When North Wales Wildlife Trust asked us to help them with a couple of their nature reserves, we were happy to lend a hand.
The Trust’s Caeau Tan y Bwlch reserve is a fantastic place to see traditionally managed hay meadows, most of which have now been lost from our countryside.
The reserve is particularly important for greater butterfly-orchid, which carpets the fields in summer. Unfortunately, encroachment of bracken is threatening the survival of this orchid and many other species.
We helped the trust by taking aerial photographs, to enable the spread of bracken to be better understood. The photo below shows some of the fields, with bracken clearly visible as bright green speckles.
At the Cors Bodgynydd reserve, access onto the wet bog was very difficult and potentially damaging to the plants and other species which thrive in this specialised environment.
Using aerial photography, we were able to record the extent of habitats, including open water and the surrounding forestry plantation. This information is vital to enable the trust to manage the hydrology (water balance) of the bog.
The patchwork of habitats and the colours, which look artificial but are actually true to life, is only really clear when seen from high above.
