Common land, highland cattle and a spot of pond dipping
Safeguarding open spaces - a charity warns not enough consideration is being given to common land by the Welsh Assembly Government. The killer shrimp making waves in Cardiff Bay and how Wales is doing its bit for the million ponds project.....
Last updated: 09 January 2011
Country Focus - Sunday 9th January at 07.00am presented by Rachael James; repeated 5.30am Monday 10th January 2010
A charity which campaigns for people's right to freely enjoy common land has called on the Welsh Assembly Government to recognise its importance. The Open Spaces Society want WAG to apply Glastir, the agri-environment scheme, to commons land so that common owners can be paid for sympathetic management of the land in the public interest.
It could be lurking in a water near you - a killer shrimp! Environment Agency Wales has confirmed that an invasive species of predatory shrimp is inhabiting waters at various locations across south Wales
With the artic weather we've been experiencing recently both wildlife and livestock have been looking cold to say the least. But for highland cattle - those long-horned hairy creatures which look like Yaks - it's been glorious! We visit Geoff and Annie Spawton who have fifty of them on their uplands farm near Lampeter in Ceredigion.
A hundred years ago there were over a million ponds in Britain; in fields and meadows, and across mountains and moorlands. Now, half of those ponds have gone but over the next fifty years the Million Ponds project aims reverse this decline. It may not be the best time of year to go pond dipping but Rachael James visits Llyn Helyg in Flintshire to find out about the project.
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