 |
Anglesey sits off the north coast of Wales in view
of Snowdonia National Park, and sports many nature reserves and wildlife attractions. | | Dune
environment at Newborough Warren in Anglesey. |
One
of the biggest and best reserves on the island is a massive dune system called
Newborough Warren.
This national nature reserve attracts thousands
of visitors each year because of its beautiful beaches and views of the sea and
Snowdonia.
Rocky foundations In
the geological period known as the Cambrian, much of Wales lay under a tropical
Ocean peppered with volcanic islands. Evidence of underwater volcanic activity
can be seen today on the neck of Llanddwyn Island in the form of pillow lavas. Red
hot blobs of magna cooled rapidly when forced out of underwater volcanoes. Successive
blobs fell onto previously cooled blobs, creating distinctive bumpy pillow-like
forms. Waders and wildfowl Today
Newborough is home to plants and invertebrates which specialise in the dune environment. There
are large expanses of both active and fixed dunes, although many of the latter
have been afforested, along with a freshwater lake, saltmarsh and mudflats and
a tidal island. The inter-tidal mudflats and salt marshes are important
wintering grounds for waders and wildfowl regularly supporting over 1% of the
British population of Pintail. Ynys yr Adar, near Ynys Llanddwyn, supports
over 1% of the British breeding population of Cormorant. Sand
dunes  In
the 13th Century the Newborough area was a region of rich farmlands and a prosperous
town.
It was populated by residents who had been evicted from Llanfaes,
in the north of the island, by Edward I. However, in the 14th Century a
series of extremely violent storms buried a large portion of this area under sand
dunes. The fears of the residents that the dunes would completely swallow
the town prompted Queen Elizabeth I to enact a law protecting the marram grass,
the roots of which help to stabilise the dunes. This stopped the advance
of the dunes and also provided raw material for a new industry in the town, the
weaving of the marram grass leaves to form mats. Rabbit
colonisation Rabbits soon colonised the dunes, giving the area
the name Newborough Warren. This provided the residents with another valuable
resource, as over 100,000 rabbits a year were taken from the warren. The
reduction of the rabbit population through forestry plantation and the myxomytosis
epidemic of the 1950's allowed the vegetation on the dunes to spread. Today,
besides the marram grass (Ammophila arenaria), the warren is vegetated by a wide
range of interesting plants. Wild life haven On
the dunes themselves, plants such as Dune Pansies, Sea Spurge, and Sand Cat's-Tail
grow alongside the marram grass. Between the dunes, in the marshy hollows
called the slacks, a rich flora can be found composed of Creeping Willow and a
variety of orchids including the Marsh Orchid, along with Butterwort, Grass of
Parnassus and Yellow Bird's-Nest. Birds common to the dunes include Herring
Gulls, Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Curlew, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. The
dunes are also home to an abundance of toads and lizards as well as insects. Newborough
Warren is part of a National Nature Reserve, which also includes Llanddwyn Island. Red
Squirrel haven  The
Red Squirrel is largely extinct in Wales apart from a few locations such as on
Anglesey where a reintroduction project has created a safe haven.
The
Anglesey Red Squirrel Project has been a driving force in boosting numbers.
The
Red Squirrel used to be common on Anglesey but with the arrival of Greys in the
1970's, numbers dropped to only 40 by 1998. The Project started a grey
eradication project and a reintroduction of reds. The Red Squirrels live
in the depths of the forest so the young don't become habituated to humans and
will remain truly wild. The squirrels that have been released are very hard
to see but that doesn't put people coming to try to find them. In fact,
they've become the superstars of Anglesey's wildlife and spotting them is a real
thrill. Bird watchers' paradise  Being
sandy the beach at Newborough is not nearly so good for finding shells - but it
does make for good bird watching.
The real birding highlight at Newborough
is not the wading birds, it is the Ravens. As evening approaches, Newborough
plays hosts to a Raven spectacular when the birds return after a day of scavenging. At
its peak four years ago the roost had 2,000 ravens, making it the second largest
in the world. Now the number at Newborough, still one of the largest in
the UK, has fallen to 800. The Ravens have also set up satellite roosts
in two other areas of the island - Mynydd Bodafon and Pentraeth. The roosts
have a high density of birds, although it's unclear why they roost in such numbers. The
Raven is known to be a very intelligent bird and it's thought that they use the
roost as an information centre for passing news about where to go and feed. Photo
credits Raven images copyright and courtesy
of RSPB Images. | 
