Environmental campaigner David Bellamy took a tour around an ancient marsh site to mark the 40-year anniversary fight to save it from development. Professor Bellamy visited the Magor Marsh Reserve on the Gwent Levels, 11 miles from the centre of Newport in south east Wales on Thursday.
The site is managed by the Gwent Wildlife Trust which was founded in 1963 to set up the reserve to protect the special landscape that has been maintained for centuries.
However, conservationists are worried that intensive modern agriculture and large-scale building work will threaten the area.
They are concerned that plans, including proposals to develop 4,000 new homes nearby, will have a detrimental effect on the marsh and the levels.
David Bellamy, who is president of the Wildlife Trusts, was shown around the 2,000-year-old man made landscape which is a site of special scientific interest.
"There are all sorts of wonderful dragonflies here, as well as things I don't even know about, like little tiny insects which are so important," he said.
"And in Newport, you have still got it being looked after the right way and it must go on being here forever and ever," he added.
 Derek Upton has been coming to the marsh since he was a boy |
Set up by Derek Upton, who has been a warden at the marsh since the formation of the trust, the group marked their anniversary with the opening of an education centre and a new bird watching hut.
He said that preserving the marsh, which is considered to be one of the last examples of fenland and grazing marshes in the UK, was vital to retain the wealth of nature around the area.
"Peoples attitudes to this sort of thing are changing," said Mr Upton.
"People want to see nature on their doorstep and it is important that these areas are maintained.
"I used to enjoy coming here as a child and have grown up with it.
"There are all sorts of magical and historical things to be found here.
"I have found footprints moulded in the clay from 10,000 years ago here and there is a wealth of wildlife that needs to be protected.
"We found the first hairy dragonflies ever to be found in this area here and there are a number of plants and insects that need the area to be preserved as it is now," he added.
As well as colonies of rare dragonflies, a number of other species can be found at the marsh including ducks and other water birds, otters, water voles and hundreds of varieties of beetles and insects.
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