Working with Natural Resources Wales forestry colleagues, nine hectares of conifers were felled from dunes at Morfa Harlech. The conifers impacted the dry dunes and the water levels of nearby dune slacks. The area will benefit from further restoration works over the coming months.

SoLIFE has also restored 2 hectares of overgrown dune slack nearby at the edge of Harlech Forest. We cleared overgrown vegetation and stumps, before scraping away surface layers to expose clean, bare sand. This will create shallow pools in winter and marshy conditions in summer (which will be colonised by rare plants and amphibians); along with drier sand banks that are perfect for solitary bees and other insects.  

Earlier this year, two new notches were dug in the frontal dunes at the National Nature Reserve. These channels allow fresh beach sand to blow inland to replenish the supply into the dune system. This creates new bare sand habitat and help boost the specialised dune plants. The SoLIFE team are monitoring this ‘sand rain’ and results will be published in due course.

The next step is to create a series of ‘blowouts’ on the dunes. Excavators will strip the turf from banks facing the prevailing wind to make shallow, bowl-shaped hollows, which specialised plants and animals will colonise. For example, open sunny slopes are favoured by burrowing mining bees.

The annual mowing of around 13 hectares of dune slacks will continue this September. This allows Fen Orchid and other rare plants to flourish without being out-competed by more vigorous species.

The mixed herd of cattle and ponies are a familiar sight to Newborough Warren visitors. They have an important role as conservation managers - opening and diversifying the grassland and limiting the growth of scrub and dense vegetation. The current fence is reaching the end of its life, so SoLIFE has replaced 4km out of the 9km required.

Fencing also took place within Newborough Forest at Ffrydiau, allowing livestock to graze the restored glade for the first time. Earlier work to remove scrub and reprofile the pools, is already producing results, as the area is teeming with life.

We will soon be tackling alien species over 8.5 hectares within the surrounding plantation here and at nearby Cerrig Duon, to prevent spread into the biodiversity-rich glades. Cotoneaster, Sea Buckthorn, Montbretia, Laurel, and Rhododendron are species which, if left unmanaged, can take over large areas, smothering native vegetation.

Scraping work will soon be taking place at Gull Slack, Ffrydiau, Pant Mawr and Hendai.  Excavators will remove surface layers of overgrown vegetation and forest debris to restore pools, wet slacks and bare sand. The work will allow species such as Shore Dock, rare mosses and liverworts and Great Crested Newts to recolonise.

SoLIFE and the Welsh Local Environment Record Centres led guided walks this spring and summer to highlight the fantastic plant and insect life that call this special habitat home. Thanks to Cofnod, WWBIC and SEWBReC for organising the events, especially leaders Phil Ward, Liam Olds, Barry Stewart, Richard and Kath Pryce, Richard Gallon and Lucia Ruffino for their expertise. Find out about upcoming walks at the LERC Eventbrite page.

On 25 June, the SoLIFE team celebrated World Sand Dune Day at Kenfig Nature Reserve, showcasing the work of the project locally and across Wales.

Thank you to the hosts Kenfig Corporation Trust and everyone else who joined us on the day, including Plantlife, Dynamic Dunescapes and the Wildlife Trust.