Monthly Archives: January 2017

Share your wild life pictures

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Over the past few years we have worked with Rosie Carmichael,Carmarthenshire Rural Conservation officer with funding support by Natural Resources Wales,taking part in a number of exciting events to help us “see” and cherish our wonderful local environment better.
This year we want to encourage you to take pictures of the natural world and share them.In this way we can celebrate our diverse environment, stretching from the banks of the Tywi estuary through Ferryside village up to Llansaint and include dedicated farm land as well as natural wooded areas.
You can log into the West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre (WWBIC) register and record your sightings of plants, insects and animals and help everyone build up a picture of our local environment.
Alternatively you can send us your pictures with a note saying when and where you took the picture and what you think you have snapped. We will endeavour to put these onto a separate page of this site for you to enjoy.Email enquiries@ferrysidevillageforum.org.uk See Natural Resources in Ferryside
My contribution, a fungi seen growing on a fallen ash branch. I think its a Many-zoned Polypore (courtesy of Professor Google) . Taken in woods close to Ferryside on the 11th November 2016.

Natural Resources in Ferryside

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Working with WWBIC and Rosie Carmichael we have identified 4 distinct environments in the Ferryside area with a brief description of each. We hope to link your photos to one of these different areas.

The estuary (Blue Area) is an example of a natural resource that provides food, opportunities for recreation, a home to an amazing variety of wildlife, and the basis of a local tourism industry. The Tywi estuary is one of the finest estuaries in Wales, and one of European importance for the habitats and species it supports. In mapping the estuary we have included the estuarine sands and muds and the saltmarshes.
The enclosed farm land (Green Area) includes hedgerows and ponds and some water courses. Much of this land benefits from the fertile soils derived from the old red sandstones, and it supports mix of farms, – dairy, beef and sheep, with some areas of arable crop areas. Today some farmland in Ferryside is being used for producing renewable energy from photovoltaic panels.
The village itself (Red Area) – also contains many areas suitable for wildlife. Surveys in the summer of 2015, with the Bat Conservation Trust, identified 7 species of bat foraging in the area. Mature trees, garden ponds, streams, stone walls, as well as wildlife friendly houses and gardens are all important for wildlife.
More natural areas (Purple Area) – woods, species-rich grasslands, wetlands, rivers, ponds and streams – these are the areas that support much of our wildlife.
Why it matters
Careful management of Natural Resources ensures we can meet the varied needs of today, and hopefully those of the future. For example woodlands can be managed to provide, at any one time, shelter, timber and habitats for wildlife, and places for quiet relaxation, while we can garden in a way that provides us with some food, and creates overwintering habitat for wildlife. Managing our agricultural soils carefully ensures that it will continue to be productive for future generations. Looking after the hedgerows, field margins, areas of rough land and water courses on farmland, can help reduce flooding and provide a network of wildlife habitats around the more intensively managed areas.