Lets get a hide at Crymlyn Bog !

[StuMack]

Hello all

If youre from the south wales area then you may well have visited Crymlyn Bog and Pant-y-sais fen, which are havens for wildlife.

The reserve really needs a hide to allow the proper documentation of the birdlife there, so if like me youd like to see a bird hide down there email

enquiries@ccw.gov.uk

and nag them to death !

Regards, Stuart

[Gatekeeper]

Originally Posted by StuMack

Hello all

If youre from the south wales area then you may well have visited Crymlyn Bog and Pant-y-sais fen, which are havens for wildlife.

The reserve really needs a hide to allow the proper documentation of the birdlife there, so if like me youd like to see a bird hide down there email

enquiries@ccw.gov.uk

and nag them to death !

Regards, Stuart

A hide at Crymlyn is not a bad idea in itself, but unfortunately this may serve to attract the 'wrong element' to the area. The hides at the nearby Kenfig Nature Reserve are a magnet for under-age drinkers, drug users, arsonists, and vandals; this is despite the regular presence of wardens.

My local reserve in Cardiff has the same problems, and it's really demoralising to see once great hides reduced to virtually squats every evening. Sadly, sometimes hides don't enhance a reserve, but can lead to greater disturbance and environmental damage.

[eeyore]

Also there is no point in nagging anyone to death - chances are CCW has a bit of a funding shortage, so why not be more responsible and proactive and offer to work with them to help find funding for a hide - there is a lot of funding, awards for all, sita and biffa small grants streams, waitrose etc which is open to comunity groups but not to governmental bodies like ccw

so a "freinds odf crymlyn bog" could acheive a lot more - and recive a more positive response from the site managers , than a stream of nagging emails

[thunder]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Also there is no point in nagging anyone to death - chances are CCW has a bit of a funding shortage, so why not be more responsible and proactive and offer to work with them to help find funding for a hide - there is a lot of funding, awards for all, sita and biffa small grants streams, waitrose etc which is open to comunity groups but not to governmental bodies like ccw

so a "freinds odf crymlyn bog" could acheive a lot more - and recive a more positive response from the site managers , than a stream of nagging emails

Hear hear!

henrya

[Putorius]

Hides would be useful for some people, (and have no obvious and immediate benefit for biodiversity) but for how long would they last? Judging by the amount of tyres and junk, signs of small fires etc that I found whilst walking through Crymlyn burrows two days ago, not very long.

I would not feel confident about the lifespan of a hide at Pant-y-sais fen either. I assure you that I am not being negative, just realisitc. I am an active member of the Neath Port Talbot Biodiversty Forum (I am not employed by the local authority, I work for a trust) and I know that similar projects have not lasted long at nearby sites. The river bank hide close to the "Square pond" in Neath was rebuilt following fire only to be burned to the ground again a matter of months later. Similar things happened at Margam Park also earlier this year.

Out of control fires would not be a good thing for either site, despite much of it being wetland.

Furthermore, I work alongside CCW and have secured funding from them several times for projects with benefits for biodiversity. Hides are not priority and funds are certainly not as freely available as they were this time last year. CCW, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commision are also intending to merge in the near future and become one organization, hence funding mechanisms are likely to be under review.

[eeyore]

it is possible to built a vandal and other neer do well resistant hide - when i was in Milton Keynes (which probably has a higher idiot quotient than crymlyn) we built a hide at the wader scrapes at North Willen that was built of breeze block and half buried in the ground with a turf roof- and was fireproof and virtually industructable (Tho we did have to replace the seats have someone took a chainsaw to them )

It was also open backed which meant it was unlikely to be used for cottaging or other undesirable behaviour

I dont know Crymlyn and thus am not saying that such a hide would be appropriate there or not, just that it can be done