Welcome to the Autumn 2020 edition of the newsletter to keep you updated on the Twyni Byw – Sands of LIFE project.

As the vibrant colour of wildflowers disappear from our dunes, the cold bite of the winter wind returns to our coasts. However, as the seasons switch, this heralds the perfect time for us to get stuck-in to our autumn and winter work programme – and we have lot of work planned for the coming months.

We will be creating a notch and scraping overgrown vegetation from the dunes at Pembrey Burrows. This will allow more wind to blow through the dunes and create bare sand habitat. We will also be removing the alien invasive sea buckthorn to revitalise the dune grasslands and creating artificial rabbit warrens to boost wild rabbit populations – the perfect graziers for our dunes.

Our work at Merthyr Mawr will involve stripping vegetation from the tops of dunes and scraping and lowering the levels of some dune slacks. This work will encourage bare sand habitat that is so crucial to the survival of some of Wales’ rarest plants and insects.

Towards early winter at Laugharne-Pendine Burrows, there will be sea buckthorn clearance and fencing to a total of 3km. Our early winter work at Whiteford Burrows will see us mow the dune slacks and install rabbit warrens, whilst at Kenfig we will complete further dune slack scrapes and scrub clearance.

Up at Tywyn Aberffraw we’ll be stripping turf (watch Leigh explain a bit more here), as well as removing scrub and invasive non-native species, like Japanese Rose and Montbretia.

At Newborough we will be removing scrub from the forest glades, starting an ambitious programme of fencing work and mowing the same areas as last year to continue to boost low-growing plants. More information about some of our work at Newborough can be read here.

Whilst over at Morfa Dyffryn we will also be removing scrub to restore damp dune slacks to open conditions and create more bare sand habitat so rare dune plants and invertebrates can thrive.

Following the hard work of our contractors over the latter half of summer, the post/wire fencing at Pembrey Burrows is now complete.

We were also able complete scrub removal at Morfa Harlech and mow areas of the dunes at Merthyr Mawr.

The fencing will safeguard the cattle that graze the dunes, removing scrub will help ensure that rare dune wildlife isn’t smothered whilst mowing the dunes will allow low-growing dune plants to flourish.

We went out to Newborough recently to collect litter as part of the ‘Autumn Clean Cymru’ campaign by Keep Wales Tidy and ‘Great British Beach Clean’ by Marine Conservation Society.

The strong winds didn’t stop us filling three bags with litter found around the dunes and on the beach. Litter varied from old drink cans, a baby dummy, blue face masks and even a unicorn shaped balloon!

This goes to show how important it is to dispose of our litter correctly. Otherwise it can end up in the places we’d least expect it to and have a devastating effect on our environment and wildlife.

We look forward to supporting these brilliant campaigns again in the future. More photos from the day can be seen here.

The Sands of LIFE project’s bryophyte survey report was recently released. This report assessed potential impacts of the project on rare and protected mosses and liverworts in dune slack intervention areas.

Areas were surveyed at six sites, namely Tywyn Aberffraw, Newborough, Morfa Harlech, Pembrey Burrows, Kenfig and Merthyr Mawr. Three notable species were recorded: Abietinella abietina and Petalophyllum ralfsii at Tywyn Aberffraw, and Drepanocladus sendtneri at Kenfig.

Abietinella abietina moss is now very rare in Wales and will be included on the forthcoming Red List of bryophytes in Britain as ‘Near-threatened’ due to a national decline.

Petalophyllum ralfsii, otherwise known as petalwort, is a liverwort which is a European protected species and is strictly protected by law. It lives in areas of bare sand or thin turf within slacks, often alongside pathways.

Drepanocladus sendtneri (Chalk hook-moss) is a key part of the Site of Special Scientific Interest Dune Bryophyte Assemblage feature of Kenfig.

Click here to catch-up on the full report.

Further report findings will be released over the coming months. These include sand lizard, great crested newts and LiDAR survey results amongst others.

Our Leigh, Sands of LIFE Project & Monitoring Officer North, recently appeared on an episode of ‘Natur a Ni’ on S4C.

As he guided the audience along the sand dunes at Newborough, Leigh discussed the importance of bare sand, why our dunes require management and how Sands of LIFE helps this important habitat throughout Wales.

Catch-up on the full item here, where you can either watch the full episode (well worth it!) or fast forward to 4:15.

We are glad to announce that the first project A1 panel is now in the ground. This has been installed at Pembrey Burrows.

The other nine panels (one per site covered by Sands of LIFE) will be installed over the coming months.

Head over to our website for all the latest news about the project and information on results and findings. Or why not follow us on social media? Our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds are updated regularly, providing sneak peaks of the weekly progress, outstanding dune related photos and short interview snippets.

Email: SoLIFE@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Website: naturalresources.wales/SandsofLIFE

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @TwyniByw