Brecknock Wildlife Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Sir Frycheiniog) is a former wildlife trust covering the vice county of Brecknockshire in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The Trust was founded in 1964, with a network of

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s carrying out most of its work. No full-time conservation officers were in post until 1987. Heritage Lottery funding helped the Trust to expand and a bequest of £1,000,000 in 2003 resulted in the appointment of a Reserves Officer. In April 2018 it merged with

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth Natur De a Gorllewin Cymru) is a Wildlife Trust in south and west Wales, one of 46 such Trusts in the United Kingdom. History Forerunner of the WTSWW, the former West Wal ...

. The offices of the Trust are located in Lion House,

Brecon Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the coun ...

. The Trust has 22 reserves, the majority of which are in the

Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain ( cy, Y Mynydd Du) i ...

. All are open to the public free of charge. The most visited of the reserves is at Pwll-y-Wrach ("Witches' Pool", near

Talgarth Talgarth is a market town, community and electoral ward in southern Powys, Mid Wales, about north of Crickhowell, north-east of Brecon and south-east of Builth Wells. Notable buildings in the town include the 14th-century parish church and ...

; the site is 17.5

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s in area, most of which is

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

. At the eastern end of the reserve is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

flowing from the River Enig into the so-called Witches' Pool. The wildlife in this area includes bluebells, woodruff,

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s, herb paris,

toothwort Toothwort is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Cardamine'', a genus of plants in the mustard family, Brassicaceae *''Lathraea'', a genus of parasitic plants in the family Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a fam ...

, dormice and

dipper Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater. Taxonomy The genus ''Cinclus'' ...

s (which frequent the waterfall). Another reserve run by the Trust, Glasbury Cutting, is located at Glasbury-on-Wye, in the far east of the Trust's administrative area. Formerly part of the railway line between Brecon and Hereford, which closed in 1962, it is composed partly of woodland and partly of a

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

created to encourage wild plants.

Dormice A dormouse is a rodent of the family Gliridae (this family is also variously called Myoxidae or Muscardinidae by different taxonomists). Dormice are nocturnal animals found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. They are named for their long, dormant hibe ...

, a protected species, were discovered within the reserve in 2000. In the far south-west, Cae Lynden Nature Reserve is one of three reserves close together near

Ystradgynlais Ystradgynlais (, ) is a town on the River Tawe in southwest Powys, Wales. It is the second-largest town in Powys and is in the historic county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes ...

. The grasslands of this former sports field encourage

marsh fritillary The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval s ...

meadow brown The meadow brown (''Maniola jurtina'') is a butterfly found in the Palearctic realm. Its range includes Europe south of 62°N, Russia eastwards to the Urals, Asia Minor, Iraq, Iran, North Africa and the Canary Islands. The larvae feed on grasse ...

and

gatekeeper A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something, for example via a city gate or bouncer, or more abstractly, controls who is granted access to a category or status. Gatekeepers assess who is "in or out", in the classic words of manage ...

butterflies. Vicarage Meadows, a grassland reserve near

Abergwesyn Abergwesyn is a village in the Welsh county of Powys, in mid-Wales, at the start of the Abergwesyn valley and at the confluence of the Afon Irfon and the Afon Gwesyn. It is from Cardiff and from London. Abergwesyn Commons stretch between the N ...

in the Irfon Valley, is managed by the Trust and the species growing there include

bog asphodel ''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in ele ...

, wood bitter vetch,

greater butterfly orchid ''Platanthera chlorantha'', commonly known as greater butterfly-orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus '' Platanthera''. It can be found throughout Europe and Morocco. The name ''Platanthera'' is derived from Greek, meaning "broad anthers" ...

s and

small white orchid ''Pseudorchis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. The sole species is the small white orchid (''Pseudorchis albida''). It is found across much of Europe and northern Asia from Spain and Iceland to Kamcha ...

s. In March 2016, the Brecknock Wildlife Trust announced a new initiative in the Ystradgynlais area, called the Wild Communities Project. This is intended to capitalise on the results of an earlier project, the “Upper Tawe Valley Living Landscape Project". Lottery funding of £313,757 has been allocated to this project, which will take place over a three-year period.

External links

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales Website

References

{{The Wildlife Trusts Organisations based in Powys Wildlife Trusts of Wales Brecon Beacons National Park Organizations established in 1964 1964 establishments in Wales