News

Immerse yourself for 10 months in beautiful North Wales.

Be a valued member of our Countryside and Trees Team.

Closing date: 25th June 2021.

Further details.

Here is the May Bwletin (issue 159), full of the usual wonders!

* The old Aberdaron jetty - when and why?

* Celebrating nests

* The mystery of the fog bow

* What cues drive insects to fly in spring?

* The old red deer on Traeth Mawr - where did it come from?

* Dippers in Britanny - are they making a come- back?

* Clwb a Llygaid Bach: Recognising Birds of the Uplands

Now in its 7th year, data from the scheme has been used to input into the UK Biodiversity Set as part of C7 Plants of the Wider Countryside indicator UK Habitat Condition Indicator. Further work is expected on the indicator and vital habitat information is being explored across the dataset. The partnership project (JNCC, UKCEH, Plantlife, BSBI and DAERA) is the only long-term monitoring scheme of plants and habitats of it’s kind. Approximately 1500 volunteers are currently allocated a 1km square to survey and monitor across 5 plots twice a year every year. The robust methodology and long term monitoring of plants and habitats is already providing essential data on how are plant communities are fairing under increasing pressures and drivers of change. Please head to the website for more information or watch our videos on our YouTube channel . We also have a series of Webinars about the NPMS and habitat training webinars also, registration is here .

Plantlife is partnering with the university of Tartu, Estonia and supporting their European-wide Cowslip Survey which is now live. The survey explores heterostyly in cowslips (people are asked to look at the flower on an individual plant) and record whether the plant is an S-Morph or L-Morph. The ratio of these morphs can help us understand the health of a grassland habitat. I have attached more information about the survey and the link to the page is below, together with a link to a You Tube presentation about the survey.

More Information

YouTube

Full time – 37.5 hrs per week

Fixed term contract, 1 year. Further extension if funding allows.

Salary £18,525

Closing date: 23:59, Sunday 25th April 2021

Love the outdoors? Want to work in conservation?

There's a new and exciting opportunity for an individual to work with the Carneddau Landscape Partnership team in partnership with Coleg Cambria. The Carneddau Environmental Conservation Apprentice will learn new skills while gaining a City and Guilds Level 2 Certificate in Work-Based Environmental Conservation and working in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park.

The apprentice will assist the Snowdonia National Park Authority's Woodland and Forestry staff and National Trust Ogwen Ranger teams, as well as the Carneddau Landscape Partnership Scheme team on a broad range of projects but with a focus on the delivery of environmental conservation elements of the scheme's work.

This will involve undertaking a wide range of practical hands on work including assisting with tree safety inspections, tree safety work, woodland management, fencing, planting and assisting with the development of the tree nursery. Other responsibilities may include assisting the team and working with volunteers and schools.

Title: Carneddau Environmental Conservation Apprenticeship

Qualification: City and Guilds Level 2 Certificate in Work-Based Environmental Conservation

Salary: National Minimum Wage

Location: Snowdonia National Park Office, Penrhyndeudraeth, & National Trust, Ogwen Cottage Ranger Base, Nant Ffrancon.

Contract Period: 12 months.

Application deadline: 17:00, 3 May 2021

Rich Burkmar has designed and implemented a brand spanking new digital earthworm atlas on the ESB website. This interactive tool will enable users to map and explore the earthworm data held by the ESB.

Here's your menu for this month's Llên Natur Bwletin 158 - as varied as ever, and equally interesting we hope:

The mystery of the Prenteg Crystal Stones

Iwan Roberts’ plant - the lungwort

A change in the weather, 8 February

Early signs of spring

Tame Snowdonia goats of yesteryear

Marmalade, chewing gum and U-boats

Great diving beetles in strange places

Luis' birds of Patagonia

Covid’s little treasures

The “White Moulds, Ramularia and Phacellium Anamorphs in Wales and Britain” is the latest in an award-winning series of books on phytoparasitic fungi written by the Welsh Microfungi Group. This volume covers the White Moulds which are a comparatively neglected group compared to the Rusts, Smuts, Downy and Powdery Mildews. However, they are very common and can be conspicuous, infecting a wide range of plants and a few species are economically important as agricultural and horticultural pathogens. There are around 350 species worldwide, including about 108 recorded for Britain and Ireland, of which 81 have so far been found in Wales. Most are surprisingly easy to identify.

Copies, as a result of financial support from the British Society for Plant Pathology and the British Mycological Society, only cost £6.50 plus £3.20 p&p directly from Ray Woods, Ty Mawr Mill, Builth Wells, Powys. LD2 3SH.

Hard copies will also be available from on-line book suppliers (ISBN 978-0-956 5750-5-0) and digital copies can be download free from here.