From the Usk to Wye Reserves 

Our livestock are an integral part to the management of many of our reserves. They play an important role in enhancing biodiversity through their differing eating habits. To mimic a natural ecosystem, it is important to have a variety of livestock, with each breed impacting the land around them in different ways.  

Our Senior Conservation Grazing Officer, Joe, has been working to expand our grazing team with some new additions. The recent purchase of 12 Balwen sheep will expand our current flock to graze our meadows. Sheep tend to graze grass low to the ground, selectively choosing what they eat. This low sword created by sheep can support fungi communities and keeping the grass height down over the winter ready for wildflowers to come through in spring. 

We are also excited by the arrival of some more cattle. These new Long Horn heifers (young females) will be joining our current herd at Wyeswood Common. This ancient cattle breeds tend to be browsers, eating primarily woody vegetation from our hedgerows. With their bigger mouths, they can not graze as selectively as sheep, so tear large chunks of grass, creating a different effect on the landscape. 

Finally, we are looking forwards to welcoming a Oxford and Sandy Black pigs to Wyeswood. Pigs play an important role in the landscape, with their ploughing habits churning up the soil as they root for grubs and tubers. This aerates the soil and opens up areas for wildflowers to establish. It is also hoped that this behavior will reduce the extent of bracken in some of our fields as they rummage around for the bracken rhizomes. Joe is keen to record the impact of these new additions as a new way control this dominant plant.  

Down on the Gwent Levels 

On the Gwent Levels, our team have been spending a lot of time at our Lower Minetts Reserve re-laying and restoring the hedgerows. 

Hedgerows are a manmade habitat, but that doesn't dimmish their value to wildlife. When planted with a range of native species and managed correctly, they are havens for wildlife, providing food, shelter and corridors between wild spaces.  

Their management is surprisingly complex. Undermanagement can lead to the hedgerow developing into mature trees, whereas frequent trimming can cause deterioration, creating large gaps and die back.  

Hedge laying usually takes place every 10-20 years. The process of laying involves partially cutting the main stems at the base of the hedge and hinging them slightly at an angle. This promotes new growth from the base of the stem, creating nice, dense hedges. 

Over in the Eastern Valleys 

Another livestock story! A few months ago we acquired some lovely Bagot goats, who have been settling in at Pentwyn Farm. Now, they are finally ready to be relocated to Henllys Bog, a reserve just outside of Cwmbran. Henllys Bog is one of the few remaining Valley mires left in South Wales. These bogs develop in waterlogged valley bottoms where peat accumulates over time. It is now a relatively rare habitat in Britain as a result of drainage and excessive grazing. It’s is home to some very rare and interesting plants, rendering it SSSI status (Site of Special Scientific Interest). 

The location and terrain of this important mire makes it tricky to manage, and recent years have seen the encroachment of himalyan balsam, an invasive species which thrives in damp conditions. However, it is hoped that by experimenting with our new goats, their selective grazing will enhance the habitat, benefiting the SSSI bog fauna whilst suppressing the unwanted invasive balsam.  

Off our reserves 

Over the winter, our Community Ecologist, Kath, has been running weekly sessions at Cwmtillery Lakes Local Nature Reserve in collaboration with Blaenau Gwent CBC and Groundwork Wales (when weather has permitted!). This lovely site has a range of habitats, including a lake (which home to an array of ducks, grebes and other water birds), patches of heather and early successional woodland and is a real gem in the Tyleri Valley 

Volunteers have been working hard across the sessions carrying out a range of management activities. The primary task has been to thin out the willow in the woodland, which when left to grow too dense, blocks out the light and reduces the amount of ground floral and outcompetes the heather. Whilst this activity can feel quite destructive, it is important to maintain a habitat mosaic across the site to enhance biodiversity. Thinning woodlands like this mimic the role of large grazers who once roamed the landscape. 

As well as woodland thinning, volunteers have carried out bird surveys and some habitat creation activities such as building reptile hibernaculum and building dead hedges.  

Top species sighted 

As most of our wildlife are in the lulls of winter, things have been noticeably quieter across our reserves. But sometimes in these times of relative calm, when colours are muted and vegetation much thinned, wildlife encounters are all the more special. Last week we were delighted to hear from two visitors to Magor Marsh, who had just had an up-close sighting of a water vole! They commented that although they had visited many times, they hadn't spotted 'Ratty' for quite some years. Water voles are active all year round, but they are quite secretive creatures and will spend more time in their underground burrows during the harsher months, so seeing one in January is quite lucky.