o... My name is Sarah Heydon and I am a final year undergraduate student at Cardiff University, studying the science of Zoology. Over the last month, I have been working at Parc Slip Nature Reserve, Tondu in order to collect the necessary data for my disser... It's Monday afternoon and I wonder what we have in store for our first Freshwater Biology lecture? How about Rob Parry from the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales coming in and discussing the potential Welsh reintroduction of Beavers. I got my no... After the change of projects to the newt belly patterns for Todd, January has been a fairly slow month for newt sightings. With only one being spotted on Todd and Izzy’s survey and a further two being spotted by Rose whilst she was small mammal trapp... The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) is working in partnership with Cardiff University School of Biosciences PhD student, James Vafidis, to examine the effect of climate change on wetland birds in South Wales.
Funded by the European So... Following on from the success of last year’s Unknown Wales Conference, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) and the National Museum Wales (NMW) have decided to hold the Unknown Wales Conference again in 2012.
Over 200 delegates atten... Although it is mid-winter, Izzy Dick and Todd Jenkins, placement students with WTSWW, are still finding plenty of animals under the artificial cover sheets at Parc Slip Nature Reserve near Bridgend. This includes two highly unseasonable great crested n... Parc Slip Watch group will be starting again on Saturday 4th February after a short break for the New Year.
Watch is suitable for children up to the age of 13 years old and each month we hold an outdoor activity followed by an indoor craft activity.... Rhododendron was planted in Coed Llwyn Rhyddid about 100 years ago probably to provide cover for pheasants on the former Hensol estate. When in 1990 the Wildlife Trust acquired the wood because it was the site of the Hensol heronry, rhododendron smothe... I have been carrying out bird surveys at the Wildlife Trust’s Lavernock Point nature reserve since 2002, using the British Trust for Ornithology’s Common Bird Census (CBC) method. This means that I have now completed ten survey seasons at the res...
