Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - Autumn 1982
Ian Morgan - September 1982
No. 1 Stradey Woods
This is the first of a series of articles describing bites of natural history interest in the Llanelli area.
Stradey Woods is part of the Stradey Castle Estate owned by Mr David Mansel-Lewis and it is located to the immediate west of the town, with the easiest access points being near the village of Cwmbach on the Llanelli-Trimsaran road.
Bird-wise, Stradey Woods is rather typical for South-east Carmarthenshire, the mixed woodlands, deciduous and coniferous hold a large and varied population of breeding birds and support good numbers of visiting thrushes, finches and pigeons from the colder areas of Europe.
The streams of the Afon Dulais and the Afon Cwm Mawr unite below Cwmbach and by following the streams downstream one has a good chance of seeing those waterside birds, the Grey Wagtail and the Dipper - birds which are perhaps more typical of the Welsh Hill Country.
In spring especially, those large raptors, buzzards, constantly soar and fill the air with their “mew”-like calls when fine sunny weather instigates air thermals. Later in the summer the more plaintive calls of young buzzards are a familiar sound. On the slopes of the Graig, near Pwll, where the bracken-choked slopes merge into pine and mixed woodlands, ravens - conspicuous with their wedge-shaped tails and “cronking” calls - are often to be seen.
In Stradey Woods they nest early, often laying in late February when snow coven the ground, and about a month before the first pioneer swallows reach the area.
Throughout the woods blackcaps and chiffchaffs abound - the latter bird being one of the first spring migrants to arrive, announcing spring with repeated “siff saff siff saff” calls - though the odd bird may over-winter encouraged by the (usually) mild winters of the area. In the conifers Coal Tits search the pine and spruce needles with the diminutive Goldcrest whilst Long-tailed Tits and Redpolls in winter search undergrowth and trees for insects and seeds respectively. In some winters, the lucky ornithologist may see Siskin’s with the Redpolls.
The woodland edges, scrub and rough ground on the periphery of Stradey Woods forms a suitable home for innumerable Willow warblers — a very close relative of the Chiffchaff. Here one often hears the cuckoo or the song of the tree pipit which sings as it descends in a parachute-like display flight.
Scattered thinly throughout the woods, especially where the ground cover is sparse, is the Wood Warbler - its large size, very yellow breast with whitish feathers further down should identify this species.
All three British species of Woodpecker occur, the Greater-spotted being by far the commoner. The Green Woodpecker favours less-heavily wooded country-grassland punctuated by trees for nest sites - and often feeds on the ground searching for ants’ nests whose larvae it consumes. This species suffered greatly during the cold spell of early 1982 aid it will be a few years before it regains its former strength. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is quite scarce but may be seen anywhere in the woods — listen for its kestrel-like “kek...kek” call in spring and check the topmost branches of nearby trees.
Those other arboreal birds, the Treecreeper and Nuthatch, are often seen – in spring the Nuthatch is very obtrusive with loud “whee...whee” calls. It sometimes uses nestboxes in the woods, plastering the sides of the entrance hole with mud, until its size is reduced.
Sparrowhawks and Tawny Owls nest and hunt through the Wood - once a slate-blue-backed male Sparrowhawk landed with a dead chaffinch on a branch about 3 metres from my face! Kestrels use the trees for nesting but hunt over open ground, hovering into the wind.
Those gems of oakwoods in North Carmarthenshire, the Pied Flycatcher and Redstart only occur rarely as in 1971 and 1980 when male Pied Flycatchers sang briefly in the woods, the 1971 bird on a branch above the roar of the waterfalls. One day, hopefully, they may begin to nest. On a sadder note; the Rooks have vacated the small, but noisy, rookery by Stradey Castle, but as compensation the rookery on the eastern side of Burry Port has increased in numbers.
Winter sees the arrival of wood pigeons, stock doves, thrushes, finches fieldfares and redwings, and by following streams through marshy areas or by walking through rhododendrons or bracken one sometimes can flush woodcock, a wading bird which has become adapted to woodland life.
Although not as botanically rich as limestone woods - Stradey Woods lies on sandstone, clays and alluvium - it still boasts an interesting flora with great drifts of snowdrops, bluebells or the yellow Lesser celandines, the latter known appropriately in Welsh as “Llygaid Ebrill” or “Eyes of April”. In wetter spots, the related Kingcup or Marsh marigold thrives, often near to the Moschatel with it’s strange floral layout.
The rhododendrons are planted, but primroses, greater stitchwort and about 10 species of fern are native. Near the waterfalls, Solomon’s Seal grows amongst thickets of bamboo.
Foxes, weasels and badgers hunt along the woodland floor, whilst in summer long-eared bats, pipistrelles and whiskered bats share the night air spaces with noctule bats hunting high over the large clearing in front of the castle, plummeting like their diurnal counterparts, swifts.
Butterflies include the Speckled Wood which is abundant – Orange-tips and the yellow Brimstones in spring. The food, plant of the Brimstone is the Buckthorn - last recorded by R.V. Innes in c. 1840! It still has not been found - but it must be there! Marshy areas around the Wood hold the beautiful Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, whilst high in the oaks is the elusive, but probably quite common Purple Hairstreak. The rare White-letter Hairstreak was seen in 1976.
The Woods hold much more than can possibly he described in this article, so it’s now up to you to search and persevere!
N.B. Please ask permission for entry as the Woods are private at:¬
1. Stradey Castle or
2. Stradey Castle Estate Offices, New Road, Llanelli.
