From the Usk to Wye Reserves 

At our Wyeswood Common Nature Reserve, volunteers have planted 250m of hedges, totaling 1250 trees! A mix of native hedgerow species were chosen, including blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, oak, holly and dog rose. These new hedges were planted in new double fenced areas, funded by Nature Networks Fund 3, as well as a 45m stretch next to our livestock handling areas to provide some shelter and shade.  

Hedgerows provide countless benefits for wildlife as well as shelter and food for our livestock. They act as vital corridors for wildlife to transverse across the landscape, allowing the dispersal of tree dependent species like pine martens. They provide areas of dense, mixed woody vegetation, creating fantastic nesting habitats for birds, and mammals such as dormice. When planted with a diverse range of native species, they provide a food source throughout the year. 

The verge along the bottom of hedgerows, protected from cutting and grazing, adds to the ecological importance of hedges as it allows other plants to thrive, increasing the biodiversity of the area. 

As well as direct benefits for wildlife, they also store carbon, improve air quality by capturing pollution particles, reduce silt in water ways and slow flood water by increasing infiltration on field boundaries. 

All in all, these new hedges are a great addition to the reserve! 

Down on the Gwent Levels

March is when our annual foreshore clean-up event at Peterstone Wentlooge, clearing the hide tide line of its deposits after the winter high tides and storms. The collection this year was mostly plastic containers and rubber tyres. This is a big job, stretching around 2km along the foreshore which we couldn't have done without the support from our volunteers, the Wentlooge wildfowlers and Newport City Council that supported this event.

This tidal habitat is a difficult place to live but is perfect for specialist coastal plants, like sea aster, marsh mallow and sea milkwort. It is the thick mud, teeming with invertebrates, which makes this place such a haven for wildlife, particularly the thousands of wading birds that use it as an important stopover to feed and rest during migration. These annual litter picks are important to keep this stretch of mudflats safe for wildlife to continue to use and thrive.

Over in the Eastern Valleys 

Last month's Saturday volunteers braved the dreaded task of raking Henllys Bog. This valley mire, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is rich in wildflowers, including specialist species such as the carnivorous round-leaved sundew, common butterwort, common fragrant orchid and marsh helleborine. 

In order to maintain this diversity of bog specialist flora, it is important the site is managed in a way that promotes their growth. This includes the cutting back and raking off the vegetation, which grows tall and dense across the summer. This allows more light to reach the ground level and reduces the amount of rotting vegetation which leaches nutrients into the soil.  

However, what may sound like a simple task it is made difficult due to the terrain of the site. Dense, grassy tussocks fill the site, making raking near impossible, with the rakes being constantly caught in the hard base of the freshly cut tussocks. As always, our volunteers rose to the challenge and did a fantastic job!  

Elsewhere in the valleys, our volunteers have been working hard cleared vegetation along the fence lines at Strawberry Cottage Wood for the repair and replacement of this fencing by a contractor to exclude sheep from entering the woodland and grazing the ground flora as well as removing old fencing from Silent Valley ready for new fencing to be installed. 

Off our reserves 

Elsewhere in Gwent, our volunteers have been helping Caerphilly County Borough Council with the management of their Bargoed woods, a woodland that follows the Rhymney River in Bargoed. This woodland, once a heavily industrial landscape, is now a mosaic of habitats, with the fast-flowing river, dense mixed woodland and open patches of scrub and grassland. Some areas of the woodland have become very dense, and so to allow more light into forest floor, we have been assisting with some tree thinning work. This opens up the canopy and enhances floral diversity, in turn supporting more pollinators and other wildlife. 

Top species sighted 

Our Nature Recovery Officer for The Gwent Levels had a very exciting find when carrying out some hedge laying at our Lower Minnetts reserve – a glow-worm!  

Glow-worms can sometimes be seen on the field margines and woodland of the Gwent Levels, but this is the first record for this site. 

Fun fact: The larvae of glow-worms predate slugs and snails. They kill their prey by delivering toxic bites, injecting digestive proteins that paralyse the prey. These eventually dissolve the soft body of the slug or snail. If it is predating a snail, the glow-worm may right on its shell whilst waiting.