24 May 2023

A wildlife haven. . . in the middle of an industrial estate?

Zoe Phelan

Cae Pobl is a field which used to be home to a few alpacas. Due to the types of grasses in the field, it was deemed unsuitable for the animals so they were relocated.

Carmarthenshire County Council asked us to help with the biodiversity of the site by introducing native species to the field. Over the past year, we’ve been growing on natives behind the scenes for the council. The plants were grown using deep ‘root trainer’ trays so that they’d have a good root run before planting. This was essential as the field is predominantly boggy.

On the day of planting we managed to get over 900 plants in the ground which included – devil’s bit scabious (Succisa pratensis), purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea), whorled caraway (Trocdaris verticillata), meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), knapweed (Centaurea nigra), angelica (Angelica sylvestris), burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga) and betony (Betonica officinalis) – all great native grassland plants for pollinators.

Trocdaris verticillata · Bruce Langridge

The intention is that these natives help regenerate the field into a pollinator-friendly hotspot. The wildflowers will provide flowers for butterflies to forage nectar from and hopefully the field will act as a corridor to connect key breeding sites.

If you’re passing, keep a look out for those little pops of colour over the next few months!

Succisa pratensis · Elliot Waters