Natur Cymru

Issue 26

Read inside...

Early sand grass - a miniature miracle

The most modest of plants can become an old friend in the right circumstances, although you need a good nose to start with. KAREN RAWLINS encounters a rare and exquisite little sand dune inhabitant, and proves the point.

Summary

Goodbye dune butterflies?

HELEN BANTOCK charts the worrying decline of the marsh fritillary and dingy skipper butterflies on Morfa Harlech National Nature Reserve, and the management failures which account for this sad story.

Wales' first red-flanked bluetail

Whilst on Ynys Enlli last October, BEN STAMMERS came across a very rare visitor from the east. Here he considers why this member of the chat family might have ended up so far from home.

One man and his meadows

These days we take it as read that grasslands can be of great importance for wildlife, and are a high conservation priority because they are so easily destroyed. It was not always thus, and we owe much to the pioneers of grassland conservation. CHRIS FULLER tells the story of flower-rich grasslands, and of one very special pioneer, Derek Wells.

The fiendish rhododendron

Rhododendron bushes are a plague in some parts of the Welsh countryside, especially on moorland and in our forests. This is a plant which is intent on conquest but a number of organisations and individuals have earnestly strived to halt its spread and defeat it. KEITH JONES describes the background and the secrets of this enemy and gives us a taste of the battle taking place between man and plant.

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

Small copper butterfly

Butterflies at Lavernock

The extraordinary commitment of volunteers means that some of the best long-term studies of sites and species have been made by amateur naturalists; and often their value extends far beyond the particular site. JOHN ZEHETMAYR has been monitoring the butterflies at Lavernock for nearly four decades. Here he describes the site, its management, and the results he has observed from the last twenty-five years of butterfly-watching.

Dolphin distribution

Record centres get it together

It has been a long-held dream to bring together detailed information about the natural environment and make it readily accessible. Wildlife is often lost through ignorance but, with the right information and a little care, contractors and others can avoid sensitive wildlife sites, and we can all know more about nature in our locality. Now that dream is becoming a reality, as a network of Records Centres across the country gets up and running. ROB DAVIES fills in the background.

Wildflower meadow

Gilfach - the making of a meadow

So many hay meadows, a glorious habitat full of life and colour, have been lost, that conservation organizations are now turning their attention to establishing replacements for some of those that have gone. An early example of such a project has yielded a mass of data and all kinds of interesting results, as JULIAN JONES and JONATHAN STONE explain.