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Welcome to the latest newsletter to keep you updated on the Twyni Byw – Sands of LIFE project. Who is excited about the year ahead? We certainly are!
If you don’t already know, Sands of LIFE is a major conservation project to revitalise sand dunes across Wales, that will run until December 2022. The project will recreate natural movement in the dunes and rejuvenate habitats, which will help secure a home to some of our rarest wildlife, safeguard our wider environment and enable people to enjoy these biodiversity hotspots.
This major project, led by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), will restore over 2400 hectares of sand dunes across four Special Areas of Conservation, on 10 separate Welsh sites: Tywyn Aberffraw, Newborough Warren, Morfa Dinlle, Morfa Harlech, Morfa Dyffryn, Laugharne - Pendine Burrows, Whiteford Burrows, Pembrey Burrows, Kenfig and Merthyr Mawr.
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Whilst wildlife on the dunes is dormant or hibernating, the winter marks the best time for us to get started on our on-site work programme.
One of the important tasks we’ll be undertaking at Newborough, Whiteford Burrows and Merthyr Mawr is mowing. Dune grassland is famous for its carpets of flowers and rare orchids, however, if we don’t keep tall grasses and scrub under control, they can affect this important habitat and stop specialist dune plants from thriving.
Another crucial area of upcoming work at Tywyn Aberffraw, Morfa Dyffryn and Laugharne-Pendine Burrows is scrub removal. Scrub can have a smothering effect on the specialist dune plants and invertebrates, therefore removing it will help recreate natural dune grassland that provides a home for our threatened wildlife.
We will also be fencing at Pembrey Burrows. The fencing will protect and control the livestock which perform the important task of grazing the dune grassland. Traditional grazing by cattle or ponies helps create perfect conditions in the dunes. Public access will be improved by replacing the old stiles with kissing gates.
We’ll also be kicking off dune rejuvenation work at Pembrey Burrows. We will strip turf from some of the dune walls, and scrape and lower the level of one of the slacks. This work will create more bare sand and help with natural sand movement – all of which keep our sand dunes healthy.
We’ll be keeping you up to date on our progress in future editions of the Sands of LIFE newsletter.
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With our winter work programme now underway, we have some shiny new A2-sized panels in the ground. These will help easily explain the work taking place on site, and how it will help sand dune habitat and the rare wildlife which depends on them.
If you come across our panels, please do take a photo and post it on social media by tagging in @TwyniByw or using the #SandsofLIFE hashtag. We will share! 📸
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Who keeps a close eye on our social media feeds? If so, you’ll have noticed our recent popularity with the media. Back in October, we recorded an item with BBC Radio Wales’ Country Focus which broadcasted towards the end of November. The item, recorded at Merthyr Mawr and Kenfig, threw attention on the battles facing sand dune habitats and our work to boost them.
Laura Bowen, Sands of LIFE Project and Monitoring Officer South, was interviewed, as well as our friends at Dunes2Dunes, a fellow project which also helps sand dunes. Other contributors included staff and volunteers from both Merthyr Mawr and Kenfig. Unfortunately the item is no longer available through BBC Sounds, but you can view photos from the recording on the BBC website.
Laura also recently demonstrated the science behind our sand rain collectors for S4C’s Cynefin. This was again filmed at Merthyr Mawr and will be aired towards spring. We’d like to thank everyone who played their part in both items.
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We recently visited the Aberffraw Community Council. We were grateful for the warm welcome, where we had a good chat about planned work at Tywyn Aberffraw and the local community’s views about the sand dunes there.
Would your community council or group like us to come and host a chat about our work? Please do email SoLIFE@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk and we’ll be more than happy to arrange a talk.
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We are currently running an online Survey Monkey questionnaire on sand dune management, to gather opinions from across the sand dune management and research sectors on managing this precious habitat.
The survey has been split into two parts (Part 1 and Part 2). We will be repeating the survey towards the end of the project to see how opinions might have changed over the course of the next three years.
We are extremely grateful to those of you who have already contributed, however we’re keen to gather as many opinions as we can – therefore, please do try and help us out… it only takes 10 minutes!
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SoLIFE: LIFE 17 NAT/UK/000023
The Twyni Byw-Sands of LIFE project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union. Part funded by Welsh Government.
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