Another 90 newly installed House Martin nest cups installed in the Amman Valley. Lots of House Martins flying overhead too. Fingers crossed they'll find them. Huge thank you to TRJ and Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police Rural Crime Team @ Dyfed-Powys Police for all their help today and for letting us install all the boxes.

Lovely wildlife walk today in the Amman Valley. Thanks to all for coming along and braving the mud. Lovely to show off some of the valleys most important rhos pasture habitat. Highlights were flowering Lousewort and watching a nuthatch making the finishing touches to its nest.

The very rare parasitoid wasp Cotesia bignelli larvae emerging from a marsh fritillary caterpillar (its only host species) earlier today. Wasp larvae would have been inside the caterpillar since Aug/Sept last year eating away at all non-essential parts until today.

Swyddog Cadwraeth - Hysbyseb Swydd

Diolch i gyllid gan Gronfa Weledigaeth Pen-y-Cymoedd, mae INCC eisiau penodi Swyddog Cadwraeth i oruchwylio ein prosiect cadwraeth Llygod Pengrwn y Dŵr ucheldirol tair blynedd yn ucheldiroedd Morgannwg, De Cymru.

natureconservation.wales/news/

Conservation Officer - Job Advert

INCC are looking to appoint a Conservation Officer to oversee our three-year upland Water Vole conservation project in the Glamorgan uplands, South Wales.

For more information on how to apply: natureconservation.wales/news/

please repost.

First 104 house martin nest cups have been installed in the Amman Valley thanks to support from the local nature partnership, Clwb Rygbi Yr Aman and Cwmaman Town Council. Hoping to install the remaining 100 or so next week on several buildings closer to Ammanford.

A Soggy Winter has meant that Spring has Squelched rather than Sprung in but the #barnowl pair are back in the box installed by INCC so hopefully #owlets to follow. For more on Spring at Cefn Garthenor see the blog cefngarthenor.co.uk/post/a-soggy-s…

Mae'r is-rywogaeth Gymreig unigryw o'r Crëyr Glas yn ddisgynydd o boblogaethau creiriol o Ddreigiau Cymreig, mae gwyddonwyr wedi cyhoeddi heddiw. Canfuwyd gwahaniaethau morffolegol clir wrth gymharu eu penglogau â'r ffurf gyffredin (sydd i'w gweld ar draws y rhanbarth Palearctig)

The unique Welsh subspecies of Grey Heron is descended from relict populations of Welsh Dragons, scientists have announced today. Clear morphological differences were found on comparing their skulls to the common form (found across the Palearctic region).

Thermal camera in action last night in the Amman Valley, checking on one of our Tawny Owl nest boxes. Hoping that the faint heat signature at the bottom of the box is a sign of owlets to come in the next few weeks.

The pay is just not good enough says Lizzie at INCC, she’s done some research so she knows. She also looked at contract conditions finding almost half the roles were fixed term, meaning a huge proportion of the workforce face regular uncertainty. See: c-js.uk/3SLdSOU

Big thank you to the wonderful Coleg Penybont | Bridgend College countryside management students for helping out today at the farm in the Vale of Glamorgan. We managed to install a Barn Owl nest box as well as planted in-field trees to create patches of habitat in the grazed pastures. Thanks all.

Thank you to Amman Valley volunteers yesterday for helping with the wildlife garden / polytunnel spring clean and for potting on hundreds of the rare arable annual plant, Small-flowered Catchfly. Excellent job done by all. Just need a bit more sunshine now.

21 March is the International Day of Forests. In Wales we have remnant areas of Atlantic or Celtic Rainforest- areas of high humidity, and low temperature variation- rich in mosses, liverworts, and lichens.

INCC

21 Mawrth yw Diwrnod Rhyngwladol y Coedwigoedd. Yng Nghymru mae gennym ni ardaloedd gweddillol o Goedwigoedd Glaw Atlantaidd neu Geltaidd - ardaloedd hynod laith, ac amrywiadau tymheredd isel - llawn mwsoglau, cwpanllysiau a chennau.

INCC

Marsh Fritillary caterpillars are settling in nicely to their new rearing pens. They don't eat much scabious at this time of year and are more concerned about basking in the sunshine to warm up. But in a few weeks they will be devouring the scabious plants.

We are in the 4th year of our marsh fritillary reinforcement project. Today was spent collecting 80 caterpillars from the wild for another round of rearing and releases later in the year. Big thank you to all the volunteers.
More about the project at:
natureconservation.wales/marsh-fritilla…

INCC Derek Gow Great to see INCC following up on Rob's article in Natur Cymru back in 2016 - When to Intervene 🙂biodiversitylibrary.org/item/280609#pa…

Nervous drive back to Wales yesterday from Derek Gow with a van full of water voles. Happy to be part of a group of conservation organisations and landowners looking to bring back the water vole to parts of South Wales.

Thank you to RCT Local Nature Partnership LNP and Coleg Penybont | Bridgend College students and the Town Trust for helping with marsh fritillary habitat management at Llantrisant Common yesterday. Cutting & collecting pathways through the marsh helps DBS to grow and helps cattle to graze more areas of the common.