Carmarthenshire Biodiversity Newsletter June to Aug 13

Officer for marsh fritillary project in Cross Hands

Carmarthenshire County Council has employed a project officer to work with local landowners in the Cross Hands area to restore and manage areas of marshy grassland, the favoured breeding habitat for the scarce marsh fritillary butterfly.

Over the past few years Carmarthenshire County Council, Butterfly Conservation and Natural Resources Wales (previously the Countryside Council for Wales) have worked together to monitor the condition of the marshy grassland habitat that supports the marsh fritillary butterfly in the Cross Hands area, as well as the impact of development on this species.

The marsh fritillary butterfly is an increasingly rare species in Britain and Europe. Like many butterflies it is vulnerable to habitats loss as a result of both development and changes in agricultural practices. The survival of the Cross Hands population, which is one of the strongest in Wales and is recognised as being important in a European context, is dependent on the safeguarding and the correct management of the marshy grassland that supports it.

Here the larvae of the butterfly both over winter and feed exclusively on Devil’s bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) – a plant that flowers in late September in marshy grassland, which is why the correct levels of grazing of this habitat are critical to the survival of this butterfly. Too much grazing and the food plants are grazed out, but too little and they are swamped by coarse vegetation, brambles and scrub.

There is also considerable pressure for development in the Cross Hands area and the past this has accounted for some of the losses and fragmentation of the marshy grassland habitat. In the future development will be encouraged where it will be less damaging to the long term survival of this species.

The County Council has recently set up a project to help to ensure that we manage appropriately the marshy grassland in the Cross Hands for the marsh fritillary (as well as for the other species this habitats support), and the project officer will be appointed to work more closely with land owners and communities to achieve this objective.

In addition the council is working with the National Botanic Garden Wales and students from Aberystwyth University to investigate how well this Devil’s bit scabious germinates, and also, hopefully its genetic variation within the area. This information will inform future conservation efforts.

Marvellous Moths!

National Moth Night takes place in August when people are encouraged to find out more about moths in their area. This could involve running a moth-trap in your garden or in the countryside, keeping the porch light on and seeing what moths are attracted overnight or look for moths at your kitchen window or at blossom in your garden. Check lighted windows and lit walls and fences for moths during first two hours of darkness and again in the morning. You can make lit surfaces more attractive by draping a white sheet over them. Find out more at http://www.mothnight.info/www/

There are 2500 species of moth in Britain – some even migrate here from as far away as North Africa! Even in a small back garden a moth trap can attract well over 50 species of moth during a night.

Moths are a major part of our natural environment – they are food for a wide variety of wildlife, including bats, birds, hedgehogs and amphibians. Some birds rely on caterpillars to feed their chicks! Moths pollinate flowers while feeding on their nectar, and so help in seed production – including some of our food crop species!

Moths help us find out more about health of our environment. They are found in so many habitats and can act as indicator species – by monitoring their numbers and seeing if their ranges are expanding or contracting we can get information about the effects of new farming practices, pesticides, air pollution and climate change.

Moths are declining – research has shown that the overall number of moths has decreased by 28% since 1968 (in southern Britain where the situation is worse the figure is 40%). Sixty species of moth became extinct in the 20th century.

In Carmarthenshire there is an informal moth group who regularly record the moths in their patch and share the records and experiences and help each other out with identification. They have a ‘blog spot’ which anyone can subscribe or use to get help in identifying moths: http://carmarthenshiremoths.blogspot.co.uk/

You can help moths in your garden – leave areas unmanaged for wildlife – ‘natural’ areas often have plants species that caterpillars feed on. Delay cutting plants back until the spring to provide overwintering sites. Go organic or cut down on the use of chemicals that may harm wildlife and have a variety of nectaring plants available throughout the summer.

Red squirrels in mid Wales

The Mid Wales Red Squirrel project has been in existence since 2002. In those 11 years the partnership (made up of local authorities, Wildlife Trusts, Natural Resources Wales [formerly FCW, CCW and EAW], the Mammals in a Sustainable Environment [MISE] project and private forester managers) have worked together to try and find out as much as possible about this rare and elusive mammal in the mid Wales forests and influence the management within the core and buffer area for red squirrels in mid Wales.

In the past lack of time and resources have limited the practical work that could be carried out. However in recent years the efforts of Wildlife Trust, the MISE project and a local forest manager have really pushed the project forward.

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales applied for and received funding from Welsh Government’s Ecosystem Resilience and Diversity Funding and Environment Wales. Working with volunteers and local forest owner/managers surveys have been undertaken to looks for squirrel signs and also undertake selected grey squirrel control. This has helped the project plan more targeted survey in the future and establish the practicalities of undertaking grey squirrel control in areas where they may impact on reds.

The MISE project has really helped raise the profile of the red squirrels through engagement with local people, especially in Ceredigion, who have become keen volunteers. With their help putting and checking hair tubes we have now got records for red squirrels in Cwm Berwyn forest in Ceredigion.

Later this year there will be a meeting of a newly formed ‘Friends of’ group for the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Project. As shown with other conservation projects the contribution by volunteers has often made all the difference and to have a group forming in mid Wales is great news. If you are interested in getting involved with the volunteer group please contact Jenny MacPhearson from the MISE project – jennymacpherson@vwt.org.uk. We hope to link up with other groups in the UK to join the network of existing group and share experience, advice and ideas.

Biodiversity web pages on council website

The biodiversity web pages have been updated on the Carmarthenshire Council website. There are some photos that need to be added which will b
e completed in the coming weeks. Find out about Carmarthenshire’s biodiversity, places to visit, how to help biodiversity, the local Biodiversity Action Plan and look out for all the ‘latest news’ on the home page.

New record for water voles in the county

Natural Resources Wales officers whilst visiting a site near Ffarmers in the north of the county found signs of water voles on a stream bank. Coincidently signs were also found just across the border in Ceredigion near Llanfair Clydogau recently as well.

Records or water voles in upland sites in the county are rare and this is an important find. It had long been suspected that they were surviving in upland streams acting as refuges for this once far more widely spread species and this is the record that may help establish that. Further survey effort around the site of this new record is needed – let’s hope this is the first new record of many!

Local Biodiversity Action Plan – actions plans updated

The species and habitat action plans for the Carmarthenshire LBAP have recently been updated. They can be found on the Carmarthenshire Biodiversity website – www.carmarthenshirebiodiversity.co.uk. Progress on action that contribute to the plans’ objectives will be reported on annually with a summary report produced.

Have you seen a coastal otter?

The purpose of this survey is to gather information on the importance of coastal areas such as docks, rocky shores, estuaries, might be for otters. If you have seen an otter in a coastal or estuarine location we would be grateful if you could let us know. Your time and help with this survey are very much appreciated.

Information that we need:

• Location: please try to as specific as possible, a grid reference is ideal but don’t worry if you cant provide one. A link to grid references is provided to help etc.
• Date (day, month and year)
• Approximate time of day
• Details of what you saw. Please include as much information as possible. Did you see the otter on the beach, on rocky areas, or in the sea? How many otters did you observe? Have you seen them at this location before?

Please send any information to:

Dan Forman, Coastal Otters Project, Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP

Or email your sightings to: Otters@swansea.ac.uk