Carmarthenshire

Home , Ammanford, Kidwelly, Llandeilo, Llangennech, Llanpumsaint, Myddfai

Carmarthenshire

The vice-county of Carmarthenshire lies on the south coast of Wales and is bounded by Pembrokeshire to the west, Cardiganshire to the north, and Glamorganshire and Breconshire to the east.

The vice county has seen a huge reduction in the area of cultivated land in recent history: there was an 83% fall in the area of arable land in Carmarthenshire between the 1933-49 Dudley Stamp land use survey and the 1979-91 Phase 1 survey. However, arable farming still persists scattered across the vice county, particularly in the south and west.

There are a diversity of soil types in Carmarthenshire, though the majority fall into the broad soil category of clay. large areas where sandy soils are dominant.

Forty two out of 121 rare and threatened arable plants have been found in Carmarthenshire since 1996, giving a total Important Arable Plant Area (IAPA) score of 146. Three tetrads are considered to be of county importance for its arable plants.

Many species used to be more widespread in Carmarthenshire and have suffered with increasing intensification and conversion of cultivated land to pasture. The IAPA tetrad map provides a good baseline for targeting agri-environmental scheme measures and voluntary conservation measures. However, it is not a complete picture, the rotational nature of farming in Wales means that a field may only be cultivated for an arable crop for a couple of years and then rotated into a grass ley. Furthermore, species that are generally thought to be more widespread, such as corn spurrey and corn mint, may only be recorded at a hectad (10 x 10 km) scale which is too large to be useful for targeting conservation measures. Further survey is required for more accurate distributions of such species.

There is a need for additional surveys on holdings with historical records and current populations of arable plants. Survey data should be fed back to farmers, land managers and NRW Advisers where appropriate, suggesting changes in management to help sustain populations of threatened plants and potentially resurrect populations from buried seed.

Carmarthenshire 1933-1949 Arable Land Use

Land used for arable cultivation in the 1933- 49 period covered 12720 ha of Carmarthenshire, with the greatest concentration in the northwest of the vice county. Other areas with a high concentration of arable land include around Kidwelly, on the south coast.

The 1930s are considered a low point in arable land use and the coverage of cultivated land may have been historically much greater.

± 5 km

Carmarthenshire 1979-1991 Arable Land Use

Land used for arable cultivation during the 1979-91 Phase 1 habitat survey of Wales covered 2178 ha of Carmarthenshire, an 83% reduction since the 1933-49 land use survey.

Whereas the greatest concentration of arable land used to be in the north west of the vice county, by 1991 very little cultivation remained there. In 1979-91 arable farming was to be found mainly in the south and west of Carmarthenshire.

± 5 km

Carmarthenshire Soil Map

Carmarthenshire is dominated by soils which fall under the broad category of clay. Clay soils have the largest coverage in 572 tetrads.

Soils which fall under the broad category of sand are dominant in 98 tetrads. A band of sandy soils runs east west across Carmarthenshire, mainly composed of loam over Cretaceous red sandstone. There are also smaller areas of sandy Pleistocene drifts and sand dunes by the coast.

‘Other’ soils dominate 35 tetrads in Carmarthenshire. These are a mixture of peaty soils in the uplands, salt marsh and manmade soils, such as from mining spoil.

Contains Ordnance Survey © Cyfoeth Naturiol data © Crown copyright Cymru, 2014. © Natural and database right 2015. Resources Wales, 2015.

± 5 km

Corn Chamomile Anthemis arvensis

There are only two records of corn chamomile from Carmarthenshire, both of which are historical.

Corn chamomile, and the closely related alien Austrian chamomile Anthemis australis, are often components of annual seed or cornfield flower mixes. This creates uncertainty as to whether any given population is native or introduced. Given the age of these two records near Myddfai (SN73K), in 1963 and 1976, before widespread use of wildflower seed mixes, it is likely that they germinated from the soil seed bank.

Data maintained by the Contains Ordnance Survey Vice-County Recorder and data © Crown copyright and provided by the Botanical database right 2015. Society of the British Isles

and Ireland and accessed

from the BSBI Distribution ± Database 2015. 5 km

Stinking Chamomile Anthemis cotula

There are only two records of stinking chamomile from Carmarthenshire, one of which is historical near Court Henry (SN52R), the other was found in 1999 at Mynydd-y-Cerrig (SN51C).

There are no recent records of stinking chamomile in Carmarthenshire.

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed ± from the BSBI Distribution 5 Database 2015. km

Cornflower Centaurea cyanus

There are four records of cornflower on arable land in Carmarthenshire, two of which are naturally occurring from the soil seed bank. These two were recorded from St Clears in 1911 (SN21T and SN21Y). There have been no more recent occurrences of cornflower in this locality.

Other occurrences of cornflower in Carmarthenshire have derived from sown seed mixes with the most recent record from Llanpumsaint (SN42J).

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the data © Crown copyright and Vice-County Recorder and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed ± from the BSBI Distribution 5 Database 2015. km

Red Hemp-nettle Galeopsis angustifolia

There are two historical records of red hemp-nettle from Carmarthenshire without habitat descriptions which could well be from arable land. These are located on the outskirts of Carmarthen (SN42F) and Llanddeusant (SN72S) and were recorded in 1956 and 1960 respectively. Other records of red hemp- nettle from Carmarthenshire are all from coastal habitats and historical.

There are no recent records of red hemp- nettle from Carmarthenshire.

Downy Hemp-nettle Galeopsis segetum

There is a historical record of downy- hemp-nettle from Llangennech (SN50Q) from 1912. This species is now thought to be extinct in Wales.

Large-flowered Hemp-nettle Galeopsis speciosa

Large-flowered hemp-nettle was found in 1957 on the edge of a field at Penrhiwiar, near Rhandirmwyn (SN74P).

There are no recent records of large- flowered hemp-nettle in Carmarthenshire.

Corn Marigold Glebionis segetum

There is one recent record of corn marigold from the outskirts of Carmarthen (SN42A) and one historic record, from 1985, from the outskirts of Llanelli (SN50G).

There are many more occurrences of corn marigold across Carmarthenshire but they have only been recorded at the hectad scale and so have not been mapped here. However, most of these records are pre 1999 potentially indicating population decline.

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical

Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed

± from the BSBI Distribution

5 Database 2015.

Henbane Hyoscyamus niger

There are four historic records of henbane on the south coast of Carmarthenshire which are possibly from arable land. They are located in the tetrads SN31A, SN31Q, SN30W and SN50Q.

Henbane is more often associated with sandy waste ground and dunes than arable land in Wales. The records do not have associated habitat descriptions and occur in tetrads with both coastal/estuarine habitat and arable land, so it is not possible to determine from what habitat the records originate.

± from the BSBI Distribution

5 Database 2015. km

Darnel Lolium temulentum

There are two historical records of darnel from Carmarthenshire; however the Ferryside (SN31Q) record probably arose from bird seed and the Laugharne (SN20Z) occurrence was recorded as being a naturalised escape or alien but without a habitat description.

There are no recent or naturally occurring records of darnel from Carmarthenshire.

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the

data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and

and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical

Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed from the BSBI Distribution ± Database 2015. 5 km

Corn mint Mentha arvensis

The majority of the records of corn mint in Carmarthenshire are at the hectad scale (10 x 10 km) and therefore are not mapped here. As a consequence, corn mint appears to be severely under recorded here when compared to its presence in most of the hectads in the vice county between 1987- 1999. Further survey work is required to provide a more accurate picture of the distribution corn mint.

Of the more precise records from arable land, all bar one of them fall into the 1987- 99 date class and they are mainly located to the east and south of Llangadog.

Weasel’s-snout Misopates orontium

There are two records of weasel’s-snout from Carmarthenshire on arable land. In 1996 more than 50 plants were found in a swede field near Cencoed-uchaf (SN44Q). Weasel’s-snout has also been recorded across several years (1991 and 1999) at the Bigyn Hill allotments in Llanelli (SS59E).

Contains Ordnance Survey Vice-county Rare Plant data © Crown copyright Register provided by and database right 2015. Trevor Dines from 2007.

Data maintained by the ± Vice-County Recorder and 5 provided by the Botanical km Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed from the BSBI Distribution Database 2015.

Cornfield knotgrass Polygonum rurivagum

There are three recent records of cornfield knotgrass from Carmarthenshire: populations occur on arable land near Ammanford (SN61B) and Kidwelly (SN30Y and SN40H).

Polygonum rurivagum is difficult to distinguish from P. aviculare, plus its taxonomic treatment varies between authors, therefore it may often have been overlooked.

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the

data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and

and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical

Society of the British Isles

and Ireland and accessed

from the BSBI Distribution ± Database 2015. 5 km

Corn Buttercup Ranunculus arvensis

Corn buttercup has been recorded from one tetrad in Carmarthenshire in recent years. It was recorded from Carmarthen (SN42A) in 2003, though without any locality notes. This species has recently been included in seed mixtures, and this is thought to be the origin of this population.

± from the BSBI Distribution

5 Database 2015. km

Shepherd’s-needle Scandix pecten-veneris

There is one historical record of shepherd’s-needle from Carmarthenshire in 1905 at Llandovery (SN73S). There have been no more recent occurrences of the species in the vice-county.

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical

Society of the British Isles and Ireland and accessed from the BSBI Distribution ± 5 Database 2015. km

Annual Knawel Scleranthus annuus

The only recent records of annual knawel in Carmarthenshire come from east of Amroth (SN10Y). In 1996 annual knawel was found near Llandovery (SN73W) and there are other historical records also from the north east of the vice-county.

Small-flowered Catchfly Silene gallica

There are historical records of small- flowered catchfly from St Clears (SN21T and SN21Y) and Carmarthen (SN42A) that are potentially from an arable habitat, though an absence of locality notes associated with these records leaves some uncertainty.

Small-flowered catchfly occurs in several other habitats in addition to arable, such as costal and waste ground. It has been known to occur in these habitats in the vice- county, though they are not mapped here.

± from the BSBI Distribution 5 Database 2015. km

Corn Spurrey Spergula arvensis

The majority of the records of corn spurrey in Carmarthenshire are at the hectad scale (10 x 10 km) and therefore are not mapped here. As a consequence, corn spurrey appears to be severely under recorded when compared to its presence in most of the hectads in the vice county between 1987 and 1999. Further survey work is required to provide a more accurate picture of the distribution of corn spurrey.

Corn spurrey has been recorded from five sites in recent years:  Crosshands, in the west of the vice- county (SN12W);  east of Amroth (SN10Y);  Three Lords, north of Pendine (SN21K);  Llandeilo (SN62F);  and three fields at Penlan, north of Kidwelly (SN30Y, SN40D and SN40E).

± from the BSBI Distribution

5 Database 2015.

Field Woundwort Stachys arvensis

The majority of the records of field woundwort in Carmarthenshire are at the hectad scale (10 x 10 km) and therefore are not mapped here. As a consequence field woundwort appears to be severely under recorded when compared to its presence in most of the hectads in the vice county between 1987 and 1999. Further survey work is required to provide a more accurate picture of the distribution of field woundwort.

There are four recent records of field woundwort on arable land in Carmarthenshire: two from Penlan, near Kidwelly (SN30Y and SN40D); one from east of Amroth (SN10Y) and one from Dyffryn- Conin, Llandissilio (SN12A).

Contains Ordnance Survey Data maintained by the data © Crown copyright Vice-County Recorder and and database right 2015. provided by the Botanical Society of the British Isles Contains Plantlife and Ireland and accessed Important Arable Plant from the BSBI Distribution ± 5 Area database data 2015. Database 2015. km

Glamorganshire IAPA Status

Three tetrads in Carmarthenshire have a sufficiently high IAPA score to qualify as being of county importance. Two are located along the coast, whilst the third is along the border with Pembrokeshire. Records from naturally occurring plants between 1987 to 2015 were used in this analysis. Every effort was made to remove records that indicated the source of the population came from introduced seed, and those from a non-arable environment as many of the species may also grow on disturbed ground or short turf grassland.

The highest scoring tetrad, SS59E, is dominated by clay soils and had the species fine-leaved fumitory and wild pansy.

Tetrad SN10Y adjacent to Pembrokeshire is dominated by free-draining soils. The species that contribute to its IAPA score are annual knawel, corn spurrey and field woundwort, the records of which all come from Telpyn Farm.

Tetrad SN12A also has corn spurrey and field woundwort, but most of the records are located n the Pembrokeshire side of the border.

Contains Ordnance Survey Vice-county Rare Plant data © Crown copyright Register provided by and database right 2014. Trevor Dines from 2007.

Contains Plantlife Data maintained by the

± Important Arable Plant Vice-County Recorder and 5 Area database data 2014. provided by the Botanical Society of the British Isles km and Ireland and accessed from the BSBI Distribution Database 2013.