Latest News
Special bird watching event on the Cob in Porthmadog
North Wales Wildlife Trust will run a Cob 200 event on December 17 & 18 based at the Bird Hide near Boston Lodge. The Glaslyn and Dwyryd estuaries are world renowned for their population of migratory wading birds, partly because of the ideal conditions created by Madock's Cob.
Members of the public are invited to the Bird Hide (near the old Toll House) to see the wading birds on the above dates. Times - 11.00 am to 15.00 on Saturday 17th and 11.30 - 15.30 on Sunday 18th.
Experts will be on hand to explain what is what and will provide binoculars and telescopes. Numbers in the hide are obviously limited, but we will take overflow numbers up on to the Cob which is an equally good viewing spot.
NWWT Photograph Competition 2010 - 2011
Remember a Charity Week
Apart from being wonderful examples of wildlife, what do an Anglesey Fen, three limestone grassland nature reserves on the Great Orme and Sand Martins have in common? Legacies have played a part in securing a future for them all. As Remember A Charity week gets underway we would like to take a moment to reflect on some of the work that we have been able to do as a result of legacies we have received in the past.
Remember A Charity Week runs from 12 - 18 September. It aims to shine a light on the importance of gifts left to charities in wills. More than 140 charities from around the UK, including The Wildlife Trusts, come together during the week to encourage more people to consider leaving a gift to charity when writing a will.
North Wales Wildlife Trust has been very grateful to receive a number of legacies over the years, large and small, and these have helped us to protect and enhance many of the wildlife rich areas that can be enjoyed today.
Cors Goch, a fen and heathland on Anglesey, was the first nature reserve to be established by our Trust nearly 50 years ago. lmportantly it is now designated a National Nature Reserve filled with rarities like the Green Veined Orchld, Grasshopper Warblers, the Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary butterfly and acres of peat bog. ln 2008 a legacy contributed to a campaign that enabled our Trust to purchase another 43 acres to expand this precious site.
Having enjoyed the wildlife of North Wales all his life, Edward Jones left North Wales Wildlife Trust a generous legacy. His legacy supports long term limestone grassland conservation work at our Llandudno nature reserves Bryn Pydew, Rhiwledyn and Gogarth, and was also used to create a Sand Martin nesting site at Morfa Madryn local nature reserve.
Just this year, the legacies we have received have made a real difference to our future in uncertain financial times. We are very grateful to everyone who has left us a gift in the past, and to a number of people who have pledged their support in the coming years.
Sir David Attenborough, Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts, said:
"The Wildlife Trusts are dedicated to wildlife conservation. Making a gift to them when you write or update your will is a very special way of ensuring they can continue to do this. A few words from you can mean a new nature reserve is purchased, a rare habitat is secured or simply that people who have the skills and passion to protect wildlife can go on doing so in your local area."
Rob Cope, Director of Remember A Charity, added: "This week is very much the focal point in our calendar. Many people aren't aware that it is possible to leave money to charities in their will, which is one of the reasons why our work is so important. After looking after family and friends, making a donation to a charity like The Wildlife Trusts can make a real difference to the invaluable work they do."
If you would like further information on leaving a legacy to North Wales Wildlife Trust please contact Frances Cattanach, Trust Director, in confidence on 01248 351541 or request our information booklet.
For more information about Remember A Charity Week visit www.rememberacharity.org.uk.
Badger update - August 2011
The Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, John Griffiths, has made a statement that the Welsh Government had postponed plans to cull badgers, pending an independent, scientific review of the evidence. The independent panel was appointed by the Welsh Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Harries. The names of those individuals making up the panel have now been announced.
They are (biographies taken from the BBC website):
- Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, chair of Public Health Wales and Director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University
- Professor Malcolm Bennett, co-director of the UK National Centre for Zoonosis Research and Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the University of Liverpool
- Professor Bridget Emmett, deputy director of the biogeochemistry programme, section head and head of site at the centre for ecology and hydrology (CEH) in Bangor
- Professor Charles Godfray, a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and Hope Professor at the department of zoology of the University of Oxford
- Professor Dirk Pfeiffer, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology, and head of the veterinary epidemiology and public health group in the department of veterinary clinical Sciences at the Royal Veterinary College (University of London)
The chair of the panel will be Professor Chris Gaskell, who is principal of the Royal Agricultural College. The report is expected this autumn, and we hope very much that it will find in favour of alternatives to culling.
During the last month, the focus on badger culling has shifted more to activity in England, where Caroline Spelman has indicated that she was 'strongly minded' to allow badger culling to take place and announced two 'pilot' culls to assess free shooting- an untested means of badger control in terms of efficacy for TB control. Notably, free shooting was included in the latest Welsh Order as a potential means of badger culling.
The renewed focus on badger control in England has prompted renewed interest in the topic in the media, and has triggered the involvement of the powerful campaign group 38 Degrees. They have recently launched a petition to 'stop the plan to shoot badgers', which at time of writing has already received just under 22,000 signatures. Add yours at: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/badgers petition
Also worth a look is some of the very positive publicity resulting from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's efforts to vaccinate the badgers on their reserves- read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/06/badger-cull-vs-vaccination-splits-countryside
People’s Postcode Lottery
Joining the likes of the Northumberland, Scottish and Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts as a charity partner of the lottery, the Wildlife Trusts in Wales will receive regular and unrestricted funding from People's Postcode Lottery players. 40p from every £2 ticket goes directly to charities, making a huge impact - in fact, the Scottish Wildlife Trust have received over £1.5 million in support since their partnership with the lottery began.
People's Postcode Lottery players are entered into five £30,000 draws a month, and raise money for fantastic charities like ourselves as they do so. So why not give yourself the chance of winning great cash prizes- and help good causes- by signing up now at www.postcodelottery.com?
New Tern Identification Leaflet
You can download the leaflet here or contact our Bangor office to get hold of your high quality printed version.
Find out more about the Tern Colony at Cemlyn Nature reserve here.
Visiting the coast this summer?
NEW: Anglesey Coastal Reserves Project
New hope for Bangor Wildlife
North Wales Wildlife Trust is relieved to learn that at long last Eithinog is in safe hands and will continue to be a place for the people of Bangor to enjoy, and for wildlife to flourish. Gwynedd County Council agreed to transfer the land to the Wildlife Trust at a meeting before Christmas. However, the Trust's relief is tempered by the potential cost to the charity of managing the land, and it is gearing up to find funding to ensure that they are in a position to care for the fields properly.
Frances Cattanach, Trust Director said; "Taking on these 27 acres is something we've considered long and hard. There is always a cost involved in managing nature reserves, and we already look after many across North Wales. We do however see Eithinog as a special case, as we've been campaigning with local people to secure their long-term protection for over 16 years".
During this time, housing development has been fought off, and the fields have been notified a Site of Special Scientific interest for their meadow plants and fungi. The Wildlife Trust also tried to persuade Gwynedd Council to look after the site itself as a Local Nature Reserve, but instead they have now decided to pass the responsibility to the local charity.
Chris Wynne, Wildlife Trust Conservation Officer said; "It has been a determined effort by local people to get us to this stage, and we see great potential to improve the land for wildlife, manage public access and encourage use of the fields as an outdoor classroom, particularly for the 2 local schools, Ysgol Friars and Cae Top. We look forward to continuing to work with all those who have so far shown their support for keeping the land as a space for wildlife and people".
The North Wales Wildlife Trust will be launching an appeal to raise funds for managing the land in the next few months.
Wild love on Valentines Day
North Wales Wildlife Trust is encouraging people to go wild on Valentines Day with a new and romantic twist on the gift of flowers. Cut flowers have been a traditional gift for lovers for many years, and yet they are a strange symbol for long lasting love as they soon wither and die. Green consumers might also consider their carbon footprint as most of the cut flowers in the UK today have been imported, from places as far away as Africa and South America.
The Wildlife Trust has created a gift of local flowers that will live on for years instead of days. The gift comes with a wildflower card for your romantic devotions, some wildflower seeds to encourage butterflies and bees to visit you in your garden, and a sheet telling you where and when to visit wildflowers on sites across North Wales for romantic days out to last throughout the year. You might want a romantic spring walk at Coed Y Felin, a woodland near Hendre, which has carpets of bluebells in May, or a day out to wildflower meadows on the Llyn Peninsula to discover the greater butterfly orchid in the summer
The gift also includes a certificate to commemorate your support for the Wildlife Trusts' work. The "Living bunch of flowers" gift provides a way to sponsor work on wonderful wildflower sites across North Wales, to ensure that they keep flowering for generations. We are fortunate in Wales to have retained many reserves with fabulous flowers, from ancient bluebell woods to meadows where cowslips and orchids bloom year on year. What many people don't realise is that wildflower sites need specific and careful management to keep them flowering. Traditional land and woodland management suited wildflowers. For example, hay fields were cut at a time when flowers had gone to seed, but silage is cut much earlier. Woodlands were coppiced for charcoal burning, which let the light come into glades where bluebells flourished, but these practices are rare today. The Wildlife Trust is able to manage its nature reserves to ensure that wildflowers remain a part of our living landscape, for everyone to enjoy.
Anyone wanting to buy this gift, for a fresh approach to Valentines day, can do so at http://shop.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk//
Head Office
376 High Street, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 1YETelephone:01248 351541 Email: nwwt@wildlifetrustswales.org
Registered charity no.230772