Unable to attend this trip I will give a brief description of both sites and what the rest of the MSc students got up to.
Treborth Botanic Garden
The university bought the land that the site resides on in the 60s, and the gardens are now used to teach the university's students along with local schools and community groups.
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| Map of the Treborth site |
The gardens are home to a huge variety of species which are grown indoor and outdoor, part of the woodland at the site is an SSSI. The aim of this trip was to learn about wetland plants that grow at the site that can be found in many wetland areas. Many North Wales plant species native to Snowdonia and coastal regions can be seen at the site, making for a great learning experience for anyone to enjoy. The MSc students collected plant samples from a pond which lay inan area of land that had not been plowed for 60 years, these which were then taken back to the lab to be identified using microscopes and handbooks. Below is a list of some of the species they identified..
- Common Duckweed
- Ivy Leaved Duckweed
- Greater Spearwort
- Rigid Hornwort
- Water Mint
- Water Starwort
- Spyrogira
- Juncus effusus
Malltraeth Marsh
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| Aerial image of the marsh (RSPB) |
The students visited the marsh also known as Cors Ddyga in the afternoon after the botanical garden. The site covers 273ha of marsh, reedbeds, wetgrassland, pools and lakes and is an SSSI located in Anglesey. The RSPB have a reserve situated in the north east corner of the site as it is a notable bird breeding ground, with their main aim to provide a suitable habitat for Bitterns ensuring they return to breed at the site. Upkeep of the clay ditches maintains water levels encouraging an exclusive swamp area for the bittern to breed.
The site is grazed by welsh mountain ponies and management at the site is key to ensuring ground nesting birds return in the summer, this is achieved by reducing grazing. Nesting sites for waders are controlled by creating shallow water ditches where they can feed.
Many species of plant inhabit the area including..
- Bog Bean
- Branched bur-reed
- Club rush
- Common reed (Phragmites)
- Juncus bulbosus
- Blunt-leaved pondweed
- Grey willow
- Stonewort
- Bistort
- Field rose
Many other species inhabit the area including the moss Sphagnum immersum.
These sites both seem like amazing places to visit and I am definitely going to visit them at some point. Hopefully when the weather gets a bit nicer, but i suppose we are in Wales.....
