Natur Cymru

Issue 20

Read inside...

The Commons and Heaths of the Llŷn Peninsula

Heathland is a habitat of rare beauty and great atmosphere. It is also a cultural landscape, shaped by the lives of the people who used it, often as commoners, seldom as owners. Here Richard Neale takes an imaginative journey back to the colourful heaths of Llyn’s past, and looks forward to an era of heathland renewal.

Summary

Natur Cymru

A view from the touchline

Ask any of the small band of professional nature conservationists about the state of our environment and they will provide a blizzard of detail, but will they be able to discern the woods through the trees? Look from a hill top (or these days usually through a car window) and Wales presents a picture of stunning beauty, but does this hide the reality of a degraded environment? Having stepped back from the conservation coalface after a quarter of a century working for RSPB in Wales, TONY PRATER'S perspective on the fortunes of wildlife here is both broad and deep.

The Lore of Plants: the willow in Wales

Where would we be without the willow tree? We are indebted to it for a number of reasons. Apart from its medicinal value, it is becoming increasingly important these days as a possible biofuel crop. But it has played an important part in our lives in other ways as well; this is the wood used to make all kinds of country equipment such as baskets, beehives and lobster pots and the tree was an important element of our folklore and traditions. TWM ELIAS helps us find out more about this extremely beautiful and varied tree.

This article is written in Welsh. A translation is available on request.

Engineering our future nature: the dilemma of the Severn barrage

The proposal to build a barrage across the Severn estuary, to generate power and bring large-scale economic development, elicits very different responses, depending on how you view nature and ecosystems, as MORGAN PARRY explains.

Putting Denbighshire on the botanical map

Denbighshire is full of botanical treasures, yet it has never had its own County Flora. Now at last Vice County 50 has a splendid botanical checklist. Its author, JEAN GREEN, describes how, noting that one ambitious flora never saw the light of day, she concentrated on something achievable: a list of the flowering plants and ferns of Denbighshire.

Moth recording at home and abroad (well, England!)

Can we expect our elected representatives, in the hurly-burly of political life, t take an interest in the moths that take to the air at dusk? A Blair's Wainscot perhaps, or a Brown China-mark? STEVE MOON reports on a moth and bat event at Westminster and looks forward to similar events near home.

SNAP in the Hafren forest

In the Spring 2005 edition of Natur Cymru, Mags Cousins reported on the Severn Natural Assest Project (SNAP). Nearly 18 months on, the partners have carried out some fantastic work to improve water quality, increase biodiversity and improve rural tourism in the Upper Severn and Vyrnwy river catchments. TAMMY STRETTON takes up the story in the Hafren Forest.

A taste of the landscape

The particular wildlife of an area is a vital aspect of distinctiveness and diversity; so too is the food. If you live within sight and smell of the sea, should you also not be able to taste the seafood? Inspired by a recent book on the local food available on the Llŷn peninsula, JAMES ROBERTSON considers how far we have to travel before we are really able freely to taste the delights of the locality.

Combing the shores for Sabellaria

Of all the extraordinary creatures which inhabit the coastal fringe just below the sea, the honeycomb reef worms Sabellaria are among the most dramatic, creating small reefs with the masses of tubes which they build. NATASHA LOUGH takes up the story.

Lower plants set for a higher profile

After 33 years working for the Countryside Council for Wales and its predecessor bodies, RAY WOODS has just joined the staff of Plantlife, the plant conservation charity with a remit to encourage us all to take a fresh look at the lower plants of Wales and renew our efforts to conserve them. He explain why they are so important.