Gwent Wildlife Trust

Gwent Wildlife Trust
Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gwent
WILD ABOUT GWENT
JANUARY 2016
Creature Comforts?
The Challenges of an
Outdoor Existence
Hedgehog (Richard Bowler)
Charlene Davies, GWT Water Vole Project Officer
The storm starts, when the drops start dropping;
When the drops stop dropping then the storm
starts stopping. Dr Seuss
This year, the UK could be in for a bitterly cold and snowy
winter due to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which
experts have said is at its strongest for decades. It is thought
that Britain could be facing the most savage winter in more
than fifty years. But what does this mean for our wildlife?
Winter Robin
(Stewart McDonald)
There are only three British mammals that hibernate to avoid
the harsh conditions that ensue during the winter months:
bats, hedgehogs, and dormice. Hibernation is an extremely
useful adaptation and provides an increased chance of
survival during a time when resources are scarce. Animals will
enter a state of inactivity, lowering their metabolic rate and
therefore negate the need to brave the harsh conditions in
search of food. They drop their heart rate and breathing down
to a fraction of the normal value and their body temperature
will drop also. Prior to hibernation, animals may forage
relentlessly to build the fat stores that will help them survive
the winter months.
However, most British mammals do not spend their winters
in a sleepy state and have to brave the elements, and our
magnificent marshy mammals are amongst these!
Water voles do not have any physical adaptations to help
them survive the winter months. In fact water voles suffer
very high winter mortality rates, particularly amongst
dispersing juveniles, with recorded losses of up to 70% of
the individuals of a population during this time. Young water
voles can weigh as little as 30g when born and since studies
show that juvenile water voles need to attain a weight of
170g to survive winter, not all litters, particularly those
born late in the season, will be in a good position to survive
until the following year. Although they do not hibernate,
they spend long periods of time within their nest chambers
cohabiting with other members of their colony. They need
to find food through what can be very harsh conditions and
during this period, the bark and roots of woody species such
as willow are eaten, as well as roots, rhizomes and bulbs of
herbaceous species. They have even been observed climbing
into the branches of low growing shrubs such as hawthorn
and elder, to consume the young leaves and bark. Similarly
to squirrel caching, water voles may also store pieces of cut
vegetation within their burrow systems in preparation for the
winter months. > P2
Gwent Wildlife Trust, Seddon House, Dingestow, Monmouth NP25 4DY
Tel: 01600 740600 Fax: 01600 740299 Email: [email protected] Web: www.gwentwildlife.org
Reg Charity No: 242619 Limited Liability Company No: 812535
Top left: Mating Common Blues (Ray Armstrong)
Gillian Ormiston – Corporate 50
Challenge winner
2015 Corporate
Challenge went
swimmingly…
We’re delighted to announce Gillian
Ormiston of Bluebird Bookkeeping as
the winner of our fundraising challenge
for businesses this year.
Gillian grew her £50 seed fund to £306
through a sponsored swimming challenge.
Congratulations and thanks to Gillian and
all the other businesses that took part.
Over £1,000 has been raised through the
challenge so far, with funds still coming in.
…And more
swimmers supporting
Gwent Wildlife Trust
Or more accurately, aquathletes! We would
also like to thank Monmouth Triathlon
Club and all the participants in their 2015
Monmouth Challenge Aquathlon for the
donation of £150 from the proceeds of their
annual event. People from throughout the
region competed in the 1km or 1.5km swim
in the River Wye in Monmouth, followed by
a 12k run along the banks.
Richard Newhouse of Monmouth Triathlon
Club presents a cheque to Ian Rappel
GWENT WILDLIFE TRUST x WILD ABOUT GWENT
Water shrew (Ray Armstrong)
< P1 But it is not only food that becomes
an issue at this time of year. As the
vegetation dies back, their burrows are
left exposed to both predators and the
elements. The increased rainfall can lead to
rising water levels, which can flood burrows
and leave them unusable, forcing the water
voles out of their safe areas and leaving
them more vulnerable to predation. Water
voles have a preference for steep banks
and inhabit a series of burrows, which
include entrances higher up the bank; they
can even have entrances up to 5m away
from the water’s edge that will cut almost
vertically into the bank. This is likely to
afford them some protection should the
water levels rise.
To counterbalance this and to ensure
populations survive, water voles have a very
simple strategy: they breed and breed and
breed! In fact they can have up to five litters
in one breeding season, each of which could
contain up to six young. That means that
a single breeding female may have up to
thirty offspring in one year! And since the
young leave their parents after twelve days
and are sexually mature after twelve weeks,
those born early in the season could even
mate that very same year!
Similarly to the water vole, the water shrew
is a semi-aquatic rodent occupying a similar
ecological niche. It doesn’t hibernate either;
they remain active all through the year.
They too have an intense breeding season,
which lasts from April to September,
during which time they may produce 2-3
litters each with as many as fifteen young!
This means that in a really good year, a
breeding female can produce as many as
45 offspring! Aside from this behavioural
adaptation, they also have a physical
adaptation to help ensure the survival of
populations; the fur is denser than in other
shrews, efficiently insulating them against
the cold and wet, enabling them to dive for
aquatic prey even in mid-winter!
Reens in winter (Richard Waller)
Even those animals that do hibernate
face problems of their own. The change in
climate has caused seasonal variations to
be less distinct. More and more frequently,
we seem to be having warm spells during
the winter and milder autumns. I recall
leaving my house last Christmas morning
to what felt like a spring day! The increased
temperatures act as an indicator for animals
to arise from their state of torpor. This can
have really negative repercussions for the
animal since waking up from hibernation
expends energy. And once awake, food
supplies are still very limited. Thus they
have expended energy that they will
struggle to replace and this could reduce
their chances of winter survival.
Weather is a great metaphor for life –
sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad,
and there’s nothing much you can do about
it but carry an umbrella.
Pepper Giardino
Unfortunately our wildlife don’t have that
luxury; life is pretty tough when you are a
small furry mammal facing the challenges
that Mother Nature presents! So while
you are tucked up with a nice warm hot
chocolate, or relaxing eating mince pies in
front of the fire this winter, spare a thought
for our furry friends whose winters are not
quite so cosy!
Furnace to Flowers – have a blast (GWT)
In addition to the £120,000 initial funding,
the flagship site will also receive £15,000
in 2016 for continued activities with local
people, especially focusing on those aged
12 to 25. The site will become the national
example for how people and partner
organisations can turn spaces into beautiful,
inspiring and colourful wildlife havens.
xxxxxxx
Wildly good result for Ebbw
Vale as ‘Furnace to Flowers’
wins Grow Wild vote
GWT’s Furnace to Flowers project in
Ebbw Vale has been announced as
the Grow Wild flagship site for Wales,
winning the public vote to receive
£120,000 funding.
The site will transform parts of the former
Ebbw Vale Steelworks site into a space
flourishing with wild flowers for both people
and wildlife. None of this could have been
possible without the hard work of GWT staff,
Trustees, Wildlife Trusts and partners so we
give a massive thank you to all involved in
helping us realise Furnace to Flowers!
Furnace to Flowers is a project led by GWT
that aims to engage communities through
to Flowers. Your support will allow us to
turn our vision into a reality and provide
the benefits we know the project will bring
to local people. The site will provide a
legacy for those who worked in the Ebbw
Vale Steelworks, create a wild flower
oasis for those who have lived with the
consequences of deindustrialisation, and
inspire future generations.”
sowing and growing native wild flowers, to
transform the extensive steelworks site by
creating a corridor of colour from spring to
autumn. Sensory gardens, adventure areas,
and places to simply relax will be created
as part of this exiting project. The project
aims to boost local pride by providing
opportunities for everyone to get involved.
While not only engaging all communities
within Blaenau Gwent, the project will
also showcase the benefits to other
communities throughout the Welsh valleys.
Veronika Brannovic, GWT Project Lead for
Furnace to Flowers said, “We would like
to thank everyone who voted for Furnace
The voting campaign saw 17,521
people cast their vote for their favourite
shortlisted site and Furnace to Flowers
received over 48% of the votes.
GWT’s Furnace to Flowers will run
alongside the winning project in Northern
Ireland. Both projects follow Grow Wild’s
England and Scotland flagship sites, Tale
of Two Cities in Manchester and Liverpool,
and Water Works in Barrhead. Each site is
designed to inspire Grow Wild participants,
involve young people and leave a lasting
footprint of the programme in England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For more information on our project, go
to www.gwentwildlife.org/what-we-do/
projects/furnace-flowers.
Everyone here at GWT would like to give a
huge thank you to the Ebbw Vale and local
community, Ebbw Vale Works Museum,
Blaenau Gwent County Council, Breaking
Barriers Community Arts, Wildlife Trusts
Wales and The Wildlife Trusts, Smithgrind,
Michael Sheen, Iolo Williams and to
everyone else who helped us during the
public vote. Finally we would like to thank
our members and everyone who voted and
shared the love for Furnace to Flowers.
Beautiful butterflies (Kathy Barclay)
Thanks go to Caroline Williams – our hugely talented and longstanding volunteer at Magor Marsh who has excelled herself
by creating this beautiful work of art to adorn our nature table
at Magor Marsh.
Words can’t really express how appreciative we are of this
masterpiece that not only accurately represents the detailed
markings of our native British butterflies and flowers but also
depicts the insects’ seasonal emergence.
Astonishing in so many ways, Caroline –
thank you.
January 2016
Llangattock sunrise (Alan Coles)
Magor Marsh water vole (Sean Crabbe)
Rewilding Gwent?
Chris Reed,
GWT Assistant Reserves Officer
Veronika Brannovic,
GWT Eastern Valleys Living
Landscape Manager
Within the conservation movement, and
indeed beyond, there is an ongoing and
often heated debate around ‘rewilding’.
Many associate the term with sometimes
controversial characters such as George
Monbiot and Chris Packham – in fact, the
book Feral by George Monbiot was the
catalyst for establishing the new charity,
Rewilding Britain. Here at Gwent Wildlife
Trust, the topic has been raised and sparks
interesting conversations, so we thought it
was time to explore what rewilding is and if
it is relevant to our work. Some of the staff
working in the Eastern Valleys region have
attended conferences in 2014 (Wilder by
Design) and 2015 (Wild Things) hosted by
the Sheffield Hallam University and so have
been able to follow the emerging themes.
Firstly, what do we mean by rewilding?
The term itself means different things to
different people. Some think rewilding is
the same as abandonment, that we leave
nature completely to its own devices. For
others, there is concern that rewilding would
mean clearing all trace of people from an
area, creating human-free zones in order to
reintroduce predators such as lynx or wolves.
According to their website, the Rewilding
Britain mission is ‘the mass restoration of
ecosystems in Britain, on land and at sea’
Their mini manifesto outlines their key aims
as to:
•reverse the loss of biodiversity in large
core areas of land and sea;
•reintroduce key missing species, including
GWENT WILDLIFE TRUST x WILD ABOUT GWENT
the lynx and wolf;
•restore ecosystems to a functional and
resilient state;
•reignite people’s passion for the natural
world;
•revitalise local economies in ways that
work ecologically;
•reintegrate nature and society for the
benefit of both.
All of these things are important and
necessary to some degree. The debate over
the introduction of predators is complex
and possibly a topic for another article.
However, the reintroduction of key species
into ecosystems is relevant and already part
of conservation in Gwent – one of our most
successful conservation projects recently
has been the reintroduction of water voles.
The first aim, to reverse the loss of
biodiversity, goes beyond the current rhetoric
emerging from governments to “halt the
decline” or “have regard for biodiversity”. Is
that enough? In his impassioned speech to
the Senedd in 2013, Iolo Williams called on
politicians, indeed all of us, to take strong
action to reverse the serious decline in
species that we are witnessing. In the words
of John Lawton, during a speech at a recent
conference in Bristol, “You know what you
need to do – provide more spaces for nature,
make current wildlife sites bigger and better,
join them up and inspire people to want to
take action to protect them.”
There are already lots of examples of
rewilding the landscape, some led by Wildlife
Trusts and others by organisations with whom
we work closely: the Pumlumon Project being
delivered by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust,
Plantlife’s road verges campaign, The Great
Fen and Hedgehog Street – all introduce
the concept to a wider audience and provide
inspiration for further positive action.
So, what might rewilding mean in Gwent?
No-one is under the illusion that we can
return to some idyllic dream of an island
covered in woodland and filled with bears,
boar, and wolves (although that would
introduce an element of excitement
to countryside strolls!). Through the
development of our Living Landscape
programmes – Usk to Wye, Gwent Levels
and Eastern Valleys – we are imagining
and aiming to create the conditions that
will enable wildlife to thrive and adapt to
whatever the future brings. There is no one
size fits all – each region is different and will
require specific approaches to ecological
restoration, such as targeted control of
invasive, non-native species, optimising
grazing levels, creating buffer zones, and
rewilding rivers.
Key to reversing the decline of biodiversity
is the rewilding of people. This is an
area that many individuals working in
conservation struggle with because they
already have a deep connection to the
intrinsic value of nature. Why wouldn’t
everybody love nature as much as we
do? The way we communicate about
conservation and inspire people to get
closer to wildlife is another big topic. In
Gwent, we aim to inspire people in many
ways – for instance, through our programme
of events and workshops, opportunities
to volunteer and working with schools.
We also work with partner organisations
and landowners, such as local authorities,
Natural Resources Wales, and the farming
community to help manage land for wildlife
and people to thrive. Ultimately, we need to
inspire a change in behaviour and mind-set
– no small feat. Hopefully, this article will
have sparked some thoughts and perhaps
questions. If you’d like to know more about
anything mentioned, please get in touch.
Camera Hacking
Arduino board, and set Margaret the task
of reading the Dummy’s Guide and writing
the programme to make them work at the
right time and in the correct order.
Several emails and visits to the workshop
later, we had a sort of time lapse of
the clouds above our home. So now, by
trial and error, we could take a series of
pictures, and by tweaking the programme
we could vary the interval between each
photo.
Next, we added relays, and extended the
programme so that once the battery was
connected the camera would switch itself
on, take several pictures, switch off, and
then repeat the process until the battery
was disconnected. Again we tried Robert’s
patience, but got there eventually!! We
tested this in the field as well.
Success – an adult badger feeding
from the baking tray (John Stevenson)
We put our hacked camera inside a
plastic food box, connected it to a twelve
volt battery, covered it with camouflage
sheeting, and put it in the bottom of a
hedge using the same baking tray as
before, but this time with dog food on
it as bait. The first night we got photos
of various dogs and their owner’s feet,
which at least told us that the camera was
working, but imagine our excitement when,
on the very last frame, there was a small
badger. And the next night, we got an
adult!
John Stevenson,
GWT Volunteer Mink Monitor
My wife, Margaret, and I are volunteer
mink monitors with GWT’s Water Vole
project based at Magor Marsh and
the wider Gwent levels. One day, as
we were checking our mink monitoring
floats, I got into conversation with a
local landowner who had evidence of
an animal trail through his hedgerow.
He was convinced it had been made by a
wild cat that had escaped from Whitson
Zoo many years ago. Of course I was
sceptical, but he agreed to let me put out
a baking tray with a small amount of clay
on it to attempt to gain an impression of
the footprint of the mysterious animal.
Success at the first attempt! I was pretty
sure it was a badger print and several more
knowledgeable members of GWT confirmed
this. In fact Paul, a local gamekeeper, said
he knew the vet who had overseen the
euthanizing of the big cats, and that nothing
had escaped!!
As we had taken part in the camera hacking
course run by Robert Keyes at Magor
Marsh earlier in the year, we enlisted his
help to rig up a DIY camera trap. During the
course, we had learned how to safely cut off
the top of an old digital camera and attach
wires to the on/off switch and shutter
mechanism, so that it could be activated
from a distance. We naïvely thought that
was the most difficult part accomplished:
after all, what could be more difficult than
After searching through hundreds of
pictures to find anything worth looking
at, we quickly realised we needed to put
in some sort of sensor so that when the
beam is cut (hopefully not by a big cat) the
camera would switch on, take a designated
number of shots and then switch off until
the beam is broken again. We learned how
to add an infra-red sensor.
John at work
(Margaret Stevenson)
learning how to solder when your fingers
aren’t as nimble as you would like? Then
we encountered Arduino. If you haven’t
heard of them either, according to their
official website “Arduino is an open-source
electronics platform based on easy-to-use
hardware and software. It’s intended for
anyone making interactive projects.”
Robert had been experimenting with various
projects and the first task he set us was to
take pictures of the clouds. He showed me
which bits needed to be connected to the
After seeing the marvellous pictures
on ‘Spring Watch’, we would like to try
an underwater camera (possibly on a
budget?). At last July’s Magor Marsh
Open Day, we field tested Mark I, with
limited success, partly because the lights
weren’t strong enough for the murky
water, and partly, because one of Robert’s
‘helpers’ accidentally connected it up
incorrectly when changing the battery
over! Fortunately the only casualty was the
camera. But we’ll be trying again.
Our thanks go to Robert, who has shown a
great deal of patience with two aging mink
monitors. If anyone is interested in joining
us, or if you have an old digital camera that
you could donate, please contact me on
[email protected] or drop
the cameras off at Magor Marsh.
John is the Welfare Officer for the
Newport Royal Navy Association. If
there are any ex-Royal Navy personnel
out there, he’d be delighted if you got in
touch.
January 2016
Usk to Wye PAWS
Restoration Project
Andrew Nixon, GWT Usk to Wye
Living Landscape Manager
GWT recently entered into an exciting
new project partnership with the
Woodland Trust.
The PAWS Restoration Project is a pilot
initiative that will run until May 2016.
PAWS stands for Plantations on Ancient
Woodland Sites. These are areas that
have a long history of woodland cover.
They are ancient semi-natural woodlands
on which the original woodland was
cleared, and replaced by a plantation,
usually conifers. They typically have
remnants of species-rich broadleaved
woodland in sub-optimal condition due to
the historic felling and replanting.
However, with the right management,
it is possible to return these areas to
wildlife-rich woodland sites relatively
rapidly. Thinning and removing conifers on
these sites enables remnant ground flora
to spread, and seeds of wildflowers and
native trees are given the opportunity to
germinate again. This provides benefits to
both our wildlife and our landscapes.
Margaret’s Wood (Lauri Maclean)
Over the next seven months, GWT will
be visiting woodland owners within a
project area that covers part of the
Trothy and Wye Catchments, just south
of Monmouth. If the trial works, we
will seek to roll out the project across
Monmouthshire. Our very own Andy
Karran, GWT Local Wildlife Sites Officer,
will meet with landowners, survey
their woodland, and provide advice
and management recommendations.
Opportunities for woodland creation and
expansion as well as management of
ancient trees will also be looked at and
supported.
We would like to hear from woodland
owners across Monmouthshire, so if
you own a woodland or you would like
to create woodland, please get in touch
with Andrew Nixon on 01600 740600
or [email protected]
GWENT WILDLIFE TRUST x WILD ABOUT GWENT
Welsh Wildlife
Heroes Project
Anna Guzzo, GWT WWH Project Officer
Thanks to the Welsh branches of The
Co-operative who donated their singleuse carrier bag charges to Wildlife
Trusts Wales, GWT and project officer,
Anna Guzzo, were able to carry out
an exciting project – Welsh Wildlife
Heroes. Anna concentrated on barn
owls and pollinators, looking to make
a difference to these species while
engaging the local community to help.
The Barn Owl project identified eight
sites within Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen,
suitable for the installation of nine new
barn owl boxes. These installations were
accompanied by a monitoring programme
and increased public awareness to the
plight of barn owls. With its heart-shaped
face and pure white underparts, the
barn owl is a distinctive and much-loved
countryside bird. This bird has suffered
declines through the 20th century and is
thought to have been adversely affected by
organochlorine pesticides such as DDT in
the 1950s and ‘60s. Current data suggests
there are 4,000 UK breeding pairs, and
the species has an amber conservation
status. Suitable sites for the boxes were
selected by local experts and the Business
Resource Centre collaborated to offer a
local carpentry course to young people to
build some of the boxes and supply kits for
further building. GWT staff and volunteers
worked to install the boxes. Steve Carter,
a local nest box checker and bird ringer,
has begun monitoring the boxes. Due to
the timing of the installations, we were
not expecting any breeding pairs last
summer, but were delighted to discover
tell-tale signs of interest or habitation by
tawny owls, barn owls and possibly little
owls. However, part of Steve’s monitoring
included assessing existing boxes, and
volunteers of the WWH project were able
to witness sightings of wild barn owls and
their young.
The Pollinator project developed six
demonstration sites to enable an
improvement in wildflower diversity and
Blaina Coop children making owl masks
(Julian Vallance)
Barn owl (northeastwildlife.co.uk)
pollinator overwintering sites. The health
and declining populations of bees and
other pollinator numbers are increasingly
highlighted as a cause for concern in
the UK and globally. The main areas
of concern are land-use intensification,
habitat destruction and fragmentation,
disease, the use of agro-chemicals and
climate change. Bees in particular capture
the public imagination and gardens offer
many opportunities to benefit a range of
pollinator species. One example is the
Ebenezer Heritage Community project
– this site is a recently refurbished
community space next to Ebenezer
Chapel in Pontnewynydd. Work was done
on the graveyard grassland to encourage
the growth of yellow rattle, yarrow and
seal heal. Both projects have successfully
engaged hundreds of adults and children,
as well as recruiting new volunteers.
Wye Valley Ramblers meet Levellers (Rob Waller)
Rambler’s Book Builds
Bridges
Over the last year, the Lower Wye
Ramblers (LWR) have generously
donated £3,000 to Gwent Wildlife
Trust to enable us to improve access
on our many sites that have free public
access. The donation was funded by
the successful sales of the LWR’s
excellent local guide book, Lower Wye
Rambles, the profits from which have
been dedicated to the improvement of
public access on footpaths in the area.
The cheque presentation was made by
Allan Thomas, the editor of the book,
to GWT on a recently built footbridge
at the Magor Marsh site, watched by
LWR Chairman Jackie Colclough, LWR
members Bill Price, Maurice Turner, and
Anne Tyler, and volunteers from GWT’s
‘Gwent Levellers’ group, Gwyn Allsopp,
John Postill, Margret Renshaw, Gwyn
Millward, Jenny Rondel, Jane SmithHaddon, and Matthew Swattridge.
“This generous donation from the lower
Wye Ramblers is enabling some much
GWT
Subscription
Increase
As 2015 ends, we can look back
on our fundraising activities for the
year. We were particularly delighted
with the results of our subscription
increase.
Richard Bakere,
GWT Reserves Officer
In the past, funds from booklet sales have
been donated to both Gloucestershire
and Monmouthshire county councils.
First published in 2004 and now in its 4th
edition, the book describes sixteen walks
in the Wye Valley between Chepstow and
Monmouth on both sides of the river and
to date has sold about 8,000 copies (see
LWR website www.lowerwyeramblers.
co.uk for purchasing details).
Sleepy rabbit on gorse
(Andrea Plumpton)
A brand new gate at Springdale
(Rob Waller)
needed access improvements to take
place on several of Gwent’s nature
reserves. Coupled with the excellent
support of volunteers, this will make a
real difference to anyone visiting the
nature reserves,” says Richard Bakere,
GWT Reserves Officer.
The donation has helped enable works
across the county, including at Magor
Marsh where a new pedestrian bridge
and many repairs and improvements to
the boardwalks and gates have taken
place. Elsewhere new gates have been
hung at Springdale farm and much
needed boardwalk repairs at Dan-y-Graig
will all have been helped by the donated
funds.
Almost everyone was very welcoming
and we had a fair bit of positive
feedback. So we owe a big thank you
to our entire membership for their
generosity and patience while we went
through the motions. Not everyone
decided that the increase was for
them, and we were pleased to be
able to accommodate their choices.
We definitely had some hair-tearing
moments with our database and
processes, but we’re out the other end,
so all’s well. The only members yet to be
affected are a handful of annual givers
who will receive their notices during
early 2016.
Other News
You’ll have noticed our new look Events
Guide enclosed with your magazine. We’ll
now be issuing the Events Guide three
times a year but all our events will still
be online, so you can still book onto your
favourite courses without having to wait for
the next edition.
And just to remind you that Welsh Wildlife
is available online at www.gwentwildlife.
org/what-we-do/welsh-wildlifemagazine.
January 2016
£2.8 million Heritage Lottery
funding for the Gwent Levels
Gemma Bodé, GWT Gwent Levels
Living Landscape Manager
Toad (Mike Kilner)
LOCAL GROUP CONTACTS
Abergavenny Local Group
Keith White 01873 852036
[email protected]
Blaenau Gwent Local Group
Jeff Smith
01495 371423
[email protected]
Chepstow Local Group
Hilary Lee 01291 689326
[email protected]
GWT Office
01600 740600
[email protected]
Monmouth Local Group
Alison Willott 01600 740286
[email protected]
Torfaen Local Group
Vicky Hannaford
01495 759139
[email protected]
Usk Local Group
David Gale 01291 673141
[email protected]
Wildlife in Newport Group
Roger James 01633 263374
[email protected]
We are very pleased to be able to tell
you that £2,865,300 has been secured
from the Heritage Lottery Fund
(HLF) for the Living Levels Project in
which Gwent Wildlife Trust is a key
partner. The funding has come from
HLF’s Landscape Partnership Fund
and helps forge new partnerships
between public and community bodies,
ensuring people are better equipped
to understand and tackle the needs of
their local landscapes.
The Living Levels Project, covering the
unique landscape of the Gwent Levels,
has multiple partners that include
GWT, the RSPB, Monmouthshire and
Newport Local Authorities, Bumblebee
Conservation, Cardiff Story Museum, and
Natural Resources Wales.
The Gwent Levels is rich in both historical
and natural heritage. Reclaimed from
the sea in Roman times, the land is a
criss-crossed network of fertile fields and
historic watercourses, known locally as
reens. This unassuming yet appealing
landscape of high skies and low horizons
lends its status as one of the finest
examples of a hand-crafted landscape,
Corporate Members
Platinum
Eastman
TATA Steel
Gold
Advanced Elastomer
Systems
General Dynamics
ABP
Silver
Pinnacle
Bronze
Ancre Hill
Estates
TriWall Europe
Frank Sutton
Mandarin Stone
Marshalls
Zokit
Gwent Levels (Tony Pickup)
GWENT WILDLIFE TRUST x WILD ABOUT GWENT
and one of the largest tracts of biodiverse wet grassland left in the UK.
Living Levels formally brings together
like-minded stakeholders to work
together to collectively restore, enhance
and protect the historic area for all to
enjoy. Working with volunteers, farmers
and communities to collectively increase
wildlife-friendly management, provide
interpretation and create new trails,
the project aims to increase people’s
awareness of the area’s unique features.
Gemma Bodé, GWT Gwent Levels Living
Landscapes Manager says, “This project
has been in development for many years
amongst many partners and members of
the local communities. We are so pleased
this important landscape has finally got
the recognition it deserves. We do not
always appreciate the landscapes that
surround us, but by looking at new ways
of telling the stories of how this unique
part of Wales evolved, we intend to bring
it to life for local people and visitors
alike.”
Living Levels will start in January 2016
with an 18 month development phase
followed by a 3.5 year delivery phase.
Watch this space for how you can
become involved in this exciting project.
Grass snake (Victoria Matthewson)
Aggressive coots (Christopher Dean)
GWT Photo Competition 2015
Sugarloaf mountain
(Christine Benbough)
Lasioglossum mining bees
(Sophie Griffiths)
Thank you to everyone who took
part in our GWT Photography
Competition 2015 last August.
As usual, we were treated to a spectacular
display of wildlife and landscape
photography – making life very tough for
the judges. Throughout this issue, you’ll
find a selection of our entries and we hope
you enjoy them as much as we did. Thanks
again, as ever, to our GWT Trustee and
Vice Chair, who runs the judging panel.
Cottage in exceptional wildlife reserve available for
country breaks
Pentwyn Farm Cottage is a small
18th Century cottage in the parish of
Penallt near Monmouth.
GWT has owned the cottage since 1991
when we purchased Pentwyn Farm
through an urgent appeal to our members.
The farm includes the medieval barn and
wildflower meadows, together with the
cottage and its gardens.
Pentwyn Farm has survived virtually
unchanged for centuries. It includes one of
the largest areas of flower-rich grassland
remaining in Gwent and provides an
opportunity to see hay meadows as they
would have looked in the past, before
the advent of intensive farming. In 2003,
GWT restored the farm’s historic barn
using traditional methods and last summer
and autumn, we have been busy with
refurbishing, furnishing and gardening to
prepare the cottage for lettings this year.
The cottage provides the perfect rural
retreat for couples, with outstanding
countryside, wildlife and walks from the
Oak Tree Cottage, Pembrokeshire
Pentwyn Cottage
cottage and all the many attractions
of the Wye Valley, Forest of Dean and
Brecon Beacons within easy reach. The
income we receive from bookings will
come back to GWT to support our wildlife
conservation work. We are pleased to
offer you a GWT member’s discount of
10% if you would like to book the cottage
this year, valid for any booking made
before 1st March 2016. Visit the cottage
web pages at www.gwentwildlifetrust.
org for more information and terms
and conditions.
And for other Wildlife Trust retreats,
we can recommend:
Oak Tree Cottage, Pembrokeshire
Wake Up with Wildlife
http://www.welshwildlife.org/oak-treecottage-cwtch/
Nutholme Cottage, Yorkshire
18th Century stone cottage in idyllic setting
http://www.ywt.org.uk/nutholme-cottage
Kingcombe Cottage, Dorset
500 acres of nature reserve just a few
feet from the door
http://www.kingcombe.org/
beechcottage.html
January 2016
Kew Tree Seed
Collecting: Update
Andy Karran, GWT Local Wildlife
Sites Officer
In our August edition, we told you about
the tree seeds we were to be collecting
for Kew’s Tree Seed Project to go into
their Millennium Seedbank. We said we
would update you once it was completed
in 2017, but we have enjoyed it so much,
we are going to update you already!
Hawthorn Berries
(Andy Karran)
I am sure you all enjoyed the long Indian
summer that stretched right to the end of
October. This weather made it great for
collecting tree seeds. We and our fantastic
group of volunteers spent a good number
of days out in the fantastic woods that
clothe the Wye Valley, our Silent Valley
reserve in the uplands near Ebbw Vale,
Llanmelin Hillfort, as well as St Julian’s Park
on the outskirts of Newport. We barely
saw another person all day each time we
were out, but stopping to collect the seeds
allowed us to spend time in the woods and
appreciate how lovely they are, particularly
as autumn progressed and the leaves
started to change colour. It was particularly
nice at Silent Valley in October with the calls
of ravens, green woodpeckers and buzzards
accompanying us all day.
The seeds needed to be collected from
various geographical regions and altitudes
and we managed to make collections of
Hawthorn, Elder, Downy Birch, Silver Birch,
Small Leaved Lime, Yew and Crab Apple
from a number of localities. Getting the
seeds from the trees was challenging but
fun, using throwlines, shaking branches, and
telescopic pruners. Collecting the seeds and
fruit was only part of the fun; we then had
to extract the seeds. Elder was messy (just
the job for a seven year old), Yew was very
sticky and would also have been great for
a seven year old except for the poisonous
berries and getting the pips out of a few
thousand Crab Apples was a challenge but
nothing pliers, and when are hands got tired,
stamping couldn’t solve.
We will be out collecting Elm next June
and then a whole raft of species in the
autumn of 2016 and 2017, so please
come along and help, have a great day
out in the woods and contribute to
safeguarding our trees for the future.
GWENT WILDLIFE TRUST x WILD ABOUT GWENT
Grey-haired Mining Bee (Ray Armstrong)
Pastures New
Ray Armstrong,
Local Naturalist & Photographer
Spiderlings (Araneus diadematus)
(Ray Armstrong)
Leaving Beacon Hill, a scenic and
wildlife haven where we had lived
and enjoyed for thirty years was a
difficult decision that was ultimately
decided by advancing years. The
problem though was to find a property
that kept us in daily contact with the
natural world and one that was not so
physically demanding to maintain; was
such a place readily available locally?
Following a few viewings of what was
currently for sale, we settled on a
property in a sunny position in Penallt.
The property has about half an acre of
garden, mainly lawn including a steep,
grassy south/south-east facing bank – an
area of about six hundred square metres.
We moved in February and wandering
round the garden in April, we noticed that
numerous wild flowers were starting to
show, particularly on the sunny bank. We
understood that the previous owners had
cut the bank regularly so we thought in the
interests of our threatened wild flowers and
inter-dependent insect life, we would delay
cutting the grass and see what appeared.
To our surprise, the scarce Green-veined
Orchid appeared: it was a ‘eureka’ moment.
We also found six on the, as yet, un-
cut lawn making a total of twenty three
altogether. At this juncture, we decided
that we would not cut the grassy bank until
late summer and only lightly cut the lawn,
mowing round any wild flowers present.
In late April, the warm sunny bank was
regularly visited by a pair of Green
Woodpeckers feeding on the ants and we
had a pair of Robins and Bullfinches nesting
in the surrounding hedge and bushes.
Wool-carder Bee
(Ray Armstrong)
Mating Common
Blues
(Ray Armstrong)
Harmony (Ray Armstrong)
By this time, further plant species were
appearing, so we contacted Stephanie
Tyler requesting a plant survey and the
results were surprising. She identified
at least twenty ‘indicator species’*
including Glaucous Sedge, Hop Trefoil,
Common and Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil,
Common Centaury, Rough Hawkbit and
Creeping Tormentil, denoting species- rich
unimproved grassland.
*’Indicator species’ refer to key species
that demonstrate a habitat is of good
quality and likely to be high in biodiversity.
This variety of grasses and wild flowers
has proved to be a magnet for a myriad of
insects, with an on-going survey identifying
a Wool-carder Bee, a Patchwork Leafcutter Bee, at least six species of mining
bees including the Grey-haired Mining
Bee, six species of bumblebee, a variety of
hoverflies, a striking parasitic fly Nowickia
ferox (host Dark Arches Moth larvae),
Large Narcissus Fly, Hairy Shieldbug,
Soldier Beetles and the Common Green
Grasshopper. In addition, we have recorded
eight species of grassland butterflies
including Common Blue, Large Skipper,
the declining but beautiful Marblewhite
and Small Copper, together with three
day-flying grassland macro-moths including
the Small Yellow Underwing. Last but not
least, we have also seen an interesting ball
of colourful orange spiderlings, Araneus
diadematus, which when disturbed seemed
to ‘explode’ and disappear before returning
to re-form the ball.
Throughout the summer, we have been
regularly visited by a pair of feeding Green
Woodpeckers, together with a charm of
Goldfinches feeding on the grass and
Common Sorrel seeds and to put the icing
on the cake, we have had to date a total
of thirty four species of birds in the garden
including two pairs of House Martins
nesting under the house eaves.
We moved here thinking we would sorely
miss our close contact with the woodland
and grassland landscape of Beacon
Hill and its associated wildlife. But our
concerns have been swiftly allayed by this
magical patch of unimproved grassland
and surroundings with its wildflower and
wildlife surprises. But this experience has
also underlined, in very graphic terms,
how resilient nature is and given the
opportunity, how quickly it will recover.
Wildflower areas, big or small, play a crucial
role in maintaining our indigenous wildlife
and the associated balance of nature.
Contact with nature is vitally important
to our well-being and mankind will be the
loser if we neglect our responsibilities to
do all we can to protect and maintain our
biodiversity.
Small Copper
(Ray Armstrong)
Common Centaury
(Ray Armstrong)
Back page photo credit: Andrew Mason
Inv Ref 7750441
27.07.2015
Everyone can
leave a legacy
Please consider leaving a gift to
Gwent Wildlife Trust in your Will
A gift for wildlife can make a lasting
difference to future generations
To find out more, please contact Debbie Stenner
Senior Fundraising Partnerships Officer
[email protected] ~ 01600 740600