The North Wales Curlew Action Group need you to report sightings of this highly endangered bird during the breeding season (April-July) in North Wales to assess their numbers and improve their conservation.
We would like you to report where you've seen or heard Curlew. More details are available on the Curlew Cymru project page which Cofnod have set up in time for World Curlew Day on 21st April
Cofnod will be involved with Chris Packham's UK Bioblitz on the 20th July 2018 at Cemlyn,
Great Orme and
Pensychnant Nature Reserve
Please come along to these events to support this national project
Please visit Chris's website to see more details on this project.
Are you a group or project focused on reducing the risks and impacts associated with invasive non-native species in a locality?
If so, consider registering your group as a Local Action Group (LAG).
Welsh wildlife newsletter (#122), now ready to download.
North Wales Wildlife Trust are looking for wardens for the tern colony at Cemlyn this season. Please could you share this message (job description attached) with anyone you think might be interested/suitable. Any applications to Chris Wynne.
Lastest news on Welsh wildlife.
The latest atlas that maps all of the birds that breed in North Wales has won a top award the journal British Birds.
The best bird atlas recognises the outstanding contribution the North Wales Breeding Bird Atlas has made to our understanding of the birds that call this region home. The Atlas was only made possible by the army of volunteers who took time to get out and visit all of the tetrads (squares 2km x 2km) in North Wales during the breeding season between 2008 and 2012, to record the birds present with evidence of breeding. Over the course of five years of fieldwork, online data capture, preparation of maps and data analysis resulted in the publication of a book, the Breeding Birds of North Wales, in 2013. The Atlas will inform bird conservation policies in Wales and provide an invaluable research resource for the next 20 years.
The award acknowledges the outstanding contribution of over 700 volunteers who submitted records into the Atlas. A project of this scale could only have been successful with a skilled and enthusiastic team behind it.
Iolo Williams, well-known Welsh broadcaster, said after news of the award, “in charting geographical patterns and changes over time in the distribution of 169 species, the new Bird Atlas is an extremely valuable resource for all organisations involved in conserving, researching or understanding birds in Wales.”
The Breeding Birds of North Wales has documented the changes in the breeding-season distribution of birds over the last 20 years. The nearly 300,000 records from the Bird Atlas have been made available to the British Trust for Ornithology and Cofnod, the local environmental records centre for North Wales, who will use these data to support conservation action and policy.
Delyth sent us these interesting points regarding Ivy in North Wales. Maybe you could take a look at your own plants to see which species you have.
Delyth writes:
This is for those of you who do not receive the BSBI's Welsh Bulletin and will not have seen Paul Green's excellent article on identifying your Ivies.
Many of you know that what was once two sub-species of Common Ivy has now been changed to two separate species: Common Ivy (Hedera helix) and Atlantic Ivy (Hedera hibernica).
Many of you know the difference between the two:
Atlantic Ivy: has hairs that sit flat on the underside of leaves, looking like minute starfish. They are a dirty yellow/white or brown in colour.
Common Ivy: has hairs with stalks, looking like minute palm trees. They are a pure crystal white in colour.
What many of you may not know is that Common Ivy is rare in Wales - well, in the western half of Wales at least. Here in the east, especially towards the border - we just aren't sure.
What many of you may also not know is that it is very important to look at the right part of the plant. It has to be the young growth, i.e. young leaves and stems that are creeping and prostrate on the ground or at the base of a tree. Once the stems start to climb upwards, the hairs can't be used for identification.
I attach a photo of Atlantic Ivy sent in by Bryan Formstone, which illustrates the point perfectly. Any offers of a photo of Common Ivy from anyone?
Now I'm wondering how reliable my records are, for such a common plant.....
Perhaps folk at the Wrexham end would like to go out hunting and tell me what you find!