Mid-Winter is with us. The days are at their shortest and sometimes on walks outside it can seem as if the world has stopped with a silence and a stillness. With the holidays here giving our warden team and volunteers a well-earned break it’s a good chance to grab a cuppa and have a read on what we have been up to on the reserve throughout the Autumn.
Woodland management at the reserve is mostly aimed at improving the habitat for breeding pied flycatchers. Over the last couple of months, the team have been identifying areas of dense field layer in the woods, mainly bramble. These have then been cleared either by hand or with the robomulcher. Following this we now have 4 heritage cattle (Welsh Whites and belted Welsh blacks) in these areas to keep the vegetation down over the winter by grazing and trampling.
Holly is another plant that left alone can spread through the woods so our volunteers have again been out clearing some of these areas just in time for our Winter Wreath making workshop in early December!
Opening areas in the woods means that the Pied flycatchers have the perfect spaces for them to snatch insects as they fly past in the air.
Another large and important habitat at Ynys-hir is the wetland areas. Our wetland Warden and team have been busy in the last few months extending the electric fence around the fields and areas where the lapwing breed, offering them more protection for better breeding success next year.
Currently we are in the process of improving the water features on the Einion pools, the area in front of the picnic tables. Reeds have been cut and the ditch edges have been re profiled to create shallow edges.
Out at Marian Mawr pools a new water sluice has been installed in order to create a more dynamic water system. Scrub and reeds around the pools have also been cleared improving the edges and islands for breeding waders.
Back in the early Autumn our contractors were in again with their horses and rollers to push back bracken growth on the sides of Y Foel, a hillside with Ffridd habitat important for many species including breeding whinchat.
Time now for a break to rest and refresh foe the new year and a new season. The reserve is open and now is the perfect time to come for an explore enjoying the winter vistas and visitors including lapwing, teal, wigeon, barnacle geese, Greenland white fronted geese curlew, and many more.