Pembrokeshire has one of the best reserves for brown hairstreak butterflies, this nationally scarce butterfly does particularly well our on West Williamston reserve. Nathan (local Wildlife Trust Officer) and his team of volunteers have been very active in both the management of the reserve and in the ongoing monitoring.

Brown Hairstreak by Philip Precey

The work is certainly paying off and whilst this perhaps was not the best year for brown hairstreaks even in bad conditions six females were spotted on the reserve in the space a of a couple of hours.

We have also been extremely busy putting in a large section of boardwalk at our Llangloffan Fen reserve. This has meant that for the first time visitors are able to experience this reserve even in its wettest areas. This has been a huge undertaking and the rewards are great in that we are now able to really showcase the reserve.

Otter by J Maiden

The boardwalk takes people to an open stretch of water where a bird hide gives splendid views across the reserve. This reserve holds such a wonderful variety of wildlife, spotted crake and corncrake have been observed here, a plethora of dragonflies and damselflies breed on the site, and otter, bullhead, river lamprey and brook lamprey are all present on site. All of which makes this a very special reserve indeed, well worth a visit.

To top it all Nathan and his volunteers have had to act as nursemaids to the two new additions to the buffalo herd at Teifi Marshes. Over the last couple of months two healthy baby buffalo were born on the site. We use buffalo to manage Teifi Marsh as they are well adapted and keep open the ponds and scrapes whilst creating new habitats. It is never a dull day at the Wildlife Trust!