NEWBOROUGH FOREST
Declared the first coastal National Nature Reserve for Wales
In the 14th Century, great storms blew vast quantities of sand inland and farming became impossible in this area. Six centuries passed and then came another dramatic change, ranks of Corsican pines were planted between 1947 and 1965, creating the largest forest on Anglesey; what good fortune the immense dune system of Newborough Warren, one of the finest in Great Britain, escaped untouched.
WHERE TO WATCH
1 Common and Arctic Terns regularly fish offshore and gather in late summer while on southward migration. A century ago the Ringed Plover was described as being ‘common on the coast everywhere in North Wales’ but dogs and human disturbance have resulted in a catastrophic decline – a handful of pairs still nest on Anglesey, with dogs not allowed on part of the beach at Newborough between 1 May and 30 September.
2 Ynys Llanddwyn (Llanddwyn Island), though only at low water so to avoid being marooned note the tide times, was the site in 1911 of the first RSPB reserve in Wales, established to safeguard the then nesting Roseate Terns in the face of egg thieves. Cormorants and Shags choose Ynys yer Adar, the islet off the western shore, while the headland which attracts foraging Purple Sandpipers and Turnstones is a vantage point for a spot of seawatching in late summer.
3 Red-breasted Mergansers have nested in Anglesey since 1953 with Newborough a regular site so a midsummer chance of watching a guardian mother keeping her ducklings safe beside her. The same waters in winter regularly host Red-throated and Great Northern Divers, Great Crested and Slavonian Grebes, Eider, Longtailed Duck and Common Scoter.
4 You are spoilt for choice by the number trails through the Forest, with a chance of Goldcrests, the tit family, Crossbills, which first nested in 1987 followed by Siskins in 1992, but the real star is the Raven. Numbers roosting here in midwinter may reach 1,000, what a sight and what a sound!
5 A habitat contrast is Llyn Rhos-ddu, where Coots and occasionally Little Grebes breed, beyond which the vast expanse of the Newborough Warren dunes with the occasional passage Cuckoo, nesting Whinchats, Stonechats, Grasshopper and Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats.