Rewilding at Princes Gate site in Pembrokeshire

Peter Moran is the Industrial Services Manager at our Nestlé Waters bottling site in Princes Gate. While his day-to-day job as an engineer keeps him busy, Peter is involved in “rewilding” the site in his spare time at work.

We sat down with Peter to find out more about where the inspiration came from for his additional projects….

I’m an engineer and you won’t guess what I’m doing in my spare time at work.

I work at Nestlé Waters in the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside, where we bottle at source Princes Gate and Nestlé Pure Life waters. I’m the Industrial Services Manager and I generally work behind the scenes, making sure the production lines run smoothly. But I also have a project on the side that brings me a lot of joy…

At the site we’ve got a four-hectare field, home to the three wells that provide us with the water. This makes it a particularly important piece of land for us, and we look after this area carefully. However, I wanted to do more to help realise the field’s potential and revert it back to a natural meadow.

From Springwatch to our own supply of honey

The idea for our meadow was inspired by an episode of BBC’s Springwatch about the value that meadows can bring to the natural ecosystem. I didn’t know the first thing about agriculture, so I contacted Nature Conservation Wales for advice. They brought in a man from the Botanical Gardens who set me up with a helpful step-by-step guide to rewilding. That’s how it all began!

Together with the late Glyn Jones, one of the original founders of Princes Gate Water, I started preparing and planting the land, using seeds from the local area. Today there are over 50 types of grasses, sedges, and wildflowers producing plenty of pollen for local insects. The next logical step was to introduce beehives! This made it much easier for the bees to pollinate the flowers and provided the staff with a supply of tasty honey too. In 2022, we produced 126lbs of honey, which is phenomenal.

For the wellbeing of nature and my colleagues

The plan was always to get everyone outside to enjoy the meadow, so there’s a little meandering path that we change every year, giving the staff easy access. We also got the local primary school involved and the children planted trees – an opportunity for some fresh air and education for them, too. Together with the children’s contribution and my colleagues’ help, we’re planning to introduce 500 native saplings to the area. I believe this will make the meadow an even more beautiful place to take a walk in your lunch break.

After the meadow, I turned my attention to the on-site pond, clearing out the algae and introducing locally sourced water lilies. In 2022, there were 45 species of plants recorded, including bogbean, spike-rush and reed. The new plants have encouraged beetles, dragonflies, frogs, squirrels. We also introduced duck houses, and we’ve got moorhens living in them too. We’ve set up wildlife cameras so we can spy on them! My next plan is to put in a fountain to help aerate the water. And after that, who knows!

Creating a peaceful, sustainable space

I’ve been asked many times why I do this rewilding work, as it isn’t part of my day job at Nestlé Waters. The answer is simple: I enjoy it. I’m lucky to live where I live and, year after year, this gives me a great excuse to get outside. It’s a bonus that I also play a part in my company’s wider sustainability goals, helping promote biodiversity and creating a space that we can enjoy.

See the initiative in action

Meet our water hero at Princes Gate – YouTube