This week I have been exploring the 1300 acres of the reserve, which is no small task! I have been getting to know the slacks and their names, including Angel Grassland, Warren
Slack and Hedgehog!
Along the way I have seen some lovely wildlife – some brown hares (lepus europaeus), a weasel (mustela nivalis) hunting in the long grass north of the pool and six lapwings
(vanellus vanellus) displaying in one of the northern slacks.
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I’ve had some good meetings with NRW Sands of Life project this week to plan for dune regeneration works for next Autumn and Winter. This will include creating notches in the dunes by the beach to allow sand to be blown up onto the dunes.
It’s really important for Kenfig that the dunes remain sandy and open, otherwise they would become clogged up
with vegetation and we wouldn’t have the bare sand habitat that is needed for some of the exciting species we have here, such as fen orchids (Liparis loeselii) and petalwort
(Petalophyllum ralfsii)
It’s been wonderful to be out in the reserve and meet so many visitors this week – its been great to talk to many of you and hear your views about the reserve and what you’d like to see.
I’ve made lots of canine pals this week too and would like to take this opportunity to ask my conscientious doggy visitors to please make sure their humans pick up after them!
As the days are warming up, visitors may soon be able to find some spring wildlife in the reserve. Look out for sunbathing caterpillars like the fox moth (macrothylacia rubi) which is one of the favourite foods of the cuckoo, queen bumblebees looking for nest sites and mining bees foraging on the pussy willows.
Chris Jones : Warden