West Glamorgan and the Gower

West Glamorgan and the Gower has 25 nature reserves which Paul Thornton (Senior Wildlife Trust Officer), his team and volunteers manage.

Paul Thornton (Snr WTO) Demonstrating his Spoon Making Ability

Latest News in West Glamorgan

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.

Sleeping Dormouse Photo by Bev Lewis

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.

• BBQ Summer Good for Native Wildlife 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 ...
• Water For Wildlife Jobs Two vacancies now open: Clearstreams Coordinator (CSC)Water for Wildlife Officer (WWO) Project Background: These two posts are part of the multi-partner ‘Clear Stream Swansea’ project and are designed to deliver practical on the ground action and improvements to several water bodies and catchments in and around the City and County of Swansea (CCS). Clear Streams Swansea is a partnership ...
• Making Steps at Melincwrt 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 ...
• Notes from a Volunteer My Name is Craig Cornish and I am a 22 year old Geography graduate and previous trainee teacher. After deciding that teaching was not for me, I set my heart on working towards a career within the environmental and conservation sectors. Here’s a snapshot of how I came to volunteer with the West Glamorgan and ...
• Sustainable management at Overton Mere All nature reserves depend on the investment of time and money to manage them in the best way possible for wildlife, and each presents unique challenges when it comes to location, access and habitat requirements. In the last few months with support from the Welsh Government’s ERD fund, WTSWW has been able to address some ...
• Gower Charcoal Now for Sale An important part of woodland management is coppicing, this allows the structure of the woodland to become very diverse, which is fantastic for ground flora including bluebells and wood anemones, it is also vital for species such as dormice. Historically this management was done as a part of our very survival, we needed the wood for ...
• Charcoal Kilns and Coppicing 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 ...