RSPB buys 'magical' 96-hectare landscape to reconnect habitats
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- RSPB purchased 96 hectares of upland landscape called Gallt-y-bere in Carmarthenshire to serve as a "vital missing link" between two separated parts of its Gwenffrwd-Dinas nature reserve in the Elenydd
- The acquisition reconnects fragmented habitats along the River Tywi for the first time in 60 years, uniting Atlantic oak woodlands (Celtic rainforests), ffridd, ancient woodland, and peat bogs
- The expanded reserve is now large enough to support breeding hen harriers, a red-listed bird seen occasionally in the area but not recently attempting to breed
- The purchase was funded by a philanthropic loan and donations from thousands of supporters responding to a public fundraising appeal
- Site manager Jonathan Cryer called Gallt-y-bere a "truly magical place," saying securing the site creates conditions for pied flycatchers, pine martens, cuckoos, wood warbler, and whinchats to flourish
- Summer surveys funded by Natural Resources Wales will catalog the full range of habitats and species on the newly acquired land and inform future management
- RSPB Cymru plans to work with local farming tenants to demonstrate how nature recovery and sustainable farming can work hand in hand across the wider landscape
Why it matters: The acquisition restores a wildlife corridor split for six decades, giving threatened species like the red-listed hen harrier room to establish breeding populations on land large enough to support them. For RSPB Cymru and the thousands of donors who bankrolled it, Gallt-y-bere becomes a working model for pairing habitat restoration with sustainable farming on tenant land across Wales.
