Conservation

Team Report

2014Wildlife Trust - of2015 South and West Wales

1 www.welshwildlife.org Conservation Team report 2014-2015

Contents 1. Introduction ...... 4 1.1 Members of the conservation team ...... 4 1.2 Our assets ...... 7 1.3 Our funders ...... 9 2. Nature Reserves ...... 10 2.1 Introduction to our work on our nature reserves ...... 10 2.2 Habitat management ...... 14 2.3 Research ...... 19 2.4 Recording and monitoring ...... 23 2.5 Volunteers ...... 26 2.6 Access management ...... 30 2.7 Events on nature reserves ...... 33 2.8 Interpretation ...... 34 3. Wider Countryside ...... 35 3.1 Introduction to our wider countryside work ...... 35 3.2 Partnerships...... 35 3.3 Representation on committees...... 36 3.4 Consultation responses ...... 36 3.5 Wider Countryside Projects ...... 38 3.5.1 SUDS in Swansea, for people and wildlife – Rose Revera ...... 38 3.5.2 Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project – Becky Hulme ...... 39 3.5.3 Reconnecting our South Wales Water Voles – Nia Stephens ...... 40 3.5.4 Local Wildlife Sites in South East Wales– Carys Solman ...... 42 3.5.5 Water Vole Conservation in Carmarthenshire - Rebecca Killa ...... 43 4. Marine Conservation ...... 45 4.1 Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre – Sarah Perry ...... 45 4.2 Future Fisheries - Sarah Perry ...... 48 5. Campaigns ...... 49 5.1 Badgers and bovine TB ...... 50 6. Media and public awareness ...... 51 6.1 Media work ...... 51 6.2 Talks and presentations ...... 51 6.3 Events ...... 51 6.4 Wildlife queries ...... 52 7. Consultancy and contracts ...... 53 7.1 Consultancy ...... 53

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7.2 Contracting ...... 54 8. Education ...... 55 9. Plans for 2015-16 ...... 57

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1. Introduction

This report covers the work delivered by the Conservation Team of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) during the financial year 2014-2015. It covers the full breadth of work undertaken by the team, including both core funded activities and fixed-term grant funded projects. Many of these projects produce reports of their own, and more detail on any of the areas of work included in this report is available on request from the member of staff involved. Contact details for all team members are available below.

Detail of work delivered on our reserves can also be found on BARS, the online biodiversity action reporting system, http://ukbars.defra.gov.uk/ . The maintenance of this database of our work is undertaken by Nigel Ajax-Lewis.

This report is written by all the members of the Conservation Team, and compiled and edited by Conservation Managers Lizzie Wilberforce and Rob Parry.

1.1 Members of the conservation team

This year saw a number of changes to our team, with the end of some fixed-term funded projects, and the beginning of some new initiatives.

Departing staff included Laura Dell, our Local Wildlife Sites officer, who moved to a post in Natural Resources Wales. The Local Wildlife Sites project was then completed by Beth Hopkins, who joined us for the last few months of the year. Nia Stephens also completed her twelve month contract as Water Vole Officer; the results of both of these two projects are reported later in this document. Fortunately Nia remains on our staff team, taking up the post of People and Wildlife Officer based at the Welsh Wildlife Centre. With the end of our Biffa Award funding at the Teifi Marshes, ranger Howard Jones also moved to pastures new, with Nia picking up many of the responsibilities of that role in her new post.

Rhi Bevan also left our team early in 2015, with her community work in the Swansea area now being managed by Rose Revera. Towards the end of 2014 Leighton Newman joined us as Field Assistant based in Glamorgan, before moving to Skomer in the spring to take up the post of Visitor Officer. The Skomer seasonal posts were taken up in 2014 by Jason Moss (assistant warden) and Alistair Wilson (field worker).

We also welcomed Becky Hulme to the team in May 2015 to begin a five year project of red squirrel conservation in mid Wales.

At the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CBWMC), funding changes also meant that we sadly had to say goodbye to Laura Mears, the project manager; we are still seeking funding to renew this post. Sarah Perry’s role at CBMWC developed during the year to become our Living Seas Science Officer, focussing particularly on the Future Fisheries Project.

Fixed term funding remains the greatest driver of staff turnover in our team.

The contact details for each team member are given below.

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Conservation Team Staff April 2014 – March 2015 inclusive

Rob Parry Conservation Manager 07989 478176 [email protected]

Lizzie Wilberforce Conservation Manager 07970 780553 [email protected]

Rhiannon Bevan Water for Wildlife Officer (until February 2015)

Richard Brown Skokholm Observatory Warden 07971 114303 [email protected]

Bee Büche Skomer Warden 07971 114302 [email protected]

James Davies Estate Worker, Swansea Neath & Port Talbot 07971 114306

Laura Dell Wildlife Sites Officer (until November 2014)

Em Foot Wildlife Trust Officer, Ceredigion 07980 932332 [email protected]

Giselle Eagle Skokholm Island Warden 07971 114303 [email protected]

Beth Hopkins Wildlife Sites Officer (November 2014 - March 2015)

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Becky Hulme Mid Wales Red Squirrel Officer 07972 201202 [email protected]

Howard Jones Teifi Marshes Ranger (until December 2014)

Tim Jones Wildlife Trust Officer, Bridgend & Vale 07811 117140 [email protected]

Rebecca Killa Wildlife Trust Officer, Carmarthenshire 07970 780558 [email protected]

Cath Lewis Education Officer 07972 176963 [email protected]

Vaughn Matthews Conservation Officer 01656 724100 [email protected]

Laura Mears Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre Project Officer (until March 2015)

Jason Moss Skomer Island Assistant Warden (March-Nov 2014 and March 2015 onward)

Leighton Glamorgan Field Assistant (and DWT Skomer Visitor Newman Officer from February 2015)

Rose Revera People and Wildlife Officer 01656 724100 [email protected]

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Sarah Perry Future Fisheries Project Officer & Living Seas Science 01545 560224 Officer [email protected]

Carys Solman Wildlife Trust Officer, Valleys 07896 798371 [email protected]

Nia Stephens Water Vole Officer (until December 2014), Teifi Marshes 07805 467018 People & Wildlife Officer (from Jan 2015) [email protected]

Eddie Stubbings Skomer Warden 07971 114302 [email protected]

John Thomas Estates Worker, Teifi Marshes

Paul Thornton Senior Wildlife Trust Officer, Swansea Neath and Port 07966 564372 Talbot [email protected]

Nathan Walton Wildlife Trust Officer, Pembrokeshire 07971 114301 [email protected]

Hayley Watson Future Fisheries research assistant (fixed term)

Alistair Wilson Skomer Island Field Worker (Apr-Aug 2014)

1.2 Our assets

The assets for which the Conservation Team are responsible continued to grow during the financial year. We are currently responsible for 90 nature reserves (if our south Gower coast sites are considered individually), totalling 1735 ha of land. A spreadsheet of our holdings and tenure details is held by Nigel Ajax-Lewis and all our land is submitted each year to Welsh Government on a Single Application Form, all our land being registered on their IACS

7 system (with the exception of common land). The map below shows the distribution of the reserves (accurate at April 2015).

During the year we have investigated the possibility of a number of new reserve acquisitions, in part because of an increasing trend of Local Authorities looking to save money by dispensing with, or securing support with the management of, their own conservation land. All potential new nature reserves are assessed against our formal criteria before being considered by the Board of Trustees for aquisition.

The most significant change to our nature reserves portfolio during this year was completion of lease for The Dranges nature reserve in Bishopston, Gower. The site is described in more detail in the case study below.

CASE STUDY: The Dranges nature reserve, Gower: acquisition and restoration

The Dranges is a 17 hectare site incorporating dry species-rich grassland, marshy grassland, water courses, ponds and woodland. This site has been owned and managed sympathetically for conservation for the past three decades by one of the Trust’s founder members, John Pressdee and his family. We have known this site for several years and have carried out small amounts of management and survey work in the past few years, which has helped us understand the site, and develop the management plan. Marsh Fritillary butterflies were found to be present in 2013. We have also been surveying amphibians and reptiles and other flora and fauna over the past couple of years. Much of the grassland habitat had been in decline over recent years due to scrub encroachment and a lack of grazing.

With the prior access agreement being rather informal, and this preventing us from

8 incorporating The Dranges in our work programme or obtaining significant grant money, WTSWW formally signed a 21 year lease on the site in July 2014. This led to the writing of the management plan and a grant application the SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature Grant Scheme, to enable us to undertake habitat maintenance and restoration work, and to fence the entire site to allow future grazing of livestock.

SITA Trust awarded us over £70,000 for The Dranges Marsh Fritillary Habitat Recovery project and we also received significant financial support from the Gower Society, which enabled the project to go ahead. Rank grassland has been cut and the arisings collected, scrub has been cleared from field margins, and over 4000 m of fencing has been renewed. A bowser and trough has also been purchased to water livestock. The outcome of this project is that the meadows will now be grazed by Welsh Mountain Ponies to maintain the habitats in favourable condition.

The fencing of the entire reserve boundary and enclosing of the meadows by the SITA Trust funded project has enabled us to control the movement of both our own and trespassing livestock. The exclusion of grazing animals from the wooded areas has enabled us to enter into the Glastir Woodland Management grant scheme. Coppicing will commence here in the coming winter. Future plans also include the creation of several ponds and scrapes along with more survey and monitoring work.

"Enhancing Communities and Enriching Nature through the Landfill Communities Fund" Paul Thornton

1.3 Our funders

The Conservation Team continue to benefit from a wide range of external funding sources, which are a critical to our ability to deliver the range and breadth of work that we seek to achieve.

We are particularly indebted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for the significant funding they contribute to a wide range of our conservation activities, but particularly to the management of our Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Welsh Government also makes a major contribution to the management of our woodland nature reserves through the Better Woodlands for Wales and Glastir Woodland Management grant schemes.

We were also fortunate to benefit from a number of very generous legacies and individual, and local group donations to the Trust, both restricted and unrestricted, which supported our conservation work, but which we do not list individually in this report.

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We are grateful to the following grant and corporate funders for their support during 2014- 2015. We would also like to extend our thanks to those grant foundations who did not wish to be named but who have made significant contributions to key projects during the year.

Amphibian & Reptile Conservation JNCC Biffa Award Llanharan Community Council Bridgend County Borough Council Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council Bumblebee Conservation Trust Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Carmarthenshire County Council Natural Resources Wales Dow Corning Pembrokeshire Biodiversity Partnership The Co-operative People’s Postcode Lottery CWM Environmental Rees Jeffreys Road Fund Environment Wales SITA Trust The Gower Society Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Council GrantScape Waterloo Foundation The Green House, Llandeilo Welsh Government

2. Nature Reserves 2.1 Introduction to our work on our nature reserves

For our Wildlife Trust Officers and Conservation Officer especially, the ongoing management of our nature reserves takes up a significant proportion of staff time. Just maintaining the status quo with regard to conservation condition and public access is a significant responsibility in terms of investment (both capital and revenue) by the Trust and the Conservation Team. All of the team contribute in some way to the management of land for conservation gain. The Wildlife Trust movement as a whole is a significant landowner and one of relatively few conservation charities who specialise in this. Our management of local nature reserves, varying in significance from local to international importance, is a key part of our organisation’s identity in the public eye. The following sections of the report provide case studies and some facts and figures to summarise our nature reserve work in the last year.

The table below shows the total number of recorded staff and volunteer days involved in direct on-site management of mainland sites (Skomer and Skokholm are not included), arranged in descending order. Please note that voluntary wardens’ time is not included in this table, nor is local group activity (such as the Lavernock and Coed y Bwl groups); these data reflect only the volunteer time in work parties directly led by Conservation Team staff. This represents a total of 1301 staff days directly involved in mainland land management over the year and 4034 days in total (all activities; breakdowns by activity type follow in later sections of the report). Support from volunteers more than triples the investment of management time we are able to make in the conservation of our land and other priority sites, and the value of this cannot and should not be understated.

There is not a great deal of change in the order of our own nature reserves with the exception of a significant increase in the time invested in Carmel and The Dranges, reflecting grant funding from GrantScape/CWM Environmental Ltd and SITA Trust respectively. Our large, flagship mainland sites of Parc Slip and Teifi Marshes remain the sites requiring and receiving the greatest input of management time.

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Direct management- Nature Reserve or third party site County person days Teifi Marshes Pembrokeshire 719 Parc Slip Glamorgan 584 Taf Fechan Glamorgan 437 Carmel Carmarthenshire 208 Cwm Colhuw Glamorgan 184 The Dranges Glamorgan 162 Pengelli Pembrokeshire 124 West Williamston Pembrokeshire 114 Coed Maidie B Goddard Ceredigion 100 Brynna Woods & Llanharan Marsh Glamorgan 98 Castle Woods Carmarthenshire 72 Gelli Hir Glamorgan 72 Pwll Waun Cynon Glamorgan 68 Llangloffan Fen Pembrokeshire 68 Cwm Clettwr Ceredigion 65 Coed y Bedw Glamorgan 65 Coed Simdde Lwyd Ceredigion 59 Dowrog Common Pembrokeshire 51 Sarn (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 48 Cors Ian Ceredigion 46 Goodwick Moor Pembrokeshire 40 Coed Penglanowen Ceredigion 40 Caeau Llety Cybi Ceredigion 39 Ffrwd Farm Mire Carmarthenshire 38 Rhos Glandenys Ceredigion 26 Canaston (not WTSWW land) Pembrokeshire 26 Rhos Glyn yr Helyg Ceredigion 26 Rhos Cefn Bryn Carmarthenshire 24 Rhos Marion Ceredigion 22 Tunnel LWS-Morganstown (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 22 Poor Mans Wood Carmarthenshire 22 Lockley Lodge Pembrokeshire 21 Old Warren Hill Ceredigion 19 Cadoxton Ponds (Dow Corning) Glamorgan 17 Lavernock Point Glamorgan 16 Pant Da Ceredigion 16 E & R Harding (Ilston Quarry) Glamorgan 15 Hambury Woods Glamorgan 14 Cors Goch Carmarthenshire 14 Overton Mere Glamorgan 14 Talley Lakes Carmarthenshire 12 Priors Wood and Meadow Glamorgan 12 Pembroke Upper Mill Pond Pembrokeshire 11 Y Gweira Glamorgan 11 Allt Crug Garn Ceredigion 11 Craig Cilhendre Glamorgan 10 Port Eynon Point Glamorgan 10 Rhos Pil Bach Ceredigion 10 Westfield Pill Pembrokeshire 10 Kilvrough Manor Woods Glamorgan 10

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Melincwrt Falls Glamorgan 9 Coed Garnllwyd Glamorgan 8 Tywi Forest (not WTSWW land) Ceredigion 8 Cwm Ivy & Betty Church Glamorgan 7 Penralltfach Gerdi Pembrokeshire 7 Redley Cliff Glamorgan 7 Long Hole Cliff Glamorgan 7 Penderi Cliffs Ceredigion 7 Cwmduhen (not WTSWW land) Carmarthenshire 5 Pennar Fawr Ceredigion 5 Coed Hirwaun (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 5 Glyncorrwg (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 5 Llanrhidian Hill Glamorgan 4 Rhos Fullbrook Ceredigion 4 Killay marsh Glamorgan 3 Afan Valley (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 2 Berry Woods Glamorgan 2 Clydach (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 2 Overton Cliff Glamorgan 2 Coed Wern Ddu Carmarthenshire 2 Swansea various (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 2 Rhosfach Mire (not WTSWW land) Pembrokeshire 1 Blaenant y Gwyddyl Glamorgan 1 Coed Gawdir Glamorgan 1 Llyn Fach (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 1 Llyn Fanod Ceredigion 1 Baglan Badger Sett Glamorgan 1 Cemaes Head Pembrokeshire 1 Coed Barcud Glamorgan 1 Deborahs Hole Glamorgan 1 Neath Canal (not WTSWW land) Glamorgan 1 Penglais Woods (not WTSWW land) Ceredigion 1 Bolgoed Quarry Glamorgan 1 Peel Wood Glamorgan 1 Redden hill Glamorgan 1 Roydons Corner Glamorgan 1

The pie chart to the left shows the distribution of combined data for staff Carmarthenshire and volunteer time dedicated to the positive management of land (nature Ceredigion reserves and third party sites) during the last year, by geographical area. It Skomer & shows the equitable division of Skokholm resource between west Wales and Glamorgan Glamorgan, and the significant requirements of the Pembrokeshire islands.

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CASE STUDY - Teifi Marshes Restoration Project

Our Teifi Marshes nature reserve has been fortunate to have benefitted from a two year project funded by Biffa Award that ended in April 2015. This funding enabled WTSWW to employ a ranger to be solely focussed on restoring the diversity of habitats on the reserve through habitat management and public engagement. The ranger was able to provide ecological expertise, undertake habitat management, supervise contractors, engage and manage volunteers, and interpret and promote the site to visitors, which together was the primary mechanism for delivering the ecological outcomes.

The principal effort of the project was to help restore some of the key natural habitats on the reserve. Scrubbed meadows and wetlands have been brought into sustainable management through the implementation of suitable mowing and grazing regimes. The restoration of two hectares of species rich meadow has started with native wildflower seeds being sown and cuts taken twice a year, whilst wetter meadows have benefitted from grazing with ponies. The water buffalo continue to graze marsh areas and Biffa Award funding has allowed infrastructure to be upgraded through the installation of a cattle crush and holding area.

Contractors with appropriate large machinery were engaged to increase the area of open water habitat within the wetlands, for the benefit of wetland birds and invertebrates, and to remove scrub. Willow and Alder control through the use of injected herbicide has also occurred in an attempt to halt the spread of these woody species onto wetland and reedbed habitats. Areas of reedbed have been cut and arisings removed to prevent biomass build up and to thus enhance the health of the habitat. An artificial Sand Martin bank was also installed overlooking one of the many pools to provide suitable nesting opportunities for this species and help mitigate for the loss of nesting sites in a neighbouring active sand quarry.

Roughly a quarter of a hectare of previously unmanaged, predominantly Oak woodland along the hillside and gorge has benefitted from thinning and glade creation to promote structural and biological diversity, whilst areas of Hazel have been coppiced to enhance possible Dormouse habitat. In the woodland, nest boxes have also been erected that include types for Pied Flycatchers, Nuthatches and Treecreepers along with two Barn Owl boxes which are already occupied. These nest boxes will create new opportunities for breeding birds. Areas of mature Blackthorn scrub have also been coppiced to provide suitable egg laying opportunities for the Brown Hairstreak butterfly. In an area of coppice within the woodland, a deer exclosure has also been erected to monitor the impact of current deer browsing on the woodland habitat and thus inform our management of the woods for biodiversity gain.

Adjacent to the wetland is an area of unmanaged slate waste, a relic of historic industry, but which hosts a good reptile population. Work here has involved clearing scrub to promote a more open habitat for basking reptiles along with active surveying and monitoring of

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Invasive species such as non-native Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam which threaten our native flora on the reserve have been treated and pulled accordingly, and this is an ongoing task. Areas of Hemlock Water Dropwort have also been controlled although the control of high nutrient flows onto the reserve from surrounding agricultural land is something that requires attention should the control of this species be successful, especially in areas grazed by livestock.

Around the Welsh Wildlife Centre a number of projects have been implemented, most notably the creation of a wildlife garden that will bring biodiversity to the visitor centre curtilage and create a microcosm of our conservation message to less mobile visitors. The garden includes a pond, bird feeder station, a herb bed for pollinators and a bug hotel. An orchard comprising traditional native fruit tree varieties has also been planted. According to Habitat Aid, Natural England says some 60% of orchards have been lost since the 1950s, and traditional orchards have been added to priority habitat lists due to their high biodiversity value. Once established, the fruit will be used in visitor centre café.

The ranger was also involved with the active monitoring of species found on the reserve. These included butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, birds, flora, moths and Harvest Mice. A good amount of time was spent on visitor engagement through leading walks and talks, and running wildlife ID and survey courses. The reserve receives over 22,000 visitors a year so efforts are made to ensure that people leave knowing more of what the reserve holds and the work that WTSWW does.

The funding that Biffa Award has provided has been invaluable in enhancing the habitats on the reserve and promoting the work that the WTSWW does. Although the project has now finished, we have found core funding to employ a People and Wildlife Officer for the reserve as such an important site requires a greater commitment of resources and is a valuable tool in educating others about wildlife local to the area. Nathan Walton

2.2 Habitat management

The majority, though not all, habitat management is undertaken by staff with the support of volunteers. Where a job exceeds the capacity, training or equipment capabilities of the team, and/or where external funding is available, contractors are sometimes employed.

During the last year, a total of 814 staff days were reported, engaged in direct habitat management work on mainland reserves and third party land, a significant increase on

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2013/14. The vast majority of this effort is on WTSWW’s own land. Work on third party sites may be under contract, or may be part of partnership projects, for example as our contribution to LBAP (Local Biodiversity Action Plan) initiatives. Scrub control on open habitats remains by far the most significant demand on staff time when it comes to routine reserve management. However, control of non-native species has significantly increased on last year’s figures because of the addition of a new dedicated post of Mid Wales Red Squirrel Officer; a large part of this role is currently dedicated to the targeted control of Grey Squirrels in the Red Squirrel conservation area. This year we also recorded a new category to reflect staff time spent organising grazing management, which is critical to our care of open habitats such as grasslands and wetlands.

Activity Staff days (‘14-’15) Previous year (‘13-1’4) Scrub control 253 113 Control invasive non-native species 238 62 Mowing/cutting open habitats 64 21 Coppicing woodland 50 31 Thinning woodland 48 22 Fencing 43 14 Removing waste 29 8 Ponds/ditches etc 28 10 Hedgelaying 23 4 Installing other infrastructure 21 7 Grazing 12 Not recorded Maintenance & repairs 4 3 Sowing 3 1

Such habitat management regularly brings together the best elements of WTSWW’s work- managing nature reserves, working with partners such as NRW, and engaging and training volunteers. As such it is best represented by a number of case studies from the year.

CASE STUDY: Woodland management at Cwm Clettwr, Ceredigion

The habitat management work we do (or wanted to do) at Cwm Clettwr hasn’t changed much since we discovered Dormice on the reserve in 2011- but often how, when and why (and the licence needed) has. How and if it will affect them is always at the back of my mind when planning our work there.

The dense, predominantly Birch, regeneration in the top half of the reserve has always been a target for thinning, but was never a priority and seemed such a large task to complete with volunteers, that it never got started. We have now started halo thinning the Birch and Willow around other broadleaves, such as Oak, Rowan and Hazel to encourage healthier growth and let more light down to the floor to encourage ground flora (there is very little in the closely packed birch). We only clear up to about 1.5 m around the trunk so there is usually still a continuous aerial corridor for the Dormice, but we also create long thin habitat piles that go across the open spaces (rather than the usual large round piles) to create corridors, for various creatures, not just the Dormice. In some areas we have also tried a “part felling” technique: trunks are cut most of the way through at about one metre leaving a hinge, when the trunk tips over, it creates an aerial runway. Some of the branches are cut off to allow light to the woodland floor but the hinge allows the tree to live and reshoot, providing some cover at lower levels before there is a proper ground flora.

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Removal of Western Hemlock regrowth from throughout the reserve is a continuous job that we plug away at. We are also working with NRW to deal with the remaining larger blocks in stages (some halo thinning, ring barking and felling) to protect the straggly Oaks growing within them.

The reserve has two rocky outcrops that are covered with Heather. We remove the Birch and Willow regrowth from these biannually to maintain the mosaic. We leave other broadleaf saplings towards a future broadleaf woodland with Heather understory (as in the rest of the reserve). Most of the management work we do is outside the SSSI woodland, other than tree safety works, and all is covered by an NRW licence and done at times that will least affect the Dormice. Although mostly it is not for the direct benefit of the Dormice it will, in the long term, hopefully create better habitat for them and other species and a healthy ecosystem.

Since discovering the Dormice we have put up 80 Dormouse boxes (with the help of the MISE project). These are monitored monthly throughout the summer season. Last year we had 21 Dormice in one session! We also have Wood Mice and Blue Tits (and wasps and slugs) using the boxes. The Dormice also use some of the bird boxes. A bat was even found in one of the boxes so we have put up 6 bat boxes too.

Em Foot

CASE STUDY: Conservation grazing at Carmel NNR, Carmarthenshire

At Carmel we rely heavily on the help of our four- legged friends. They do a superb job of managing the neutral grasslands, are in the process of restoring a neglected piece of raised bog, and we have even used them this winter to help reduce the dominance of soft rush.

One of the features of the Coedydd Carmel’s SSSI notification is the species rich neutral grassland. This refers to a large expanse on the western part of Pwll Edrichiad, where the grassland is unimproved and most interesting botanically. Species such as Common Knapweed, Common Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Eyebright, Lady’s Mantle, and Yellow Rattle make up the rich floral assemblages, with good populations of Greater Butterfly Orchid, Great Burnet and Whorled Caraway. Sensitive summer grazing with cattle is important for the continued maintenance of this special habitat. The cattle prefer grazing the grasses, which reduces their dominance and encourages a more interesting mix of flora. Grazing in low numbers ensure that the herb species are often left.

The cattle also assist with another SSSI feature, the semi-natural broadleaved woodland. Throughout Pwll Edrichiad and Garn North the woodland is not fenced independently from the grassland. This allows the cattle to shelter under the trees when weather conditions are unfavourable, but it also allows very low intensity woodland grazing. This has been identified as important in keeping the woodland scrub layer fairly open, by reducing bramble levels

16 within the woods. As these woods are renowned for their floral diversity including uncommon species such as Herb Paris, Toothwort, and wild Lily-of-the-Valley this is without doubt a benefit for their ongoing management.

Garn South is another compartment we manage within Carmel NNR; separated geographically by the small ridge it sits on, its habitat is distinctly different. To the south is an active raised bog. Unfortunately the bit presently under our management has been left neglected for some time. Through lack of grazing, Purple Moor Grass has becoming increasingly dominant, forming distinct tussocks and shading out many of the other important bog species. There is also an issue with scrub encroachment. Since WTSWW has taken on the management of the site we have introduced grazing that was desperately needed. Help was sought from ponies this time, and we were kindly loaned four Caerneddau ponies for the task. They were a massive aid last summer, and grazed off all the dominant Purple Moor Grass, plus made a start on the encroaching Bramble and Willow, even munching on Willowherb on the drier ground. We observed Sphagnum mosses, Bog Asphodel and other favourable bog species that are clinging on amongst the tussocks. The site’s restoration will take several years, but we look forward to welcoming back the ponies again this year and watching the site slowly regaining favourable status. Special thanks to Charles and Mo Morgan for lending us the ponies, and volunteers Malcolm and Karen Samuels who have helped with the lookering.

Rebecca Killa

CASE STUDY: Woodland coppicing at Taf Fechan, Merthyr Tydfil

This winter the Valleys Volunteer Group completed a three-year Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) coppicing operation at Rees’ Wood, part of Taf Fechan Nature Reserve in Merthyr Tydfil.

Rees’ Wood covers roughly two and a half hectares at Taf Fechan, and its gnarled, Bluebell- carpeted shade provides a contrast to the rest of the reserve’s open woodland pasture. For this winter’s BWW grant, a one hectare block was required to undergo 50% coppicing, with all materials being neatly stacked on-site to form habitat piles.

The Hazel had not been managed in decades and had become very mature and tangled, and together with the site’s steep gradient made the coppicing operations a slow and difficult task. The heavily shaded and moss-blanketed woodland was selectively thinned, and several clearings were opened up, allowing light onto the woodland floor. Over the coming years, the age structure of the woodland will be greatly improved, and an abundance of dead wood will be found slowly rotting on the woodland floor, all making for a more biodiversity rich and varied habitat.

Rees’ Wood runs parallel to the Taff Trail, and the area coppiced this season included a once well-used path which had become blocked by scrub and tree-falls. In coppicing the woodland the volunteers re-instated the path and opened up views of the iconic Morlais Castle, overlooking the valley from the distant quarries.

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Images, left to right: Coppicing on steep rocky slopes at Taf Fechan, views of Morlais Castle exposed by coppicing, and the Valleys Volunteer Group having a well earned break.

Carys Solman

CASE STUDY: Lapwing revival at Parc Slip, Bridgend

The Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) was once a common farmland bird species, breeding in open pasture, arable fields and wetlands. In recent decades however the breeding population of Lapwing has declined dramatically in Wales as a result of changes to farming and land use. These changes have seen a reduction in mixed farming, and with it has been a loss in suitable breeding grounds and conditions.

© Kevin Head The reduction in the breeding Lapwing population witnessed in the wider countryside is also manifest at Parc Slip Nature Reserve, which had up to nineteen pairs of Lapwing breeding on the reserve in the mid-1990s. In the spring of 2014, just one pair of Lapwing nested at the reserve and although the pair had two broods, none of the chicks fledged to adulthood.

Staff and over forty volunteers worked throughout the autumn and winter of 2014 to undertake specific Lapwing conservation measures at the reserve. These conservation measures were designed to improve and increase the Lapwing’s nesting and foraging habitat at the reserve and hopefully benefit the population as a whole in the local area.

The project, funded by SITA Trust, helped create a number of small ponds and scrapes on the reserve which act as important foraging grounds for adult

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Lapwings and chicks. In addition to scrapes, further foraging habitat was created through the grazing management of cattle, producing uneven swards preferred by insects along with deposits of dung to encourage dung beetles – a favoured food item for the chicks.

Dense scrub around the margins of a number of fields was also reduced. The scrub harbours predators such as mustelids and Foxes. Over the years, as Parc Slip has matured from its former opencast mining restoration, scrub had encroached and reduced the amount of suitable breeding habitat. To help reduce predation further, electrified predator fencing was erected around the main Lapwing breeding field at the reserve.

The project is part of an ongoing plan to increase the numbers of breeding Lapwing at Parc Slip over time, and efforts will be made each year to continually improve the conditions for this iconic bird.

"Enhancing Communities and

Enriching Nature through the Landfill Communities Fund" Rob Parry

2.3 Research

The conservation movement as a whole has been criticised in recent years for its failure to engage in and learn from current research and latest knowledge. At WTSWW we work hard to address this issue, by building relationships with universities in our area of operation, supporting many students to work with us during their studies, and publishing the outcomes of our own work wherever we can. We have been fortunate to benefit from strong partnerships with many academic institutions, particularly Cardiff, Swansea and Aberystwyth Universities, and UK-wide institutions through their involvement in the Pembrokeshire Islands.

Consequently, WTSWW undertakes and supports a wide array of research projects, particularly on its nature reserves. Much more detail on this topic can be found in the WTSWW Research Report 2014, however by way of example, we record below just two case studies of work led by WTSWW staff and volunteers in the last year.

CASE STUDY: Skokholm Island’s gulls

The Pembrokeshire islands managed by WTSWW are home to half of the world population of Manx Shearwaters, and on Skokholm they are found at a density higher than anywhere else on Earth. However, Skokholm is also home to a growing breeding population of Great Black-backed Gulls, a predatory carnivore which readily takes Manx Shearwaters. The factors driving the increase in the Great Black-backed Gull population and the impact that this increase will have on the Manx Shearwaters is not currently understood. To address this gap in our knowledge 2014 saw the start of a long-term Great Black-backed Gull study.

It is important that we can recognise the gulls as individuals to allow us to monitor their movements and survival. We thus colour ringed 23 adult gulls and 45 fledglings and intend to ring similar numbers over the coming years. Of the youngsters, six have been re-sighted in Pembrokeshire, and 11 have been seen in Cornwall. Interestingly one has also returned to Skokholm, although it will be three or four years yet before we see any return to breed. Only two adults were seen away from Skokholm through the winter, both in Cornwall, and 20

19 returned to their 2014 breeding territories in 2015. Over time we will thus begin to understand what proportion of birds are surviving each year, but we also need to know what factors are aiding their survival; we specifically want to know whether human actions are causing higher winter survival (for example by increasing food availability) and whether this will have a knock-on effect on our Shearwaters. In an effort to understand exactly where the gulls are feeding, we will be working with the British Trust for Ornithology in 2015 to track the movements of the gulls using pioneering GPS technology.

To try and understand the impact that the Great Black-backed Gulls are having on the Manx Shearwaters, we counted all of the Shearwater corpses encountered during 2014, marking the bodies to ensure that they were not counted twice. We found 4272 carcasses (2931 adults, 269 chicks and 1072 fledglings) and no doubt many were missed in inaccessible areas. Our intention is to carry out the same survey each year which can easily be incorporated into the morning bird census. Although this will not give us an absolute total for Shearwaters predated, over time it should suggest how the number being predated fluctuates. It is possible that the impact on the Shearwater population is affected by the Rabbit population, more Rabbits providing alternative food for the Gulls and thus reducing Shearwater predation; we are thus closely monitoring Rabbit numbers as well. Rabbit numbers were low in 2014 due to an outbreak of Viral Haemorrhagic Disease; will an increased Rabbit population in 2015 lead to a reduction in the number of Shearwaters killed?

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Our Great Black-backed Gulls are spectacular apex predators and an important part of the Skokholm seabird assemblage, however it is essential that we closely monitor the impact that their growing population has on our other birds.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Skokholm

The British Trust for Ornithology began a Lesser Black-backed Gull tracking project in 2014. The main aim of the project is to look at the potential impacts of offshore renewables on this migratory gull. However the project is also generating huge amounts of fascinating life history data. For example the tracks generated in 2014 showed how birds generally foraged on the mainland during the egg incubation period but switched to foraging at sea during chick feeding. Upon returning to Skokholm for the 2015 breeding season the stored data will download and reveal exactly where each of the 25 tagged birds has spent the winter months.

Richard Brown & Giselle Eagle

CASE STUDY: Puffin burrow occupancy and breeding success at the Wick on Skomer in 2014

In 2014, WTSWW Long Term Volunteers, supervised and assisted by staff, conducted a Puffin productivity study on Skomer. The study took place at the island’s honey pot site, the Wick, to establish possible effects of visitors to these iconic birds.

During March 2014, 51 burrows were marked with numbered wooden posts and burrow occupancy was established over thirteen evening watches, from 18:30 to dusk, between the 7th May and the 1st June. Possibly due to the exceptionally rough winter during 2013/14, mating was delayed and some birds were still mating until the end of May and actively nest- building into early June.

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The first adult Puffins carrying fish were seen coming ashore on 4th June. However it was not until the second week of June that most birds started to feed chicks, suggesting the majority of birds did not lay eggs until May.

To establish how many breeding Puffins raised a chick successfully, feeding watches were carried out every two weeks from the first date adults were seen bringing in fish.

In total we conducted four 24 hour watches:

04.30 – 22:30 on 24 June: roughly two weeks after the first adults were seen coming in with fish.

04:30 – 22:30 on 10 July: the oldest chicks should still be under 38 days old so none should have fledged and therefore should have been recorded being fed on both watches if they survived. Chicks hatched since the first watch were now being fed as well.

04:30 – 22:30 on 24 July: the very oldest chicks will have fledged but any chicks hatched since the first watch should only be an absolute maximum of 31 days old and therefore fed on the second and third watches.

04.30 – 22:00 on 31 July: most chicks should have fledged and only the very latest chicks should still be being fed

For a burrow to be considered successful it had to have been fed during at least two watches. This gives a success rate of 63% (or 0.63 chicks fledged per burrow).

Burrow occupancy and breeding success of Puffins at The Wick on Skomer Island in 2014 Burrow distance Total No. No. % No. of chicks Productivity from the cliff edge burrows occupied Occupied based on 2 based on 2 (3+) (m) burrows (3+) feeds feeds 5-10 51 38 74.5% 24 0.63

Puffin productivity comparison between the Neck and the Wick on Skomer Island in 2014 Year Neck Wick 2014 0.53 0.63 2013 0.78 - 2012 0.85 -

Discussion

In 2014, Puffin productivity at the Wick (high visitor access) was higher than on the Neck (no visitor access), which possibly indicates that visitors have no negative effect on breeding success. However, 2014 was a difficult year for the Puffins as they had to recuperate after a very harsh winter, hence the results might be atypical. For the last three years the average breeding success at the Neck was 0.72 which is higher than the recorded breeding success at the Wick in 2014. No final conclusion can be drawn after just one year and further studies need to be conducted to ascertain whether visitors to the Wick affect the breeding success of the Puffins. B Büche & Ed Stubbings

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2.4 Recording and monitoring

A key part of any site’s management is the recording and monitoring of its conservation features, allowing us to assess whether or not they are in favourable condition, and allowing us to complete the feedback loop and adjust our management of the sites and our advocacy work accordingly. Around 99 person days were recorded in this area of work during 2014- 2015 on mainland reserves alone, with many more again on the Pembrokeshire islands. Many additional days are also undertaken by mainland volunteers, reporting results to us (although this time contribution is not currently well recorded unless the work is undertaken with staff present).

The table below summarises staff effort (and the volunteer effort recorded in direct support of these staff days) on survey and monitoring, both on our own nature reserves and on private land. We distinguish here between survey (establishing the presence/absence/extent of a feature for the first time) and monitoring (working to detect trends in a known feature over time). Consultancy survey and monitoring time is not included.

Activity Staff days Volunteer days Survey activity Badgers 2 2 Bats 6 7 Birds 2 6 Deer 1 0 Dormouse 2 8 Dragonflies/damselflies 1 2 Freshwater invertebrates 0 3 Fungi 1 0 Harvest mouse 5 5 Invasive non-native species 2 0 Moth 2 10 Otter 1 0 Reptiles 1 0 Vegetation 3 6 Water vole 370 19 Monitoring activity Amphibians and reptiles 8 16 Bats 2 4 Birds general 14 11 Brown hairstreak 3 38 Butterflies general 2 6 Deer damage 2 5 Dormouse 18 44 Lapwing 2 4 Marsh fritillary 7 24 Mink 7 25 Vegetation 5 8

Two case studies follow to demonstrate the value of such monitoring and recording.

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CASE STUDY: Greater Butterfly Orchids at Caeau Llety Cybi, Ceredigion

One of my favourite jobs of the year is to count the beautiful Greater Butterfly Orchids at Caeau Llety Cybi. On my first count in 2009, we found 99 spikes and all but two were in the same field. Last year, in 2014, we counted 912 and we found them in all four fields though the majority are still in one field, the number in the second lower field have almost doubled since last year to 96!

It is getting harder and harder to count the orchids and make sure we aren’t missing or double counting them. We use the sweep method with everyone in a line, progressing slowly across the field together, shouting out what we see to a central recorder. With so many in one of the fields we have to lay a rope down to mark the edge of the sweep and work closely together to count the large patches. We use canes to mark the ends and edges too.

It is a magnificent display and thanks must go to our grazier, Glyn Evans, who takes his cattle off the site while the orchids are growing and flowering and then puts them back on afterwards. There are many other lovely flowers on this SSSI grassland too. Em Foot

CASE STUDY: Monitoring moths

Moths are a rather under-appreciated taxon, particularly compared to their better-known relations, the butterflies. However, moths make up a far larger part of the Lepidoptera (“scaly-winged” insects) than butterflies; over 2,400 moth species have been recorded in Britain, compared to only 60 or so butterflies.

Most moths are nocturnal, so an effective way of surveying for them is by using light traps which attract them in from a significant distance away as they use powerful mercury-vapour bulbs. They fall into the chamber of the trap and stay resting there until they can be retrieved and identified the next morning, before being released.

We started running a regular weekly moth trap at Parc Slip in March 2012 and have since recorded over 9000 moths of more than 450 different species, including some Nationally Scarce species such as Double Line (Mythimna turca) and Double Kidney (Ipimorpha retusa). We have managed to trap almost weekly, with the occasional exception when the weather has made it unsafe, with over 150 trapping sessions now completed. We hope to continue monitoring in this way over an extended period as this can give us useful information such as whether emergence times change with poor weather.

The graph overleaf summarises the trapping results from 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015. It shows that, in general, the summer months are much more productive as expected and that there is often a rather barren run between November and March (particularly so this year). However it also illustrates that early spring can produce high numbers, albeit of relatively few species – the peak visible on 2nd April was caused by a large number of Common Quakers (Orthosia cerasi) but the trap was also quite diverse with 24 species. We also keep weather and temperature records for the trap nights and this provides useful information such as the fact that it was unusually mild (minimum 12°C) which usually leads to good moth numbers, especially if it isn’t too windy or wet.

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In 2014/15, 373 different species were recorded at Parc Slip with the majority of new species being micro-moths identified with the help of a number of keen and helpful local ‘moth-ers’. Different species occur at different times of year so it is important to continue trapping even in the lean winter months as there is still the chance of getting something interesting. The importance of regular trapping is highlighted by the fact that last year 118 species were only recorded on one occasion whereas in contrast the most frequently-occurring species, Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta – see photo), turned up on 20 of the 42 trap nights! One of the species that has started turning up just once a year is the attractive Chocolate-tip (Clostera curtula) which hadn’t been recorded in Glamorgan until 1996 and has since been gradually spreading west; regular trapping allows distribution changes like this to be mapped.

Moth Trap Results in 2014/15 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 Number of moths 0

Number of species

Tuesday8th July

Friday5th August

ThusdayJuly 24th

Tuesday10th June Tuesday24th June

Thursday 15thMay Thursday 29thMay

Thursday 7th August

Thursday 12thMarch

Wednesday2nd April

Monday 26thJanuary…

Thursday 21stAugust

Wednesday16th April Wednesday30th April

Friday28th November

Friday19th September

Thursday 30thOctober

Tuesday30th September

Thursday 13thNovember Wednesday15th October Wednesday18th February

Image (below): Flame Shoulder

Whereas our most regular moth monitoring takes place at Parc Slip, we also carry out moth trapping at a number of our other sites in Glamorgan including Cwm Colhuw, Cadoxton Ponds and Coed y Bedw. The latter in particular gets trapped regularly during the summer thanks to a Cardiff-based expert who has greatly increased the species list for the reserve. Many of the moth trapping sessions done at these reserves are run as public events which are always popular and well- attended (including in unfavourable weather when the attendees can almost outnumber the moths…).

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In the coming year, weekly trapping will continue at Parc Slip, scattered trapping at the above-mentioned sites as well as introducing some moth trapping at Coed Garnllwyd and Brynna Woods, which should hopefully result in some interesting records and greatly expand the species lists of both sites.

Image (right): Chocolate-tip

Vaughn Matthews

2.5 Volunteers

Total volunteer hours donated to the Conservation Team can be difficult to record, as some input is on a more casual basis and full paper records are not kept in all cases.

However, during 2014-2015, we estimate that our team engaged with around 350 committed (long term), active volunteers and a further 100 on a more casual (short term) basis, comparable to the previous year’s figures of 300/100 respectively. This includes ‘hotspots’ of activity include the Pembrokeshire Islands, Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, flagship reserves such as Parc Slip and Teifi Marshes, and groups associated with the Wildlife Trust Officers. Around 314 new volunteers were engaged with during the year, an increase of more than one hundred on the prior year. A total of 791 individual volunteer workparty dates were led on mainland reserves by Conservation Team staff, again a significant increase on those reported last year. These figures do not include the additional, significant amount of work delivered by WTSWW’s local volunteer groups, particularly at Lavernock and Coed y Bwl.

We estimate the volunteer contribution directly to our team to be 5864 person days during the year 2014-2015. It cannot be over-stated how important this contribution is to our ongoing conservation work; much of what we do, particularly in the routine but critical maintenance of our nature reserves and recording, could not be done without this volunteer contribution. In capacity terms, it effectively doubles our team in terms of number of worked days.

We are delighted that this year, two of our three case studies below are authored by volunteers.

CASE STUDY: Managing Cwm Colhuw nature reserve, Glamorgan

Cwm Colhuw is a twelve hectare coastal nature reserve near Llantwit Major. It is made up of Ash woodland and scrub on the slope, and on the summit there are two calcareous grassland fields. These are dominated by Oat Grass and Yorkshire Fog, with clumps of Cocksfoot, Bird’s- foot Trefoil and Kidney Vetch, with Wild Thyme in the shorter Rabbit grazed turf. Nationally

26 scarce Wild Cabbage grows near the cliff edge, in places sheltered from grazing.

With the help of funding from Environment Wales and Biffa Award we have been able to install water troughs, and reduce the Blackthorn and scrub in the meadows, increasing the size and diversity of the two meadows. We have also cut and raked the grass from the coastal meadow that had become rank and overgrown; with access that is difficult with machinery, this had to be done manually, but with the help of over seventy student volunteers from Cardiff University and Dr Rhys Jones this was all achieved in just two days.

With the troughs installed and the meadows cut we introduced ponies onto the meadows; these are Section A ponies, very hardy and ideal for coastal grazing where the weather can be changeable. The meadows will now have a sympathetic grazing programme; this will allow each meadow to reseed and be monitored during the summer months.

Thanks to all the volunteers and funders for their support with this project.

Tim Jones

CASE STUDY: The role of volunteers in bird ringing at the Teifi Marshes

Since 2009, a group of volunteers have been regularly ringing birds on the WTSWW Teifi Marshes nature reserve.

In the UK, bird ringing is organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Volunteers train for several years under close supervision before qualifying for a licence. Eight volunteers in the Cardigan area with various levels of permits have formed a small non-charitable group, The Teifi Ringing Group. We work together to monitor and study the breeding, wintering and migration patterns of birds at a number of sites in the North Pembrokeshire and South Ceredigion areas. Not all of those who help with the group are training to be ringers but assist with tasks such as data entry. Over the years the volunteers have come from all walks of life including retired professionals, students, registered disabled, unemployed and others juggling ringing with busy careers.

It takes a high level of commitment and dedication as many hours of fieldwork are necessary to gain experience and the morning sessions mean being at the ringing site before dawn which in mid-summer is very early!

All of the work is voluntary and adds up to a substantial number of man hours in the field, entering data and report writing. Just the standard fieldwork described

27 below on the Teifi Marshes adds up to over 400 volunteer hours per year. Most of the rings are funded by the group with some refunds for the Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme which is supported by a partnership between the BTO and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Each ring costs around 20p, depending on the size, which includes the processing of data relating to the initial ringing of the bird and subsequent recaptures as well as the cost of manufacture. With over 3,000 birds ringed annually on the Teifi Marshes the scale of the financial input as well as time of the volunteers is apparent. All equipment is also self-funded.

The main fieldwork on the Teifi Marshes is part of the BTO CES. Ringers operate the same nets in the same locations over the same time period at regular intervals through the breeding season at over 130 sites throughout Britain and Ireland. The Scheme provides valuable trend information on abundance of adults and juveniles, productivity and also adult survival rates for 24 species of common songbird. On the Teifi Marshes we make a significant contribution to CES with 847 birds processed for this scheme in 2014. At most sessions there will be four volunteers with other helpers and visitors being involved too. We try to engage the public visiting the reserve by showing them birds being ringed, weighed and measured.

Last year we started two RAS (re-trapping adults for survival) projects for the BTO. Ringers aim to catch or re-sight at least 50 adult birds of a single species in a study area during the breeding season. One is looking at Reed Warblers and the other at Reed Buntings. To re-sight adult Reed Buntings we have started colour ringing those caught on the Teifi Marshes. This has been successful as a Citizen Science project, with local photographers taking the time to send us photos of colour ringed individuals.

In spring and late summer, our efforts are concentrated on monitoring the migrants that use the Teifi Marshes as a stopover. Understanding the use of the marsh helps with optimal management for the conservation of species. All data collected is submitted to the BTO for analysis and reports sent to the landowners.

From recoveries of birds that have been ringed on the marsh we contribute to the understanding of migration routes. A couple of examples; a Sedge Warbler ringed on the reserve in July was caught in Senegal the following January, and a White Wagtail ringed in April was found in Iceland 76 days later.

Without volunteers, this important long-term monitoring of bird populations on WTSWW’s reserves would not take place. Ringing birds helps to find out if numbers are stable, decreasing or increasing. If there is a change in numbers, particularly a decrease, we need to know why. Conservation action can then be targeted appropriately.

Through recruitment of new volunteers with the time and energy to embark on ringing training we hope to continue and expand the work of the group.

Wendy James, ringing group volunteer

CASE STUDY: Taf Fechan & Pwll Waun Cynon- the hovering tree…

Every reserve has many layers, many trophic levels, micro-climates and habitat niches, if

28 you want to be scientific, or loads of different places for stuff to live, if you don’t. They are a complex net of interconnected relationships, some parasitic, some symbiotic, some as simple as ‘bug eats leaf’ or as sophisticated as the relationship between mycorrhizal fungi and our trees.

The wonderful thing about all of WTSWW’s reserves, however big or small, is that everyone is free to choose at which level to experience them, because all those multitudes of layers are protected and acknowledged as being important. The way I have chosen to experience more of the layers of my local reserves is to start recording what I see. Not only is this an excuse to bimble about with a camera, it also really helps WTSWW understand what they have and how to conserve it.

At Pwll Waun Cynon Nature Reserve there is a perfect hovering tree. An isolated Hawthorn in full bloom that attracts hoverflies (a group I am particularly interested in at the moment) from far and wide. I spent maybe a quarter of an hour standing around this tree and recorded nine species on or around it, which I shall now list (as I like a list): Eupeodes luniger, Parhelophilus sp., Helophilus pendulus, Eristalis nemorum, Baccha elongata, Criorhina berberina, Anasimyia lineata, Myathropa florea and Xylota segnis. Of course this list doesn’t include the ones that got away.

I have learnt to accept that some things WILL escape/ evade/ fly away/ disappear/ scarper/ hide/ have the temerity to be 14 feet up a tree/be on the other side of the river/in the case of fungi be half eaten by slugs/move away just as you press the camera button, or be unidentifiable without genital dissection (you will know all about this if you happen to be interested in moths).

Of course such a large source of nectar also brings in other things and I spotted a skulking Sawfly under a Hawthorn leaf. A series of photos and a little research revealed another group that cannot be identified from photographs, so I enjoy the photo and the fact that I have seen it, and record it as Tenthredo sp. A fluttering brought my attention to a day flying moth topping up on nectar and so Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica) goes on the list. Then I was head butted (accidentally I hope) by a

Sawfly – Tenthredo sp. Bee, ah Honey Bee!

Since I seriously started recording last March (and you know when your seriously into recording when the first thing you do when the kettle comes out on volunteering sessions is to look for and wander over to the nearest patch of flowers just on the off chance), I have noted over 450 species at Taf Fechan alone and Pwll Waun Cynon is now up to 153 and counting. Most have been common, some have been new records for reserves, some have been new county records and a few have Burnet been genuinely rare. Companion

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The Heather Bug (Rhacognathus punctatus) has only 214 records in the UK. I spotted it at Taf Fechan, ironically while chasing a moth (which escaped). The Fly Tachina lurida has only 82 UK records, also spotted at Taf Fechan. Andrena dorsata, a species of mining bee, has over 5,000 records but nearly all of them are from the south coast of England and very few from Wales, also seen at Taf Fechan. So delve into those multitudes of layers and be curious, because you never know what’s going to turn up!

Graham Watkeys, voluntary warden

2.6 Access management

After habitat management, the creation and maintenance of public access to our nature reserves is the most significant time and financial commitment that the Conservation Team makes in terms of management of our nature reserves.

Providing good public access is essential to the delivery of our remit to inspire and engage; however, this requires the access to be safe and appropriate, and also where possible to be accompanied by such interpretative material as is necessary and desirable to help visitors make the most of their visit and take our conservation message away with them.

The table below shows the number of staff days spent working on areas associated with public access (through the leading of volunteer work parties). This year we have also reported some new categories of access work, to reflect the amount of time spent ensuring safety for visitors, and also mitigating the impact of visitor pressure.

Access work Number of staff days Previous year Clear of vegetation 159 157 Maintain/repair infrastructure 55 31 Install new infrastructure 31 10 Resurface 21 15 Clearing litter 19 Not recorded Tree safety work 17 Not recorded Site risk assessment 12 Not recorded Clearing dog mess 4 Not recorded Total 317 213

Clearing summer vegetation growth to keep paths open remains the major focus and the commitment to this in staff time is very similar to last year, against a significant overall increase in total time spent on managing public access.

It is worth noting that nineteen staff days were spent simply clearing litter from nature reserves, and this was backed up by a further forty nine days of volunteer time. Four staff days were also spent clearing up dog mess (something we do not generally ask reserve volunteers to do); this is probably an under-representation as well, as it is done piecemeal throughout the working year and not always easily recordable. Public access remains a priority for us, but the total of seventy two person days spent mitigating the direct impact of public access is significant.

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CASE STUDY: Managing public access at the Teifi Marshes

Although the primary management of our nature reserves involves the conservation and enhancement of species and habitats that they contain, a considerable amount of time and effort is spent maintaining and promoting access. Not all reserves lend themselves to providing access to the general public yet on sites such as Teifi Marshes, in north Pembrokeshire, where over 22,000 visitors visit each year and where there are over 3.8 miles of footpaths and cycle track, issues arise when maintaining routes and dealing with the variety of different groups that use them.

Tasks can range considerably when working on access routes from repairing steps, installing boardwalks, stiles and other infrastructure to cutting back encroaching vegetation. Most of the ‘upgrade and repair’ jobs are undertaken outside peak visitor seasons so as to cause minimal disturbance whereas the cutting back of vegetation is a yearlong event. There is concern that at Teifi Marshes, as well as many other reserves, some types of access, specifically boardwalks, are in imminent need of replacement. Most are coming to the end of their lifespan due to rot and general wear and tear so efforts are required to source funding to upgrade these features. This is easier said than done, especially when costs are considerable and the focus of grant monies has shifted away from the ‘promoting access’ theme. The hope is that we can continue to provide access to visitors of the reserve yet certain routes may need to be closed until necessary works are completed. This however, should not impact on the visitor’s enjoyment of the reserve due to a good number of other paths being available.

Visitor access is a key part of our work. Dealing with the different user groups that utilise these access types is something that requires good communication and cooperation yet is probably one of the most frustrating elements of any warden’s job. Whilst the majority of visitors to reserves such as Teifi Marshes cause no issue and respect the area they are in, there are an increasing number who do not. At Teifi Marshes, user groups include able and less able visitors, horse riders, cyclists and motorists. Occasionally these groups will clash (for example speeding cyclists and dog walkers) yet all in all they manage to coexist peacefully! The real and increasing issue reserve managers are facing at this time is sadly dealing with those who show no respect or understanding for the protected area of natural environment they find themselves in. It is called a nature ‘reserve’ for a reason and should be a place that wildlife can feel protected from the pressures facing the wider countryside, whilst at the same time provide wildlife enthusiasts a place to come and watch wildlife local to their area.

One user group that wardens continue to struggle to deal with are dog owners. Nearly all follow the guidelines set by WTSWW when walking their animals through a reserve yet on every site, there are a number who ignore our pleas. With dogs becoming more popular by the day and there being no license for having them, there has been an increase in the number of dog walkers to our reserves wishing to exercise their pets. On all our nature reserves we require dogs to be kept under strict control and in some cases on a lead at all times, especially during the breeding season and on sites where a vulnerable species may exist. We also ask that dog waste is bagged and binned. Most comply to this code and understand the reasons for doing so, some of which are as follows:

 Not everyone is fond of dogs and some have severe phobias. Other reserve users can feel extremely uncomfortable when a dog runs up to them even though the dog may be friendly and harmless.

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 Small children are especially in danger from loose dogs, ranging from simply being knocked down by an enthusiastic dog to being bitten or seriously harmed.

 Dogs off lead decrease the number and diversity of wildlife near footpaths. Many people come to reserves to see the wildlife that live in these protected areas, so their enjoyment is directly diminished.

 Dogs can also help spread invasive species. This is particularly the case for those invasives found in areas of open water.

 One is able to see when a dog defecates and therefore bag it and bin it. If not removed, areas of high defecation can cause damage to fragile and complex habitats and transmit diseases and pathogens.

 Dog mess can cause possible blindness to reserve workers if any were to enter their eyes when strimming paths. It is also a health hazard to other members of the public, especially children.

Some conservation organisations do not allow dogs on their reserves at all. We require the understanding and respect from all our dog walkers to keep their dogs under strict control and follow the country-side code so that we may continue to welcome dogs to our nature reserves. At Teifi Marshes we have had to take the step of introducing a Dog Control Order where we are able to fine those not adhering to the guidelines set. This has seen a positive outcome and no fine has yet to be issued although there are still those who flaunt the order. Evidence can be seen from signs being defaced and/or removed, dog waste on paths and the more common occurrence of dog waste bag ‘Christmas trees’, where a bush or tree is littered with hanging bags of dog mess. We, along with many other conservation organisations are now saying that if one cannot ‘bag it and bin it’ then they should at least ‘stick it and flick it’. As the Keep Britain Tidy slogan states, “there is no such thing as a dog poo fairy”!

Another issue that can affect a nature reserve with good access is that of vandalism. With Teifi Marshes being so close to an urban environment, the rate of vandalism increases as the days stay lighter and more visit the reserve after staff have left. The recent burning down of a bird hide at the Teifi Marshes is a good example of this, along with sections of boardwalk being smashed and interpretation panels defaced. These are incidents that we always have to keep on top of and fix as and when. Money has to be found externally to undertake most repairs of this sort and so visitors’ experience of the reserve can be somewhat diminished at times. Litter is also an issue that reserves face and so regular litter picks are undertaken, more on some sites than others.

Above is a little insight into the trials and tribulations of managing access on nature reserves. I am pleased to say however, that although it can be immensely frustrating at times, the feedback we get back from visitors to our reserves is overwhelmingly positive and many donate money to enable their upkeep.

Nathan Walton

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2.7 Events on nature reserves

Events are run by many different departments within WTSWW, and a very large additional number by our local groups. The contribution of the Conservation Team is largely through events delivered in partnership, and through events held on our nature reserves. This section deals with the latter; events not based on our nature reserves are covered later in this report.

Events led by our staff around our own nature reserves are an important tool for engaging with current and potential members, raising awareness of wildlife, local issues and local sites, and demonstrating best practice.

During 2014-15, staff from the Conservation Team organised eighty local events, attended by an estimated 2243 individuals. This does not include events arranged by our local groups, (unless staff were leading that particular event). Conservation Team staff also led 148 walks over the course of the year, attended by a further 1342 individuals.

CASE STUDY: Teifi Marshes- my first three months

I started as People and Wildlife Officer at the Teifi Marshes in January. One of the main aims of my job is to make links with the local community and encourage people to connect with nature on a personal level. A big part of doing this is by running events on the nature reserve. I began by contacting local schools and started arranging days of activities for school groups such as pond dipping and woodland walks. We had bookings from four of our local primary schools ready for the spring. As a team here at the Welsh Wildlife Centre we also planned children’s activities for the forthcoming school holidays, these ranged from craft activities run by volunteers in the centre to pond dipping sessions and bushcraft out on the reserve.

As for events aimed at adults I began by doing a bit of canvassing with local people and looking at attendance figures for past events. The main thing that came across was that people wanted a series of beginners’ walks with the aim of teaching people the very basics of wildlife ID. This worked in our favour as I could run most of these walks myself, with a little help from friendly local naturalists; this saved the cost of paying a someone to come and run an event. I contacted local naturalists such as ex-warden Mike Snow, members of the Teifi ringing group and the ex county moth recorder Tony Lewis who agreed to come and help with particular events. These people have proved to be invaluable through sharing their knowledge and expertise both with attendees and by passing on knowledge to me for running future events.

Nia Stephens

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2.8 Interpretation

Maintaining and delivering new interpretative material for our nature reserves and visitor centres is an ongoing area of work for our Conservation Team, again often dependent upon securing external funds. Here we present just one example of a wide suite of work delivered by the team this year.

CASE STUDY- Access & interpretation at the Mary Gillham elevated hide, Parc Slip

The Mary Gillham Hide at Parc Slip Nature Reserve is dedicated to the naturalist and Wildlife Trust supporter Dr Mary Gillham MBE, who inspired generations of budding conservationists with her knowledge of and enthusiasm for wildlife. The floor of the hide stands some 3m off the ground and gives excellent views over the new scrapes at Parc Slip, where visitors, researchers and wildlife enthusiasts can watch species such as Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover and a host of dragonflies and damselflies. It is hoped that the elevated hide can help inspire future generations in Mary’s name.

To help raise the funds required to build the hide and supply it with suitable interpretation an appeal was designed and sent to local wildlife enthusiasts who would benefit most from the hide’s creation. The appeal enabled donors to have one of the newly created scrapes named in their honour. All 14 scrapes were named in a short space of time and raised over £12,000 toward the costs, with the remainder being funded from the Mary Gillham legacy.

The hide is being used by various volunteer groups, researchers, photographers and birders, who are able to record the new species that are appearing on the reserve which have included Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Yellow Wagtail and Hooded Crow. To make the most of this new resource, two large interpretation panels have also been installed within the hide. The first is a large panel depicting wading birds and is intended as a guide to assist with identification of species, which less expert visitors can then look out for on the scrapes. The second is a map of the scrapes showing their names. This helps not only with describing the location of a bird that a visitor has seen, but is also an opportunity to acknowledge the generosity of the donations that combined to make the whole project possible, from construction to interpretation.

The hide and its interpretation is not only a testament to Mary’s memory and appreciation, but also to the importance of working with and encouraging ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts in the work that the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. Rob Parry

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3. Wider Countryside 3.1 Introduction to our wider countryside work

Most of the work detailed so far has related to conservation work delivered on our own land holdings. We also deliver a great deal of work each year by working in partnership, and delivering species or habitat focussed projects at a wider landscape scale. Some of this work is described below.

3.2 Partnerships

Much of our wider countryside work is dependent upon working in partnership with government agencies, the private sector, and other conservation charities. This extends our reach and influence and can also lead to increased ability to access funding, knowledge and skills. Two examples of active partnership delivery in the last year are given below.

CASE STUDY- Harvest Mouse monitoring in Carmarthenshire

Last year we looked for the presence of Harvest Mouse at several of WTSWW’s nature reserves and on other third party sites in Carmarthenshire, in partnership with the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT). Aline Denton, as part of the MISE project, is looking for Harvest Mice in south west Wales, which the VWT hope to use to build up a picture of harvest mouse distribution in Wales.

Aline used bait pots during late summer 2014 at Ffrwd Farm Mire, Cors Goch and Rhos Cefn Bryn as a survey tool. The VWT has access to a laboratory in Waterford, Ireland who is DNA testing poo found in the bait pots. The mesh surrounding the pots is quite small and only Harvest Mice and Pigmy Shrews are tiny enough is gain access. A serendipitous outcome of this study is a greater understanding of Pigmy Shrew distribution. We also aim to use this same method to look for Harvest Mice at Carmel this spring.

We had previously found harvest mouse nests at Ffrwd Farm Mire before, but were thrilled to have actual DNA proof that the mice were present. As the reserve is obviously a good site for the species, Aline used it to provide a training session in nest searches which volunteers have then applied at other sites across the county. This is best performed in winter when the vegetation has started to die back and the nests are most visible. We met early December 2014 and it was a highly successful day with over 20 attendees. We found in a short space of time 10 nest identified as Harvest Mouse.

Rebecca Killa

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CASE STUDY- Data mobilisation in Pembrokeshire

Over the past couple of years, WTSWW has been working closely with West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre (WWBIC) on the mobilisation of species records for reserves in Pembrokeshire. WWBIC is the Local Records Centre for West Wales and is an organisation that has been established in order to bring together local information on wildlife and to supply this to local users. The Wildlife Trust holds a large number of records yet nearly all are in paper format, buried deep within files held at the local office based at the Welsh Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran. Some records date back decades yet are still valuable in monitoring changes of species populations and distributions over time. To date, just over 13,300 records have been inputted by WWBIC into their electronic database. This now allows records to be searched for and retrieved at a click of a button without having to trawl through reams of paper filed in no particular order! This is still an ongoing task and the staff at WWBIC should be commended for their commitment in devoting so much of their time to the cause. WTSWW is very grateful. Nathan Walton

3.3 Representation on committees

The Conservation Team represents WTSWW and staff share their individual expertise on a wide range of external committees across our patch. This increases our networking and improves our partnership working, allows us to increase our reach through advocacy and lobbying, and helps us stay up to date with the latest developments in the wider policy world. The list below is not exhaustive but gives a flavour of the variety of panels, committees and partnership in which our staff were represented during 2014-15:

Bridgend Biodiversity Partnership Swansea Rural Development Partnership Carmarthenshire Biodiversity Partnership Vale of Glamorgan Biodiversity Partnership Ceredigion Biodiversity Partnership Wales Mammal Biodiversity Action Forum Coed Lleol Wales Squirrel Forum CWM Environmental / GrantScape grant panel WBP Grassland & Heathland Ecosystem Dowrog Grazing Association Group Dyfed Archaeological Trust members WBP Invasive Non-native Species Group Glastir Monitoring & Evaluation Stakeholders WBP Species Expert Group Llais y Goedwig WBP Wetlands Ecosystem Group Merthyr Tydfil Biodiversity Partnership Wildlife Trusts Wales Producer Group Mid Wales Red Squirrel Partnership WTW Living Landscapes Policy Group Mynydd Mawr Steering Group WTW Living Landscapes Delivery Group Pembrokeshire Biodiversity Partnership WTW Living Seas Group Pembroke Millponds Action Group WWBIC Board of Directors Skomer MCZ Advisory Committee Swansea Biodiversity Partnership 3.4 Consultation responses

Directly as WTSWW and also through contributions to Wales Environment Link (WEL) and Wildlife Trusts Wales (WTW), Conservation Team staff input into a large number of consultation responses during 2014-2015. This is a key mechanism by which we can

36 influence future policy and legislation in favour of the environment. Consultations in which we engaged included (but are not limited to):  The Environment Bill  Glastir  Nature Recovery Plan  Public Forest Estate  Skomer and Skokholm SPA extensions  Sharing the location of TB infected farms

CASE STUDY: Nature Recovery Plan

During 2014, Welsh Government consulted on their Nature Recovery Plan. They proposed an ambition “to reverse the decline in biodiversity and ensure lasting benefits to society by building the resilience of our ecosystems, by focusing on effective natural resource management”. The consultation suggested a number of mechanisms:

 putting in place effective natural resource management  delivering a Welsh National Marine Plan  facilitating cross-sector policy integration  funding our partners, identifying and using other financial instruments  reviewing designated sites and species  monitoring and reviewing regulatory instruments  encouraging effective communication and engagement  improving our evidence base

This was one of the most important consultations of the year, encompassing the future approach to the safeguarding and restoration of biodiversity and its place in government policy.

WTSWW worked with Wildlife Trusts Wales (WTW) to formulate its own response as well as a joint response with the other Welsh Trusts through WTW. Trust staff also fed in to other local responses, such as through local Biodiversity Partnerships, at a county scale.

WTSWW had serious concerns about the lack of detail in the proposals, the lack of definition of key terms such as natural resource management, and the failure to address major policy areas such as agriculture.

Continuing to input to consultations such as this one remains a key part of WTSWW’s advocacy work. Opportunities like this, to tie down the details of definitions and targets at an early stage can make the difference between success and failure for our wildlife. It represents an important mechanism by which we can try to influence Welsh Government policy at the development stage. We also work to engage with the public and with our members where we feel their involvement will be influential, by providing an easier to digest summary of the consultation proposals, and guidance and pro forma letters to help people respond as individuals, or liaise with their local assembly members over key issues.

Lizzie Wilberforce

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3.5 Wider Countryside Projects

This section details the results of just some of the larger wider countryside projects which we have delivered during the year. Each of these projects has received significant external funding, and employed dedicated Conservation Team staff time in their delivery. These projects are exemplars of our impact and reach, beyond the boundaries of our nature reserves, and exemplify delivery of landscape scale conservation, often taking an ecosystem approach.

3.5.1 SUDS in Swansea, for people and wildlife – Rose Revera

A natural water system is a finely balanced thing, relying on wetlands, ponds, trees and plants to slow down the journey of water into rivers to create a healthy home where people and wildlife can flourish. So what happens when we pave over these green areas? Water is no longer absorbed by soil and vegetation, and runs quickly off hard surfaces into rivers. In storm conditions, instead of being held back as it would be in a natural system, water is delivered to rivers in one hit, which can lead to devastating flooding, pollution and damage to wildlife.

With increased flooding and water pollution becoming a huge problem in our towns and cities, it has become clear that we need to change our ways and take action for our water environment. Sustainable Drainage Schemes (SuDS) are a way of mimicking this natural balanced water system in our towns and cities, whilst also creating an attractive place for both wildlife and people to live. They include ponds, wetlands, rain gardens, green roofs and living walls, all of which reduce the amount of water reaching rivers while creating a habitat for wildlife and a beautiful place for people to visit.

We have been working with Natural Resources Wales to identify areas in Swansea where SuDS can be created for the benefit of wildlife and the local community, for example, a pond in a local school or a rain garden in a community centre. We will then work with the local community in one of these areas to create a SuDS for people and wildlife which can act as a best practise example for creating more SuDS in the City and County of Swansea. This is currently a work in progress, so look out for updates in the next Conservation Team Report!

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3.5.2 Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project – Becky Hulme

The Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project began in May 2014; it is run by WTSWW on behalf of the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Partnership (MWRSP), which was established in 2002. The Partnership aims to expand and protect the unique population of Red Squirrels in mid Wales, one of only three significant Red Squirrel populations remaining in the whole of Wales.

The new project aims to work with local residents and landowners in the mid Wales Red Squirrel focal area, a designation awarded to the Tywi Valley area by the Welsh Government, due to its status as only one of three areas in Wales with a significant population of Red Squirrels. The main objectives are to spread awareness of the Red Squirrel and its conservation needs and to encourage evidence-based community-led Grey Squirrel control to compliment the efforts of NRW and private forest companies.

Once the project officer was trained, the project was launched at three awareness-raising events in local Community Centres throughout the project area. The events were supported by Jackie Foott, a chair of the volunteer group, Northern Red Squirrels. Jackie related her experience of Red Squirrel conservation in south Cumbria, where volunteer efforts have helped the Red Squirrel bounce back from a decline. The events were well attended and started the ball rolling in many parts of the focal area.

The project has since set up a regular e-news letter to keep volunteers and interested people up to date on project developments. A new website is also under construction, www.midwalesredsquirrels.org. The new website includes a Red Squirrel sightings facility, designed to encourage more people to report sightings of Red Squirrels in the focal area. Local Record Centres, West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre (WWBIC) and the Powys Biodiversity Information Service (BIS) have both contributed to mapping and historical Red Squirrel sighting information to be used on the new website.

Volunteers manned information stands at several events over the year, including Rhandirmwyn Show and the Co-operative store in Llandovery. Seven talks about Red Squirrel conservation were delivered to over 170 people. Six of these talks were public and openly advertised and 4 of the talks were delivered to private interest groups.

The greatest limiting factor to the expansion and future survival of the Red Squirrel is the presence of the Grey Squirrel. Thanks to Environment Wales project funding, and with help from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels, the project has set up a Trap Loan Scheme (TLS). The Scheme operates through a network of seven volunteer Local Co-ordinators. Local Co- ordinators are trained in Grey Squirrel control techniques and hold a store of trapping equipment and bait. This means that local people who want to get involved in Grey Squirrel control can have easy access to trapping equipment, training and support locally. The project held a TLS drop-in session in Llanfair Clydogau village hall in March, with 30 people attending; this will be replicated throughout the focal area in the coming year. Although many TLS members with experience are trained directly by their local Co-ordinators, other

39 people need a formal training course to build their skills and confidence. Four formal training sessions in Grey Squirrel control methods ran over the course of the year, training 35 people. The project also co-ordinated the creation of a short film about Grey Squirrel control techniques and how Grey Squirrel control relates to Red Squirrel conservation, for use when training new TLS members to best practice standards.

To encourage habitat improvements for Red Squirrels, the project officer attended a meeting of forestry companies which operate in the focal area. All agreed to redesign their 5-year management plans with Red Squirrels in mind. The project officer has since drafted a ‘tool box talk,’ a reference sheet for forestry contractors when undertaking forest operations to promote awareness of the presence of Red Squirrels and to encourage reporting of sightings.

The project has set up a camera-monitored feeding station for squirrels, known as a ‘camera trap’ at a property in the focal area where Red Squirrels have been previously sighted. Loan of remote cameras has been secured from NRW. The project intends to set up further cameras in the coming year.

3.5.3 Reconnecting our South Wales Water Voles – Nia Stephens

The ‘Reconnecting our South Wales Water Voles’ project began in January 2014 and ran for twelve months. The aim was to identify new Water Vole sites by working with private landowners in south and west Wales, and to identify work that could be done to benefit the species by enhancing habitats on private land.

Between April and October 2014, targeting areas with potentially the best Water Vole habitat (based on aerial photographs), 64 sites, covering a total of 2655.5 hectares were surveyed. Of these 64 sites Water Voles were present at 27 and overall 48 records of Water Voles were found.

The majority of the survey work was concentrated in the uplands of Ceredigion and all of the positive records were found in this area. Of the 48 positive records of Water Vole found, 45 were on privately owned land while 3 were on land belonging to WTSWW at Cors Ian, Llyn Eiddwen and Rhos Fullbrook.

The positive Water Vole signs were found on unshaded, slow flowing ditches or streams where the flow was almost imperceptible, or on ponds. The adjacent land use was almost always rough pasture described as upland marshy grassland dominated by Molinia caerulea. The majority of these sites appeared to be lightly grazed, mostly by sheep but in some cases by cattle and/or horses.

Many sites had a wide range of other plant species present, in particular Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) and Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus). Both Soft Rush and Yellow Flag Iris were often found in Water Vole feeding remains. On sites that had very little or no grazing, larger species were found in feeding remains such as Common Reed (Phragmites australis) and

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Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). One record was found on a pond in the middle of a conifer plantation where there appeared to be evidence of Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) in feeding remains.

Signs of Field Voles were almost always found at sites where Water Voles were present. No signs of American Mink were found at any site where Water Voles were present and none of the landowners had seen Mink on their land.

Most of the negative records within the main survey area were due to unsuitable habitat e.g. fast flowing streams or wooded watercourses. In some cases the absence of Water Vole could be put down to land use. Heavily grazed land bordering suitable ditches and streams meant a lack of riparian vegetation and sometimes trampling and poaching by livestock using the watercourse as a water source made potential habitat unsuitable. A site where Water Vole had been recorded in the past proved negative due to the ditch having scrubbed over.

Areas surveyed outside of the main target area e.g. in Pembrokeshire, were surveyed either due to the existence of old records or because landowners contacted the WTSWW to say that Water Voles were present on their land, or in some cases both. Despite many of these sites containing excellent habitat for Water Voles, for example Llangloffan Fen, Goodwick Moor and land bordering the Dowrog common, all of these visits provided negative results. In some cases evidence of the Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) was found and some of the landowners claimed to have sighted Mink and/or Otter on their land within the past five years.

Over the course of the project notes were made on potential capital works which could improve Water Vole habitat and improve connectivity between sites. One of the main positive management techniques identified was bank fencing of ditches, streams and ponds to avoid over grazing and trampling by livestock and to encourage a dense sward of bankside vegetation.

Right: the value of livestock exclusion to protect water vole habitat (Water Voles were recorded in the vegetated area of this ditch, but not the grazed and poached stretch).

The results of the survey confirmed that there remains a well distributed population of Water Voles in the uplands of Ceredigion. The project has shown that the Water Vole populations in the west of Wales appear to be mostly constrained to sub-optimal habitats in the uplands such as moorland, bogs, mires and rhos pastures. Whilst Water Vole appear to be fairly common in the uplands of Ceredigion, surveys of all

41 old sites in Pembrokeshire proved negative, suggesting that the species may have disappeared entirely from the county.

This project was funded by Welsh Government’s Resilient Ecosystem Fund, administered by NRW, with match funding provided by a legacy from Megan Jones.

3.5.4 Local Wildlife Sites in South East Wales– Carys Solman

In 2014, WTSWW received funding from the Welsh Government to carry out a one year landscape-scale grassland and heathland conservation project, in partnership with Gwent Wildlife Trust and twelve Local Authorities across the region.

The project tackled the problem of neglect and mismanagement of privately owned Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs), designated by Local Authorities for their high biodiversity value. We refer to these SINCs as Local Wildlife Sites, and they are the most important places for wildlife outside of statutory designated sites such as SSSIs and SACs. Unlike statutory sites they are currently afforded no legal protection, and as a result are being lost at an alarming rate through mismanagement and development. In order to help preserve these vital habitats and wildlife corridors, WTSWW and GWT each employed a Local Wildlife Sites Officer to engage with landowners and try to bring about a change in attitude and management.

Working in partnership, the two Local Wildlife Sites Officers met with over 100 landowners to survey their land, discuss its importance to wildlife, and offer site-specific management advice. Sixty four sites were assessed in detail and had necessary works priced up for future action, and seven of these sites were prioritised for immediate action.

These seven case study sites received funding for habitat restoration works such as fencing and scrub control, in order to restore the grassland habitats and make them easier to manage long term.

All landowners and interested parties also received general management advice in the form of Habitat Management Toolkits, which were produced as part of the project and will be available long-term.

Left: map showing the density of Local Wildlife Sites across the project area

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As well as working directly with landowners, the officers raised awareness amongst the general public through a series of events, articles and presentations, all aimed at promoting the value of these precious habitats and vital stepping stones across our Welsh landscape.

Above left: heavily scrubbed grassland site in Taffs Well. Above right: grassland restored by scrub clearance.

Left: Local Wildlife Site owners learning about conservation management at Parc Slip Nature Reserve.

3.5.5 Water Vole Conservation in Carmarthenshire - Rebecca Killa

WTSWW has worked for many years as part of the Llanelli Water Vole Action Group, partnered with Carmarthenshire County Council, NRW and others to survey, monitor and conserve the remaining Water Vole population in the wider Llanelli area. We have helped manage council land for Water Voles’ benefit, and undertaken habitat suitability surveys around Llanelli.

Most recently we have worked in partnership with NRW to contribute to the delivery of their aspiration to link the remaining Water Vole populations that stillexist in Llanelli and Pendine, some of the last in south Wales. This has involved the captive breeding of local stock Water Voles with a view to reintroducing them to suitable land around the estuary, expanding the resident population. To our great delight, our own nature reserve of Ffrwd Farm Mire was chosen as the target site.

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A landscape-scale assessment of American Mink was also undertaken. Mink are not native to the UK, and have proven to be a very effective predator of the Water Vole, which have no natural defence against the species (in contrast to our native predators). To address the potential threat of American Mink as well as habitat suitability at the reintroduction site, a landscape-scale Mink survey was delivered by WTSWW staff with NRW support. The survey used posters to encourage public reports of sightings, and monitored Mink survey rafts which we tethered on suitable watercourses, by working in partnership with private landowners through out the lower Gwendraeth valley. Fortunately this intensive piece of work showed far fewer signs of Mink in the area than expected, although there were many more signs in the area towards Llanelli itself than on the Gwendraeth.

Ffrwd Farm Mire was picked as the actual Water Vole reintroduction site due to its fantastic mix of wetland habitats, which make it ideal Water Vole habitat, and its proximity to the extant populations of the species round the Llanelli area. It is also well located within what was once a much larger wetland landscape; this accounts for a network of wet ditches that intersect the surrounding area. We have also worked hard in recent years, and in partnership with NRW, to improve the habitat condition.

The Water Voles necessary for the project were caught in the autumn of 2013 by NRW in the Llanelli area. Several trapping sessions were carried out and only the lighter individuals, deemed unlikely to survive the approaching winter, were kept back. These individuals were to be the breeding adults, and they were taken to a special facility in Devon to do just that.

August 2014 saw the return to Carmarthenshire of the 19 individuals from Llanelli, and close to 200 young Water Voles bred in captivity. The seasoned Water Voles already experienced at living in the wild were released straight away and quickly swam off into the reed bed. The rest were ‘soft released’. They were kept inside cages at the reserve for several days to acclimatise, whilst being fed food found in the locale. Finding something for the Water Voles to eat wasn’t difficult, as they have a very varied diet and are known to eat over 200 species of plant. After a few days the doors were left open, though the cages were left in place for several days after in case the Water Voles should feel the need to return.

Preliminary signs have been positive. Initially signs of Water Vole activity were recorded within hours showing them to be exploring and getting to know their new home. Their big test was last winter, however checks in spring 2015 showed plenty of Water Vole activity!

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During the summer of 2015 we shall have a 2nd release of Water Voles. These are from the same stock, but were thought to be too light last August to be released. They will go to another part of the reserve. We are also continuing to monitor Mink on the reserve and have worked in partnership with NRW and nearby private landowners and contractors to improve ditch habitats with a view to providing opportunities for our new Ffrwd Farm Mire Water Voles to disperse, in time, into the wider landscape. These are just the first steps in what will be an ongoing project to expand and increase the resilience of the Water Vole population at a landscape scale in south Carmarthenshire.

4. Marine Conservation

WTSWW has been able to deliver marine conservation with increasing effectiveness in recent years, thanks to our strengthening partnership with Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CMBWC) in New Quay, Ceredigion. CBMWC staff have been paid through WTSWW for some years but at the end of this financial year, the Centre finally merged fully into WTSWW operations. As well as CBMWC staff, CEO Sarah Kessell also invested significantly in marine work and projects during the year, and Sarah Perry and Lizzie Wilberforce contributed towards our all-Wales advocacy on marine issues through the Wildlife Trusts Wales Living Seas group. CBMWC continues to deliver a wide array of both long term monitoring projects, and fixed term funded research projects. It also benefits from a huge contribution in the form of dedicated and long term volunteers based at the Centre.

4.1 Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre – Sarah Perry

ShoreFin project Initiated in 2014, ShoreFin is the CBMWC’s dedicated land- based Bottlenose Dolphin photo-identification (Photo-ID) project whose aim is to build up an understanding of Bottlenose Dolphin site usage within the New Quay bay area, to find out which individuals visit New Quay bay and to find out more about the ecology and life history of these animals. The Cardigan Bay population of Bottlenose Dolphins is estimated to have 213-250 well marked individuals. A total of fifty-nine individuals were identified by the ShoreFin project suggesting that approximately 24-28% of the population use New Quay bay at some point during the field season (April to October).

A total of 23 hours and 35 minutes were spent photographing dolphins from land-based vantage points around New Quay bay, resulting in 214 encounters in which photographs of high enough quality to identify individuals were captured. The project successfully photographed 36% of the dolphin groups that visited New Quay bay, essentially those that came within range of the camera equipment being used. Of the fifty-nine animals identified by the ShoreFin project; thirty-three were matched to animals already in CBMWC’s existing Bottlenose Dolphin photo-identification catalogue. An average of 25 individual dolphins were identified each month and re-encounters of individuals averaged 8.5 times during the season.

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The study showed that dolphins allocated a high percentage of their time in New Quay Bay to foraging and potentially feeding, supporting claims that New Quay Bay is an important location for dolphins, rather than simply a migration corridor along the Welsh coast. In addition, dolphins spent a proportionate amount of time socialising in the bay, marking it as important for a variety of life history stages. As part of this project we were able to photograph and with the assistance of NRW identify dolphin prey species, thus providing us with an opportunity to explore Cardigan Bay dolphin dietary information in a non-invasive way as well as enabling us to find out the species of fish found within the local area. The varied species identified included Salmon, Mullet, Cod, Mackerel and Sewin (Sea Trout).

The presence of CBMWC researchers photographing dolphins was of clear interest to visitors and locals this season. The general public were keen to ask questions about individual dolphins, the identification process and the background of the project as well as to find out more about the dolphin population in Cardigan Bay.

The ShoreFin project helped raise awareness of the CBMWC and the variety of work carried out in the local area. The use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, provide an ideal opportunity for keeping the public updated on the progress of the project, information on new mothers and calves, the presence of familiar fins (regularly photographed individuals) in the bay help to keep the public engaged and interested in the local wildlife and to promote conservation efforts. CBMWC has an existing dolphin adoption program in place, and the ShoreFin Project has helped to maintain an updated account of the presence of the adoptable dolphins in the bay.

The full ShoreFin Project report is available from the CBMWC website - http://www.cbmwc.org/shore-fin-project/

During the 2014-15 season we conducted 930 land-based surveys from New Quay harbour wall, contributing a vast amount of data to Ceredigion County Councils Dolphin Watch Project. The Dolphin Watch project is a hugely successful and well established citizen science project providing members of the local community as well as our volunteers with the opportunity to learn new survey techniques as well as collect valuable data on the marine mammals sighted in inshore waters in Ceredigion. These surveys began in earnest on the 3rd April 2014 and the final survey took place on the 2nd November 2014 with our volunteers spending a total of 1860 hours surveying New Quay bay, collecting data with only 5 days over the field season when no land surveys were conducted. The data collected from all these surveys contribute to various research outcomes and publications including a bi-annual research report produced by Ceredigion County Council. The latest report detailing the 2010-2012 survey data shows that

46 compliance with local codes of conduct gave more positive responses (heading towards boats) by Bottlenose Dolphins and fewer negative response (heading away) and that compliance with the code of conduct was highest in the New Quay area despite this area having the highest levels of boat traffic.

Our long-term collaboration with local eco-tourism operator Dolphin Survey Boat Trips enabled us to conduct 287 vessel based surveys out into Cardigan Bay during the 2014 field season; venturing as far north as Bardsey Island and as far south as Fishguard during some of our All Day surveys. Our volunteer researchers spent 621 hours collecting data during vessel surveys and recorded a total of 1327 dolphins, 724 Atlantic Grey Seals, and 63 Harbour Porpoises during these surveys we also recorded jellyfish species and Sunfish during the field season. The longer surveys (4 hour and All Day surveys) enabled us to continue collecting data for our photo-identification project. Collection of dolphin acoustic data during boat surveys were also conducted when possible, adding valuable data to the catalogue of acoustic recordings that we have of the Bottlenose Dolphins in Cardigan Bay, a research project we have been collecting data for over the last few years in collaboration with researchers from St Andrews University.

For a number of years we have been collecting photographs of the Atlantic Grey Seals in the wider Cardigan Bay area and have been in discussion with members of Cornwall Seal Group. In 2014 the opportunity arose to initiate this project, to collate existing photographs of Atlantic Grey Seals and to begin to develop a photo-identification catalogue for the Cardigan Bay area. The seal photo-ID project therefore aims to create a catalogue of individuals photographed in Cardigan Bay area in order to learn more about their travelling habits and areas that are important to them, collaborating with other organisations working in the Irish Sea in order to learn more about their wider movements and areas of importance to this species.

Outreach & Awareness Our visitor centre opened its doors on 7th April 2014 and we ran or were involved in numerous outreach ad awareness events over the year. On Monday 14th April we conducted a 12 hour land-based Flipper and Fin watch from New Quay harbour wall to celebrate National Dolphin Day.

On 11th June 2014 we held our biggest environmental education event called “The Big Dip”. 51 pupils from three schools (Llanllwni, Llanybydder and Carreg Hirfaen) came for a morning of activities centred around rock pool animals and plants. The group was divided into three and rotated between the three activities of rock pooling, taking a closer look at rock pool creatures and seaweeds in our education room and playing a food chain game and learning about adaptations to survive in a rock pool environment.

In addition we attended a number of events, including the Aberystwyth Sea2Shore event on 16th August, the Pembrokeshire Show on 19th-21st August and on 29th October two volunteers represented CBMWC at Aberystwyth University’s first Green Fayre.

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In 2014 we were able to carry out litter picks on an almost daily basis. We have organised a number of larger beach cleans in conjunction with Keep Wales Tidy and Surfers Against Sewage and held beach cleans on special days such as World Ocean Day and during the Wildlife Trusts’ National Marine Week.

4.2 Future Fisheries - Sarah Perry

Our Future Fisheries project has enabled us to gain a much better understanding of the local fishing industry. This project has collated extensive amounts of fisheries landings data, and drawn together information relevant to the commercial fishing industry in Wales. This information, in addition to the outcomes from some analysis of the landings data has been used to provide us with a basic understanding of some of the fisheries in Wales some of the main findings are outlined here.

Vessels involved in the commercial sea fishing sector are found all around the Welsh coast, with different vessel types used; these include larger, greater than 10m, offshore vessels targeting fish species such as Bass, Turbot, Brill, Sole and Scallops. Smaller, less than 10m, inshore vessels operate in the coastal waters up to six nautical miles offshore and target a range of fish, in particular a wide range of shellfish species which are of commercial value such as Lobsters, Prawns, Spider and Brown Crabs.

Commercial fishing vessels in Wales are known to target a wide range of species (fish, crustaceans and molluscs) using a range of mobile (dredges and trawls) and static (nets, lines and pots) fishing gears. There are four main categories of fishing gear used by fishermen in Welsh waters including dredging, trawling, static gear and hand-gathering (including aquaculture). The main fishing gear types used in Welsh waters, how and where they are used and their target species are outlined in the full report.

The Welsh fishing fleet is primarily comprised of vessels in the under 10m size sector and these account for 90% of the fleet. In 2005 there were 410 under 10m fishing vessels and in 2012 there were 444 under 10m fishing vessels, registered in Wales with home ports in Wales forming approximately 93% of the Welsh fishing fleet. The number of over 10m fishing vessels has risen slightly in recent years from 26 in 2009 to 33 in 2012.

Analysis of fish species landed into Wales by Welsh fishing vessels showed that the landings diversity has changed over time with 51 different species recorded as landed in 1990 up to 77 different species recorded in 2010. An in-depth analysis of the species landed in 2012 suggests that the Welsh fishing fleet relies on a small number of species such as

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Whelks, Scallops and Lobsters which contribute 70% of the landings value. There is a variation in the importance of species landed in to ports in north and south Wales. Queen Scallops contributed 12% to the total value of landings and 9% to the total weight landed into ports in north Wales whilst in South Wales King Scallops were more important and contributed 25% to the total landings value and 20% to the total weight landed into ports in south Wales.

In south Wales in 2012 the greatest weight of fish were landed into the ports of Milford Haven, Fishguard, Sandersfoot and Aberystwyth. In Milford Haven Lobsters caught mainly in pots contributed the greatest (£729,491), to the total value of landings, in Fishguard King Scallops caught in dredges contributed the greatest value (£790,240), in Saundersfoot Whelks contributed the greatest value (£1.3 million) and in Aberystwyth King Scallops (£319,971) contributed the greatest amount to the total value landed into Aberystwyth by Welsh fishing vessels.

It is impossible to ascertain from the data available what the driving force behind the landings of different species is. We cannot say whether the landings are representative of the actual species available to catch but we can say that these are the species with a commercial value at the time that are being caught and landed by the Welsh commercial sea fishing industry.

The Welsh fishing fleet comprises mainly of fishing vessels in the under 10m sector; this suggests that the majority of fishing in Wales is small-scale and coastal. In 2012 three key fisheries were identified this included Cockle fisheries such as those found in the Burry Inlet, crustacean fisheries which are the mainstay of the Welsh fishing fleet and Bass fishery which is important to the south and west Wales fishing fleets.

The next stage of the project, funded by the Welsh Government Nature Fund is focusing on conducting an assessment of some of the Welsh fisheries. This will provide us with a more detailed understanding of the sustainability of fisheries in the south Wales area (south of Aberystwyth), identifying the more low impact fisheries in Wales. Up to date information on species biology, capture methods and current management measures have been used to form the basis of the assessment. The outcomes of this project assessment will contribute to informing some of our future living seas programme of work.

5. Campaigns

WTSWW, along with many Wildlife Trusts, runs high profile campaigns on conservation issues that are pressing either nationally or sometimes locally within their patch. Here we describe our work towards one campaign that has remained high profile in the last year.

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5.1 Badgers and bovine TB

During 2014-15 the public debate about the role of badger culling was fought primarily in England, with Welsh Government pursuing instead their policy of badger vaccination. WTSWW sought to support this policy over the last year, both by assisting with delivery of the policy and advocacy through positive coverage of the work.

Whilst badger culling is not currently Welsh Government policy, their alternative policy of vaccination continues to suffer continuous and high level pressure and criticism from pro-cull lobbyists. Therefore, whilst for us work on badger vaccination is less of a campaign issue at present, it remains key to both current and future campaigns by both ourselves and our partners. It is essential that we make a meaningful contribution to the delivery and understanding of the alternatives within our reach, namely badger vaccination.

WTSWW owns and manages four nature reserves within the Welsh Government’s own Intensive Action Area vaccination plot in north Pembrokeshire, and as a result of this WTSWW provided access to its land for Welsh Government vaccinators. We also hosted positive display materials in support of badger vaccination in the Welsh Wildlife Centre and promoted the badger found dead survey across Wales to our members and through social media. Conservation Manager Lizzie Wilberforce also sits on the regional TB Eradication Board for south west Wales, representing Wales Environment Link.

WTSWW’s own contribution to the programme was also underway during the year with the completion of the first of a five year programme of badger vaccination in Castle Woods nature reserve, Llandeilo. Castle Woods comprises 25 ha of steep hillside broadleaf woodland, providing ideal habitat for setts, some of which are extensive and well established; the nature reserve and surrounding National Trust land are well known for their badger populations. The surrounding land (not in WTSWW ownership) provides excellent foraging for badgers, and many of these pastures are cattle grazed, including by the National Trust’s herd of rare breed White Park Cattle.

WTSWW chose to undertake as much of the work as it could itself without licence- that is, the sett survey and supporting effort, whilst contracting out the vaccination work to EcoCon, a vaccination specialist. By doing this, we hoped to create a viable financial model of vaccinating at a single holding scale which could be used to encourage other landowners to take up vaccination.

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Trapping was very successful, with a total of 34 unique individuals vaccinated over the four nights, including 29 cubs. A significant number of re-traps occurred on the second night of each session. For example, on the first night of the second trapping session, 20 badgers were caught (including five traps that each contained two animals, normally cubs). We caught 14 in the same traps on the second night, only two of which were new individuals. On this basis we have good grounds for believing we successfully vaccinated a large proportion of the resident badger population. This work will be repeated for a further four years with the aim of achieving herd immunity to TB amongst the badger population.

We have been fortunate to benefit from financial support to undertake the badger vaccination work at Castle Woods. Fifty percent of the project costs are being met by the Welsh Government badger vaccination grant. The rest has been provided by WTSWW core funds, a badger vaccination appeal by WTSWW to its members, and funding from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

A full report of the 2014 vaccination including financial analysis is available on the WTSWW website. It is anticipated that the valuable information and experience that we gain through the delivery of badger vaccination on our own land will form a key part of any future campaigns necessary in relation to badgers’ role in TB epidemiology. We have also shared all our results with the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, for the benefit of the wider movement, and to support campaigns that are ongoing in England.

6. Media and public awareness

All of the Conservation Team are involved in media work to varying degrees during the year, working in partnership with other staff teams to deliver our message.

6.1 Media work

Figures from the Conservation Team staff alone show that they participated in 6 radio interviews, 15 television interviews, and around fifty local newspaper articles, with six making the regional press and one the national press.

6.2 Talks and presentations

Conservation Team staff delivered around fifty eight talks or presentations with total attendance estimated at 1300. This includes some large conferences including Unknown Wales.

6.3 Events

Events are run by many different departments within WTSWW, and a very large additional number by our local groups. The contribution of the Conservation Team is largely through events delivered in partnership, and through events held on our nature reserves. We have already covered those delivered on nature reserves; this section looks at wider public engagement through attendance at events run elsewhere.

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In the last year, Conservation Team staff were involved in 58 partner-led events, which due to their size reached a much greater audience than local reserve-based activities, and that audience is estimated at 9100.

Events held in partnership can include, for example, attendance at large national shows such as the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show (Llanelwedd) or British Birdwatching Fair (Rutland), the latter reaching over 20,000 people and engaging a critical audience for our Pembrokeshire islands. County shows and small local events are also an important component of our engagement work.

CASE STUDY: Cardiff Seabird Symposium, April 2014

When NRW stopped funding the long term study of Guillemots on Skomer by Professor Tim Birkhead in 2013, WTSWW’s Islands Conservation Advisory Committee felt that it would be appropriate to run an event to celebrate the international importance of the seabird monitoring and research that takes place on Skomer, the role that Skomer plays in our global understanding of seabird ecology, and the partnerships that make that possible. We also wanted to take the opportunity to raise the profile of the importance of long term data sets in determining past and future impacts of our decisions on the environment. Advocacy to prevent any future cuts to such important long term studies was at the heart of this approach.

We were fortunate to work in partnership with Cardiff University and Natur to deliver the event in early April 2014. WTSWW also had particular support from Professor Tim Birkhead of Sheffield University to arrange an agenda of speakers at the forefront of modern ornithology, from all over the UK, all of whom covered their own costs in order to attend and speak about the importance of the Pembrokeshire Islands. Iolo Williams was kind enough to join us for the day to open and close proceedings.

Invited delegates from NRW were in attendance, as well as other key professionals working in the environmental sector in Wales, filling the 50-seat venue. The event was a great success and demonstrated unequivocally the incredibly high calibre of research generated by those working on our islands. WTSWW is incredibly fortunate to benefit from such partnerships. Funding for such work remains under increasing pressure, but the importance of publicising its benefits in maintaining and attracting such funding remains clear, and this is a key role which WTSWW can continue to play.

Lizzie Wilberforce

6.4 Wildlife queries

Responding to queries about wildlife from WTSWW members and members of the public is an important area of work, facilitating others to become more interested and to do their bit for wildlife. Although difficult to record accurately, we believe members of the Conservation

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Team responded to around one thousand such queries over the year. We also engaged with other landowners seeking advice; we estimate seventy landowners were advised in total on issues relating to land management, influencing around 4000 ha of land in total. We also advised on a total of 116 Wildlife Sites.

Some of the most common queries related to habitat management on private sites, and came from smallholders or other landowners with an interest in doing more for wildlife. We also continue to receive a large number of wildlife sightings; these data we share with the relevant Local Records Centres. We also receive a significant number of calls about ‘problem’ wildlife such as squirrels in buildings, dealing with wasp nests, or fledglings that have fallen from nests. In all cases we endeavour too deploy our expertise to assist the caller to take the best action possible for wildlife.

7. Consultancy and contracts 7.1 Consultancy

A number of members of the Conservation Team also operate an ecological consultancy for WTSWW, headed by Rob Parry. This work holds its own budget and is not reported in detail here. However, the consultancy work is delivered by core staff and returns significant income which is re-invested in our conservation work. Through the consultancy we also operate a seasonal programme of professional training days based at Parc Slip which delivers against our charitable objectives as well as raising income for WTSWW.

CASE STUDY: Biodiversity audit of Three Crosses, Gower

WTSWW was first approached by The Village of Three Crosses Common Good Trust (‘the Trust’) in December 2013 to tender for undertaking ecological baseline surveys and community engagement work as part of the Trust’s ‘Biodiversity Audit of the Village of Three Crosses’ grant application to Environment Wales (EW). After a competitive tender process WTSWW was appointed by the Trust on success of the EW grant.

The Village of Three Crosses, which is located toward the east of Gower, south of Gowerton and west of Dunvant was the focus of the contract. The village is bordered by a diverse range of broad habitat types, including agricultural pastures, woodland, hedgerow, marshy grassland and meadows, with common land to the south and southeast. As well as housing and associated land curtilage, the study areas support a number of semi-natural habitats including semi-natural broadleaved woodland, hedgerows, scrub meadow and marshy grassland. In addition to these habitat types numerous green spaces exist, which are managed predominantly as amenity grasslands.

The rationale of the survey and report was to undertake an ecological survey of the various accessible and designated sections through the village, concentrating on vegetation, invertebrates, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The project had three main aims:

1. To provide baseline ecological data for the Village of Three Crosses 2. To provide recommendations and future management advice and proposals 3. To involve the community as much as possible with regard to surveys and future management proposals.

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Between April and September 2014 we carried out a range of surveys including breeding birds, reptiles, invertebrates, bats and botanical surveys throughout the village. In addition the community was encouraged to become involved in a variety of ways: public events were run such as moth nights, bat walks and butterfly walks which were well- attended and provided residents a greater appreciation of the wildlife present around them. A number of residents also offered their gardens as sites to run moth traps and camera traps to provide even more information about the nocturnal wildlife using them.

Alongside these specific surveys a wider-ranging survey of the village’s green spaces was carried out with extensive recommendations provided to councillors as to how the village could be further improved for wildlife and also how information about the wildlife present could be better communicated to local people with the use of interpretation panels etc. At the end of the contract a talk was given to the village outlining the findings of the surveys and explaining the potential recommendations identified in order that they could make informed decisions about the direction they wished to go in.

Vaughn Matthews

7.2 Contracting

The Conservation Team regularly carries out contracting work to bring in an income to support the work on WTSWW reserves. Using the skills within the team along with our tools and equipment by delivering appropriate contracts we can have a beneficial impact on the wider environment. These vary from the team in Vale & Valleys carrying out footpath improvements to benefit local communities, to the Pembrokeshire team managing five Environmental Mitigation Areas besides the A40 for civil engineering firm COSTAIN with the aim of enhancing these areas and creating valuable species-rich grassland and wetland habitats. The team delivers a variety of such work across the entire WTSWW area.

CASE STUDY: Generating income from woodland wellbeing and the wellbeing of people

When I look for contracting work for West Glamorgan Team I have a few objectives. Clearly the income we get from contracts will help support our reserves work, salaries and support costs, however I will not accept any contract just to draw an income. Thus the second objective is that the work is in-line with the aims and objectives of WTSWW: conserving habitats and inspiring people. The third and final objective is that the work must fit within the skill set of the team, if we are going to do a job we are going to do it well! We must also be able to find the time to deliver a quality ‘product’ alongside the delivery of project work and other obligations on our reserves.

Our annual contract with National Trust Gower restoring the coppice rotation in Bishopston Valley has continued. This work complements the woodland management work we do elsewhere on our Gower reserves brilliantly. It means that more hectares of Gower

54 woodlands are being brought into good management practice with wider benefits to the biodiversity and woodland wellbeing. It also fits the skill set of our staff and volunteer team (and we could not manage all this work without their efforts).

This contract perfectly complements our ongoing Gower Charcoal Makers project. Part payment for the National Trust contract is the cordwood which we haul to the kilns to make local Gower Charcoal. This project which supplies local shops and campsites brings a small income, keeps a traditional woodland activity alive and each of Gower Charcoal sold is one less bag of imported charcoal required, small scale maybe but still benefits to the environment on a global level. Last summer we sold over one tonne, or 400 bags of charcoal.

Over the last year health and wellbeing has been high profile on many people’s agendas and the links between the environment and benefits to people’s health are well known. Engaging with people of all abilities in our woodlands is high on WTSWW’s agenda, and we have been lucky enough to have had work running training courses in charcoal making and green woodworking demonstrations at events.

A significant contract I have been working on has been delivering conservation and green woodworking sessions for Coed Lleol’s Actif Woods Wales project. A slight departure from the norm for me, this project aims to improve health and well-being in people suffering from chronic health conditions, by facilitating the exploration of local woodlands. I have been working alongside health workers, bushcraft and woodland gym instructors. I am working at developing this from contracting to true partnership working.

Working from a sustainably harvested tree to a handmade finished product is good for both the wellbeing of the individual and the woodland. Inspiring people that management of our local woodlands is vital and that the materials harvested can be used to make quality products is important. Working with our volunteers or people with mental and physical health issues and sharing what I know are the positive benefits of being in the woods is incredibly satisfying and I feel privileged to be able to deliver this work as part of the WTSWW team.

Paul Thornton

8. Education

Education work undertaken by the Conservation Team occurs largely through our input to events and school visits to our flagship nature reserves. The greatest part was delivered through our partnership with Dow Corning, who fund our Education Officer, Cath Lewis.

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CASE STUDY: Cadoxton Ponds

WTSWW manages Cadoxton Ponds nature reserves, a fantastic 35 acre site owned by multinational chemical company Dow Corning. The reserve sits adjacent to the site’s manufacturing areas, with an education building suitable for school and community group educational visits and an appointed Education Officer. Dow Corning looks to establish closer links into the community and this is partly achieved through the Education Programme of Events with local schools.

Throughout 2014/15 the Education Officer has worked closely with Palmerston Primary School, just 3 miles from the reserve and manufacturing site. This has involved visits to Cadoxton Ponds by the children to enjoy pond dipping and nature lessons, as well as going into the school to become involved in their Eco Club projects, such as:

 Considering creatures needs by making mini nature reserves. The children talked through this with their peers at their following assembly.  Installing a bird feeding station and making suet balls with the children to start them off. The children now make and sell items at their school fayres to finance the ongoing bird food costs.  Installing a bug hotel in their school wildlife garden.

Apprentices at Dow Corning jumped at the chance to build a bug hotel for a local school when asked for their help. They designed a small mammal and bug hotel, building the frame work from recycled materials. This was then taken to the school for final assembly. The school children provided the finishing touches filling the gaps with lots of wildlife friendly material for creatures to shelter and live in.

Whilst close links will remain with Palmerston School there are already plans in place for a repeat of the ‘Bug Hotel’ project with another local when the new intake of Dow Corning Apprentices starts in September.

Left: Dow Corning apprentices constructing the bug hotel Right: Palmerston Eco Club and Apprentices completing the bug hotel

Cath Lewis

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9. Plans for 2015-16

The coming year will be an important one, with changes in legislation within Wales such as the coming of the Environment Bill, a key issue in which we must engage for the benefit of Welsh wildlife.

Budget pressures on the Conservation Team remain tight, with the still decreasing availability of project grant funds, many Welsh Government funding streams now also being under review, and a consultation on the future of the Landfill Communities Fund, which has supported so many of the projects detailed in this report. This squeeze on funding comes at a time when there is more than ever that we need to do, with the public sector investing less and less in wildlife and conservation.

We will continue to seek funds to support new projects and we hope that in the coming year we will be able to begin some new projects on nature reserves in Rhondda and in West Glamorgan as well as extending our existing efforts on projects such as south Wales’ Wildlife Sites and the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project. We will also be actively seeking funds to expand our Living Seas team based at the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre.

Our volunteers remain critical to our success and in the coming year we hope to build even more strongly on our existing, committed community of volunteers. We also hope to make further progress in developing our community engagement initiatives with the launch of our Woodland Wanders project and many others that focus on community action.

It looks to be a challenging and exciting year, and we look forward to reporting on our successes in 2016.

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Published by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales The Nature Centre Fountain Road Tondu Bridgend CF32 0EH 01656 724100 [email protected] June 2015

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