A-Z of Services

Biodiversity

Ponds and Wetlands

Ponds in Wrexham

Wildlife Corridors

Habitat

Ponds and Wetlands

Ponds support a vast array of freshwater plants and animals. These complex wetland habitats are home to a third of our native plants and over 1,200 species of invertebrates such as dragonflies, may flies, pond skaters, bugs and snails.

During the last century Britain has lost 75% of its ponds. The expansion of towns and industrial areas, intensive agriculture and piped water for cattle, has resulted in many ponds becoming redundant and a decline of much pondlife including rare, vulnerable and endangered species.

As a pond develops its vegetation increases, reducing the surface area of open water, silt builds up and eventually it will become dry or wooded. All stages in a pond's development are important, as they support different communities of plants and animals, but amphibians need open water in order to lay their eggs. Almost 50% of the county's ponds are shaded by trees or have become wooded. This will increase and ponds will be lost unless they are managed or ponds restored.

Ponds in Wrexham

In Wrexham County Borough 500 ponds have been completely lost over the last 30 years, but there are still over 2000 ponds, covering a total area of one square kilometre. These ponds are concentrated in the eastern lowlands of the county.

This high density of ponds is an important feature of our landscape and a valuable biological resource. Amphibians will move from one pond to another if there are at least 4 ponds per square km. In the south-east there is an exceptionally large number of ponds. More than 200 ponds are of high conservation value, since they support nationally scarce species such as great crested newt, water vole, cowbane and frogbit.

Wildlife Corridors

Wildlife corridors are long narrow habitats in which species can live and travel along to other wildlife areas. Hedgerows, green lanes, streams and rivers and the margins of fields and roads are wildlife corridors. Wildlife corridors are increasingly important as habitats are segmented by roads and development. These corridors link together wildlife pockets and break up otherwise continuous areas of pasture and arable fields. It is important that these pockets are not isolated as this will lead to a further decline in wildlife populations.

Rivers and streams are important corridors for wildlife, especially fish. River banks are a home to water voles, otters and dippers.

The water vole population has crashed during the last 10 years and only 12% of the population remains. This recent drastic decline has been due to predation by mink, although they had been steadily declining due to water pollution and loss of habitat. The otter declined drastically during the 1950s/60s due to the widespread use of persistent pesticides and vanished from the bulk of lowland Britain. The population is now making a strong recovery, which is a sign of the improvement in water quality. However, if they are to extend into Cheshire then they need to be thriving here, which means they need plenty of lying up sites and holts adjacent to rivers.

Many bats use river corridors as routeways to feeding areas, but the Daubentons bat, also known as the water bat, is adapted to feeding over rivers where it uses its particularly large feet to pick insects off the water surface.

Corridors like hedgerows provide protection from predation enabling birds and small mammals to travel open fields. Hedgerows can be remnants of ancient woodland with a mixture of woodland and meadow flowers. Mature trees within the hedge increase the diversity of wildlife present. Hedges need to be managed but 70% are degraded or in need of restoration.

Much of the Maelor has been recognised as a medieval landscape of special historic interest by CADW. There is a general viewpoint that the older the hedge is, the greater the number of species that are present, but there is no comprehensive record of the quantity or quality of hedgerows or other boundaries within the County Borough.

Woodlands

Woodlands are one of the richest wildlife habitats. They provide a home for bats, birds, badgers and other mammals. Oak trees are a food source for around 500 insects and invertebrates. These moths, caterpillars and spiders are in turn food for other woodland animals such as blue tits and bats.

Humans have cleared woodlands to provide land for grazing and crops. Most woodland that remains is on steep slopes, where clearance would be difficult and cultivation impractical. These ancient woods have been in continual existence since before 1600 and probably since the last ice age, so the species associated with them have long been established. They are the most biologically rich type of woodland.

An estimated 3% of Wrexham County Borough is predominantly broadleaved woodland, which includes broadleaved plantation and small areas of conifers. Only a small part (under 1%) of this is actually ancient woodland. At springtime the floor of ancient woodlands flourish with wild flowers such as bluebells, primrose and ramsons. In the autumn, woodlands are host to a variety of fungi in many shapes and colours. Their importance within a woodland is often overlooked, but fungi are essential if dead wood and leaf litter is to be returned as nutrients into the soil.

The quality of woodlands are often threatened by inappropriate management, such as the introduction of grazing and invasive species such as rhododendron. However, cessation of traditional management, such as coppicing, can also reduce the value of a woodland for wildlife. Wormswood near Llay / Tan y cut Wood /Glyn Ceiriog is managed to promote native broadleaved trees and the rich wildlife which is associated with them.

Habitat

A habitat is a collection of organisms living together. There are many different types of habitats and each one is unique, but they can be placed in broad categories such as woodland and grassland.

Grasslands

Wildflower meadows are important for butterflies such as the uncommon pearl bordered fritillary and dingy and grizzled skippers. The grizzled skipper is known from only three site in north east Wales and one of these is within the County Borough. One of the largest areas of species rich grasslands in Wrexham County Borough is Alyn Waters County Park, where you can find skylarks and rare orchids.

Less intensively managed grasslands have large mice and vole populations which provide an important source of food for many animals, such as barn owls. The barn owl is a characteristic bird of farmland in Wales, particularly in lowland areas, with some of the highest densities in Britain recorded in western Wales. However, changes in land-use resulting in the loss of the owl's favourite prey, voles, and the loss of nesting sites means the population of this bird has halved over the last sixty years.

Species

Wrexham County Borough has a wide range of plants and animals, some of which are rare and endangered species. To encourage biodiversity, the common-place need to be conserved as well as the rare and threatened species.

During the last 30 years, the song thrush, a common bird of woods, gardens and hedges, has declined by 70% from farmland in Britain - although the decline has been less pronounced in Wales. Similarly the once common lapwing or peewit has declined by 50%from lowland farmland. Research is currently underway to determine how well they are breeding in Wrexham County Borough.

The skylark is easily recognised by its loud, clear warbling song. It is a bird of wide open spaces, requiring grassland cover, cereals or heather in which to nest. Skylarks have declined by 50% from farmland in Britain but in Wales it has been a bird more characteristic of the uplands rather than the lowlands.

The regular collection of records is essential so that the less common and even the common species can be monitored. There are a number of endangered species such as dormouse and lesser silver diving beetle which occur in neighbouring counties, but, to date, there has been no record of their presence.

Uplands

The tops of the hills, the uplands, have a unique vegetation which is dominated by dry heather heath and wetter blanket bog with cotton-grasses and bog mosses. Large areas of upland found in Wrexham County Borough are Ruabon Mountain and part of the Berwyn Range, which are nationally and internationally important respectively. This is not only due to the presence of the special vegetation, but also because of the assemblage of breeding birds, including red and black grouse, merlin, short-eared owl and golden plover.

Lowland Bogs

The lowland bogs such as Fenns, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses which straddle the English/Welsh border near Whitchurch are of international importance for their characteristic bog vegetation and associated wildlife. They are one of the most southerly lowland raised bogs in Britain and the third largest. Such bogs are created by bogmosses over 1000s of years. In 1990 the site was saved for wildlife conservation after a dramatic increase in the rate of commercial peat extraction threatened its destruction. As a result of the management as a National Nature Reserve, bogmosses are now recolonising, dragonflies have spread and waders such as curlews are prospering.

The Countryside Service

Ponds in Wrexham

Wrexham Biodiversity Action Plan

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