The Dyfi Biosphere ( cy, Biosffer Dyfi) is situated at the coast of south-central

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 ...

in the estuary of the

River Dyfi The River Dyfi ( cy, Afon Dyfi; ), also known as the River Dovey (; ), is an approximately long river in Wales. Its large estuary forms the boundary between the counties of Gwynedd and Ceredigion, and its lower reaches have historically been c ...

, and is a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

representative of

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es and estuarine systems in the west of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The estuary forms one of the most important wildfowl and shorebird centres in Wales and also comprises a Ramsar site.

Cors Fochno Cors Fochno is a raised peat bog near the village of Borth, in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. Lying on the south side of the Dyfi estuary, it forms a component part of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve. It was designated a UNESCO (Unite ...

has a large expanse of primary raised

mire A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...

and contains a high number of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

species, including some of national and international importance. Upstream along the Dyfi Valley are remnants of native

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woodland. The site was declared in 1977, and covers an area of 1,589

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 ...

Human activities

Human activities in the area include pastoral farming and forestry, tourism and outdoor recreation, sustainable living and technology development; natural resource rehabilitation, management and monitoring; environmental education and interpretation and cultural development.

Ecological characteristics

The Dyfi is a post-glacial catchment of predominantly hill land with thin, acidic soils developed on lower Palaeozoic sedimentary strata. Broadleaf woodlands, typically

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

or ash dominated, are a feature of the valley slopes and its many tributaries, although conifer plantations now dominate large areas. The

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in s ...

, lichen and

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

communities of the shady, damp valley woods are particularly notable, with large numbers of Atlantic species. Several areas of upland moorland occur, comprising mixtures of acid grassland, blanket bog and dwarf shrub

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

, often contiguous with larger upland areas and supporting important bird populations. The Dyfi is a classic bar-built

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, and one of the foremost examples of a drying, sandy, nutrient-poor estuary. Important populations of migratory fish, birds and otter occur along with extensive areas of saltmarsh (

Atlantic salt meadow The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

). The spit dune system of

Ynyslas Ynyslas (, meaning "Blue Island") is a small Welsh village about 1.5 miles north of Borth and 8 miles north of Aberystwyth, within the county of Ceredigion. It is sandwiched between a long sandy beach in Cardigan Bay and the beach in the Dyfi E ...

is an actively accreting system with good representation of dune community succession including marram fore-dunes and humid dune slacks. The estuarine raised mire of

Cors fochno Cors Fochno is a raised peat bog near the village of Borth, in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. Lying on the south side of the Dyfi estuary, it forms a component part of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve. It was designated a UNESCO (Unite ...

is one of the largest and best preserved active raised bogs in the UK. It is a key site for climate-related research and supports important assemblages of lower plants, invertebrates and birds.

Protection classifications

National: * National Nature Reserve * Site of Special Scientific Interest

Sources

References

{{Authority control

External links

Official website
Biosphere reserves of Wales