Gwynfi residents may have noticed some meadow management taking place on the new Gwynfi Community Wild Space this week.
Local contractors have been busy ‘cut and collecting’ the grassland here. This type of management removes the cut material while mowing, reducing the nutrients in the soil over time, which encourages native wildflowers to flourish. This is a boost for nature but also locks in carbon through healthy soils.
Since the 20th century, the UK alone has lost 97% of its meadows, but looking after our grasslands in this way is helping to bring them back. This compliments the work taking place across the county as part of the NPT Bee Friendly scheme.
If you’ve not heard about the Community Wild Spaces (CWS) yet, these are local places for people and nature where we will be working as part of the Lost Peatlands Project. As well as Gwynfi, the CWS sites are at Cymmer, Glyncorrwg, Blaenrhonnda, Cwm-Parc and Hendre Mynydd.
At each CWS we will be undertaking habitat management and locals can get involved through volunteering, wildlife identification training and health and wellbeing sessions. If you would like further information or would like to get involved please get in touch at lostpeatlands@npt.gov.uk. We'd love to hear from you!