Wild About Gwent

21/03/2025

Hopping for joy or a bit hopping mad?... we'll let you decide!

Our original page Gwent Wildlife Trust is back! It was taken down by Meta last Spring and we have been appealing to get it back ever since. Thank you to everyone who followed the new page we set up here. We're now moving back to the original page (which has over ten years of content and over 6,000 fabulous followers) so please hop over to Gwent Wildlife Trust and give us a follow and like if you haven't already.

(We'll keep cross-posting all our local wildlife news, actions, fab finds and facts over here for a short while whilst everyone finds us again.)

20/03/2025

Little feet can make big steps for nature!

Did you know hedgehogs can walk up to 3km a night? 🦔 If you’re a teacher, childcare professional or volunteer then join the Hedgehog Walk with your little ones. 👣

It's a wonderful way to learn about nature, make lasting memories and support wildlife by raising vital funds! Sign up today and start your adventure: 👇www.wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehog-walk

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Gall traed bach gymryd camau mawr dros fyd natur!

Oeddech chi'n gwybod bod draenogod yn gallu cerdded hyd at 3km y noson? 🦔 Os ydych chi’n athro, yn weithiwr gofal plant proffesiynol neu’n wirfoddolwr, ymunwch â Thaith Gerdded y Draenogod gyda’ch rhai bach. ��👣

Mae'n ffordd wych o ddysgu am fyd natur, creu atgofion am byth a chefnogi bywyd gwyllt drwy godi a***n hanfodol! Cofrestrwch heddiw a dechrau ar eich antur: 👇www.wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehog-walk

19/03/2025

Wildflower Wednesdays – Ivy-leaved Speedwell – One of many speedwells, with small blue flowers. The Ivy-leaved Speedwell is quite distinctive however, as it is low-sprawling, noticeably hairy, and has unsurprisingly quite Ivy shaped leaves. It can readily be found in cultivated ground, and beside paths at the edge of woods.

19/03/2025

📽️ People from our 🌳 Wild Health project 🌳 have made this short film to show how nature is helping them feel better and enjoy life more. It's an inspiring and hopeful watch and we thought what better day to share it than today:

- a global celebration of how communities are enhancing wellbeing and transforming health systems through social prescribing

⬇️ Watch on Youtube here ⬇️

https://youtu.be/VYlA9u56MnY?si=SI3wNQsrYr6jlh-m

Help highlight the incredible value of nature for health and wellbeing by sharing this with anyone who you think might enjoy or benefit from it.

🫶Thank you to all staff, participants, volunteers, peer mentors and partners involved in making the film.

The National Lottery Community Fund

Cambrium Consortium
Integrated Autism Service
Women's Bushcraft
Going for Gold
Dicky Tickers
Sense Cymru
Community Mental Health Teams
Cwm Taf People First
Elysium Healthcare
The Hybrids
Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service
Abergavenny Museum
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

17/03/2025

Want to learn more about our British amphibians and reptiles and how to survey for them?? 🐍🐸
trust.official are running a free ID, Ecology and Survey workshop at our Magor Marsh Reserve this Thursday and there are still a few spaces left!

For more details and to book your place check out our Eventbrite page:

Join Amphibian and Reptile Conservation’s for a free training day on reptile and amphibian identification, ecology and survey methods

16/03/2025

Wildlife for the Week Ahead – Another of our earliest spring migrant is the Wheatear, look out for them along the Sea Wall, before they travel further inland to breed in our hills. Their white rump as they fly off low ahead of you is a good ID feature, and also gives them their name with Wheatear being a sanitised version of "White A**e"! Find out more by joining our Zoom https://www.gwentwildlife.org/events/2025-03-26-gwents-spring-migrants

12/03/2025

Wildflower Wednesdays - Hairy Bitter-cress – Perhaps not the most exciting of flowers, however it can be found in flower very early in the season. You may well have it growing in your garden but have overlooked it! It likes freshly dug and bare ground so can often move in as a “weed” in flower beds. The slender seed-pods can burst and fire the seeds up to 16ft away!

11/03/2025

Join our Silent Valley Nature Reserve Spring Clean-Up!

Help our volunteer team clear the Nant Merddog stream of legacy litter at our Silent Valley Nature Reserve in Ebbw Vale. We will be joined by our partners at Keep Wales Tidy - Cadwch Gymru'n Daclus and Groundwork Wales.

📅 Tuesday, 18th March 2025
⏰1 pm – 4 pm
📍Meet at the reserve entrance car park, Cendl Terrace, Cwm, Ebbw Vale NP23 7RX.
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All equipment (gloves, litter-pickers, bags, waders) will be provided, just come dressed for the weather with suitable footwear.

Get in touch with our River Restoration Officer Nathalie ([email protected]) if you'd like to join.

Hope to see you there!

📷 Tom Campbell

09/03/2025

Wildlife for the Week Ahead - One of our earliest spring migrants is the Chiffchaff, listen out for them singing their own name in the following week. Find out more on our Zoom https://www.gwentwildlife.org/events/2025-03-26-gwents-spring-migrants.

08/03/2025

07/03/2025

🌻 How's this for a feelgood Friday story, from recent new members, taking action for wildlife - it really warmed our hearts:

"My son Reuben, aged 7, is a new member of the Gwent Wildlife Trust. He was so excited to receive his membership pack and get started with transforming our garden into a wildlife haven.

Whilst at our local garden centre today, getting some bits for our garden, Reuben spotted this bee collecting pollen in a daffodil. He was so excited and happy because it’s St David’s Day here in Wales today! He asked me to share this photo he took, with you!

Reuben started transforming our garden today with some help from me (his mummy) & his daddy, with things he’s bought with his pocket money - a bird feeder, an insect house & a bird house, he’s also bought some flowers. We’re going to make a mini pond for our garden, tomorrow too!

We’re really enjoying the wildlife watch magazine (we received the autumn 2024 one in our pack, last week) and the wildlife watchers handbook".

➡️ We always love hearing your stories about the wildlife you love and what you're doing for it, keep them coming!

06/03/2025

We always love to hear from our supporters so it was lovely to receive this message from a new member whose 7 year old son had just got his Widlife Watch pack! "My son was so made up yesterday morning! We had a look through the pack, he was very proud of his membership card! He bought an insect house, bird box and feeder with his pocket money yesterday, and is looking forward to us putting them in the garden asap. We are looking forward to getting out and about."

Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts and the UK's leading environmental action club for children and families.

06/03/2025

With all the glorious weather, spring is certainly here! Spring means migrants arriving with us to breed, and cheer us with their songs. If you would like to know which of Gwent's migrants are arriving when, where to find them, and how to identify them, join us on Zoom on the evening of Wednesday the 26th March. https://www.gwentwildlife.org/events/2025-03-26-gwents-spring-migrants

05/03/2025

Wildflower Wednesdays - With spring having arrived our flowers are starting to bloom. Every Wednesday, for the next six months, until the end of summer we will be highlighting one of the huge variety of wildflowers you can see here in Gwent at that particular time of year. Get out there and see if you can find them before they have gone for another year. Lesser Celandine - The main flowering glory of our spring woods is still to come, however Lesser Celandine is the welcome harbinger. This close relative of buttercups can coat woodland floors in later winter / early spring, the petals positively glowing when catching the sun.

04/03/2025

Bring the whole family along on the Hedgehog Walk 🦔

Looking for a fun way to enjoy nature, learn about wildlife and enjoy some fresh air?

Well the Hedgehog Walk has it all! With Timmy Time by your side, every step is an adventure.

However you want to take on the challenge, this walk is perfect for families, schools and groups. Don’t miss out – sign up today and join the fun 👇www.wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehog-walk

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Dewch â’r teulu cyfan ar Daith Gerdded y Draenogod

Chwilio am ffordd hwyliog o fwynhau byd natur, dysgu am fywyd gwyllt a mwynhau ychydig o awyr iach?

Wel mae gan Daith Gerdded y Draenogod y cyfan! Gyda Timmy Time wrth eich ochr chi, mae pob cam yn antur.��

Sut bynnag ydych chi eisiau wynebu'r her, mae'r daith gerdded yma’n berffaith ar gyfer teuluoedd, ysgolion a grwpiau. Peidiwch â cholli’r cyfle - cofrestrwch heddiw ac ymuno â'r hwyl 👇www.wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehog-walk

03/03/2025

03/03/2025

📍 Live from the Field! 🌱

Today, on World Wildlife Day, we’re at Magor Marsh Nature Reserve with Welsh Government Species Champions John Griffiths (Water Vole) and Julie Morgan (Waxcap Fungi) and Gwent Wildlife Trust experts, exploring how we can protect Wales’ most vulnerable wildlife.

Water Voles and Waxcaps are two of the ten priority species that we are focussing conservation efforts on, thanks to support from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery. From restoring vital habitats with volunteer help to engaging citizen scientists, every action counts in tackling biodiversity decline.

Visit Gwent Wildlife Trust’s website to find out how you can get involved.

💬 Which conservation actions do you think make the biggest difference? Tell us below.

People's Postcode Lottery