West Glamorgan and the Gower has 25 nature reserves which Paul Thornton (Senior Wildlife Trust Officer), his team and volunteers manage.
Recent highlights 2011: over half of WTSWW reserves in this area are predominantly woodland. In 2009, Senior WTO Paul Thornton and his team also planted up 2 ha of improved grassland to create a new woodland reserve, Coed Barcud.
Over 100 nest boxes have been installed across 12 reserves including dormouse boxes in Gelli Hir/Priors Wood, and bat boxes at Killay Marsh.
The team has cleared extensive rhododendron and cherry laurel, especially in Gelli Hir and Priors Wood. A programme of thinning and coppicing has also been started in Gelli Hir, with coppice coupes being cut to create dormouse habitat, and thinned areas bringing more light to the woodland floor,encouraging more vigorous growth of hazel, honeysuckle, and other understorey species important for wildlife.
Derelict coppice in Hambury wood has been brought back into rotation.
Future work: Through the next 3 winters, Paul and his team will continue with the ambitious conservation thinning programme in Gelli Hir and coppicing plans in Hambury.
Next winter, they are planning thinning and glade creation throughout Priors Wood. Ring-barking will increase the quantity of standing deadwood which is incredibly important for invertebrates.
New works will begin at Craig Cilhendre and Melin Cwrt with conservation thinning being carried out over the next 5 years.
Thinning of beech (as part of the restoration) will be carried out at Kilvrough Woods to encourage ash regeneration. Some of these activities require a great time commitment and investment in machinery, and your support is needed to help us meet the costs of this essential conservation work.
Making charcoal is an ancient art which far precedes the traditional Welsh BBQ, in fact humans in Britain have been using charcoal for at least 4,000 years.
It is because of this ancient history we have shaped our woodlands, creating glades and clearings in forests which allow flowers, butterflies and bees to flourish. Butterflies in particular ...
Spring is finally here and with it a complete change of work programme for us. With our winter work completed in March before the bird breeding season starts, April can be a bit of a slow month while we’re waiting for the footpaths to become overgrown and need our attention. However we managed to find ...
The last volunteer day before christmas was a charcoal making training day with staff and volunteers from The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales, The Gower Ranger Huw Lloyd, Matt Carroll and Andrew Price Dryad Bushcraft.
This was the 1st time we lit the big kiln. Initally we had to dig it in and make ...



