Malltraeth Marsh
Encyclopedia
Malltraeth Marsh is a large marsh
area in Anglesey
, North Wales
, located northeast of Malltraeth
village, north of Llangaffo
and south of Rhostrehwfa
. It is reclaimed from estuarine marshes after the construction of the Malltraeth Cob (dyke), a 1 miles (1.6 km) long embankment, and the subsequent canalisation in 1824 of the Afon Cefni
.
The name Malltraeth comes from Mall ("bad"), and Traeth ("sandy shore"). The marsh measures 1366.5 hectares (3,376.7 acre) in area. The area is recognized as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and has a range of reedbeds, marshes, wet grassland and small pools/lakes.
. The 4000 acres (1,618.7 ha) of reclaimed alluvium at the mouth of the River Cefni subsequently underwent considerable improvements in the late 18th century and early 19th century with the introduction of embankments and flood mitigation measures. During World War I, further improvements were made due to the concern of farmers. However. the reclamation became neglected and by the end of the war it had fallen into a bad state and was subject to numerous heated conflicts between the drainage engineer, the CWAEC, and the underfunded catchment board managing the drainage of the marsh. Bitter disputes over the marsh reached a climax with the chairman resigning from the Malltreath Marsh subcommittee in March 1942 and unusually high rainfall during the harvest in the following year devastating most of the cereal crops in the area. Due to pressure from local farmers, Lord Anglesey
met with Robert Hudson
and Megan Lloyd George
in 1944 to outline ideas for improving the local habitat problem. Some £100,000 was allocated to developing what was about 50% derelict marsh during the war and by 1947, £147,000 had been spent on the scheme.
of Malltraeth
, the Malltraeth Marsh valley crosses Anglesey parallel to the Menai Straits, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to the northwest. The habitat Malltraeth Marsh consists of marshy grasslands, lakes, pools, fossiliferous coal and shale
s.
The marsh's geology is characterized by carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, soft coal-measure shales, sandstone, beds of coal, and Permian
strata. The valley is 9 miles (14.5 km) long and runs almost exactly parallel to the valley of the Menai Straits. Many years ago, at its north-eastern end, deep glacial striatums on the Millstone Grit
ran straight down the shallow valley towards Caernarfon Bay
.
Malltraeth Marsh is a wide and perfectly flat expanse of reedy pasture. On its far side, there is an embanked tidal river that opens to Malltraeth Sands, 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) to the south. A short tunnel—the first one in Anglesey—pierces the low hills which extend along the west side of Malltraeth Marsh before reaching Bodorgan railway station
. Above Malltraeth lies the extensive Common
of the marsh, which is bounded on the northwest by the parishes of Llangadwaladr
, Trefdraeth, and Llangristiolus
; on the northeast by Llangefni
and Llanffinan; and on the southeast by Llanfihangel-y-Ceifiog, Llanidan
, Llangaffo
, Llangeinwen, and Newborough
.
s inhabit the marsh. Birds such as Northern Lapwing
, Eurasian Curlew
, Common Redshank
and Common Snipe
are reported from the lowland wet grassland. Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
and Common Pochard occupy the open water. Other birds recorded are Eurasian Bittern and Grey Heron
. Invertebrates include water beetle
s (Hydrochus brevis) and Hairy Dragonflies
.
reserve
is situated in the northeast corner of the SSSI.
Management options undertaken to conserve the marsh land consists of: Maintaining water levels by proper upkeep of clay lined ditches to conserve flora and fauna; maintaining an exclusive swamp area to breed bittern; creation of shallow water ditches along old water courses to drain large land areas where waders can feed; establishing water control structures on secondary drains to maintain high ground water table during the spring season; control of introduced invasive plant species such as fairy fern
, Australian stonecrop and Himalayan balsam
; reduce risk of predation (by predators such as crow
s and mink
s) of birds by constant conservation and preservation of hedges; encouraging grazing during winter season and reducing it during summer to attract ground nestling birds; and controlled agricultural management to provide nestling sites for waders.
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
area in Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
, located northeast of Malltraeth
Malltraeth
Malltraeth Malltraeth Malltraeth (origin: Mall (corrupt, blasted, desolate, + Traeth (beach)) is a small village in the southwest of Anglesey, in the area of Bodorgan...
village, north of Llangaffo
Llangaffo
Llangaffo is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It lies along the B4419 and B4421 roads, north of Dwyran, south of Gaerwen and northwest of Llanidan. It is named after Caffo, a 6th-century saint. A church, St Caffo's Church, is named after him. A war memorial, a village hall and a primary...
and south of Rhostrehwfa
Rhostrehwfa
Rhostrehwfa is a village in southern-central Anglesey, located southwest of Llangefni. To the southeast is the Malltraeth Marsh. It is "situated at a prominent point on the crest of a ridge overlooking the River Cefni valley to the south."It contains the Capel Pisgah and several holiday cottages....
. It is reclaimed from estuarine marshes after the construction of the Malltraeth Cob (dyke), a 1 miles (1.6 km) long embankment, and the subsequent canalisation in 1824 of the Afon Cefni
Afon Cefni
Afon Cefni is one of the major rivers on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is long. The river starts at the Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island and then runs south through the county town of Llangefni. Just north of the A55 the river turns and flows south-west. It passes through the flatlands...
.
The name Malltraeth comes from Mall ("bad"), and Traeth ("sandy shore"). The marsh measures 1366.5 hectares (3,376.7 acre) in area. The area is recognized as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and has a range of reedbeds, marshes, wet grassland and small pools/lakes.
History
In 1790, an act of parliament was obtained for more effectually embanking the marshes called Malltraeth and Corsddeuga, under the provisions of which 230 acres (93 ha) were allotted to the several proprietors of land in the parish of LlangaffoLlangaffo
Llangaffo is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It lies along the B4419 and B4421 roads, north of Dwyran, south of Gaerwen and northwest of Llanidan. It is named after Caffo, a 6th-century saint. A church, St Caffo's Church, is named after him. A war memorial, a village hall and a primary...
. The 4000 acres (1,618.7 ha) of reclaimed alluvium at the mouth of the River Cefni subsequently underwent considerable improvements in the late 18th century and early 19th century with the introduction of embankments and flood mitigation measures. During World War I, further improvements were made due to the concern of farmers. However. the reclamation became neglected and by the end of the war it had fallen into a bad state and was subject to numerous heated conflicts between the drainage engineer, the CWAEC, and the underfunded catchment board managing the drainage of the marsh. Bitter disputes over the marsh reached a climax with the chairman resigning from the Malltreath Marsh subcommittee in March 1942 and unusually high rainfall during the harvest in the following year devastating most of the cereal crops in the area. Due to pressure from local farmers, Lord Anglesey
Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey
Charles Henry Alexander Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey GCVO was a British peer.Paget was born in 1885, the son of Lord Alexander Paget, was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College Sandhurst and in 1905 he succeeded as Marquess of Anglesey on the demise of his childless cousin, the 5th...
met with Robert Hudson
Robert Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson
Robert Spear Hudson, 1st Viscount Hudson CH PC was a British Conservative Party politician who held a number of ministerial posts during the Second World War....
and Megan Lloyd George
Megan Lloyd George
Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George CH was a British politician, the first female Member of Parliament for a Welsh constituency, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. She later became a Labour MP....
in 1944 to outline ideas for improving the local habitat problem. Some £100,000 was allocated to developing what was about 50% derelict marsh during the war and by 1947, £147,000 had been spent on the scheme.
Geography
Located in the cwmwdCommote
A commote , sometimes spelt in older documents as cymwd, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod...
of Malltraeth
Malltraeth
Malltraeth Malltraeth Malltraeth (origin: Mall (corrupt, blasted, desolate, + Traeth (beach)) is a small village in the southwest of Anglesey, in the area of Bodorgan...
, the Malltraeth Marsh valley crosses Anglesey parallel to the Menai Straits, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to the northwest. The habitat Malltraeth Marsh consists of marshy grasslands, lakes, pools, fossiliferous coal and shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s.
The marsh's geology is characterized by carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, soft coal-measure shales, sandstone, beds of coal, and Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
strata. The valley is 9 miles (14.5 km) long and runs almost exactly parallel to the valley of the Menai Straits. Many years ago, at its north-eastern end, deep glacial striatums on the Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...
ran straight down the shallow valley towards Caernarfon Bay
Caernarfon Bay
Caernarfon Bay is an inlet of the Irish Sea defined by the Llŷn peninsula and Anglesey.The gentle coastline surrounding it is home to villages including Nefyn, Trefor, and Clynnog Fawr on the mainland, and Aberffraw, Llanddwyn and Rhosneigr on Anglesey.The Menai Strait heads north east to link the...
.
Malltraeth Marsh is a wide and perfectly flat expanse of reedy pasture. On its far side, there is an embanked tidal river that opens to Malltraeth Sands, 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) to the south. A short tunnel—the first one in Anglesey—pierces the low hills which extend along the west side of Malltraeth Marsh before reaching Bodorgan railway station
Bodorgan railway station
Bodorgan railway station serves the hamlet of Bodorgan and the village of Bethel on the Isle of Anglesey. The stop is an unmanned halt, and serves as a request stop for Chester and Holyhead-bound local trains along the North Wales coast....
. Above Malltraeth lies the extensive Common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
of the marsh, which is bounded on the northwest by the parishes of Llangadwaladr
Llangadwaladr
Llangadwaladr is a small village in south-west Anglesey, Wales, located around 2 miles east of Aberffraw and 3 miles south of Gwalchmai. It is part of the community of Bodorgan....
, Trefdraeth, and Llangristiolus
Llangristiolus
Llangristiolus is a village in the middle of Anglesey, Wales, southwest of Llangefni, and is named after Saint Cristiolus. The River Cefni flows through the village...
; on the northeast by Llangefni
Llangefni
Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llangefni was 4,662 people and it is the second largest settlement on the island...
and Llanffinan; and on the southeast by Llanfihangel-y-Ceifiog, Llanidan
Llanidan
Llanidan is a parish in south-west Anglesey, Wales which includes the village of Brynsiencyn. The parish is located along the Menai Strait, approximately 4 miles north-east of Caernarfon . The parish church is located near the A4080 highway, a little to the east of Brynsiencyn...
, Llangaffo
Llangaffo
Llangaffo is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It lies along the B4419 and B4421 roads, north of Dwyran, south of Gaerwen and northwest of Llanidan. It is named after Caffo, a 6th-century saint. A church, St Caffo's Church, is named after him. A war memorial, a village hall and a primary...
, Llangeinwen, and Newborough
Newborough, Anglesey
Newborough is a village in the south-western corner of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales; it is in the community of Rhosyr, which has a population of 2,169.-History:Newborough was a commotal centre of medieval Anglesey...
.
Vegetation
The vegetation reported from the Malltraeth Marsh consist of reed canary-grass, water-plantain, branched bur-reed, Club rush and reed sweet-grass. Spiked water-milfoil, blunt-leaved pondweed, horned pondweed are also reported in the marsh land, apart from rare species of flowering-rush, water-violet and marsh stitchwort.Fauna
Water voleWater Vole
The European Water Vole or Northern Water Vole, Arvicola amphibius , is a semi-aquatic rodent. It is often informally called the Water Rat or Ratty, although it only superficially resembles a true rat...
s inhabit the marsh. Birds such as Northern Lapwing
Northern Lapwing
The Northern Lapwing , also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family. It is common through temperate Eurasia....
, Eurasian Curlew
Eurasian Curlew
The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...
, Common Redshank
Common Redshank
The Common Redshank or simply Redshank is an Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae.- Description and systematics :...
and Common Snipe
Common Snipe
The Common Snipe is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout northern Europe and northern Asia...
are reported from the lowland wet grassland. Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler
Northern Shoveler
The Northern Shoveler , Northern Shoveller in British English, sometimes known simply as the Shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, and is a rare vagrant to Australia...
Gadwall
Gadwall
The Gadwall is a common and widespread duck of the family Anatidae.- Description :The Gadwall is 46–56 cm long with a 78–90 cm wingspan. The male is slightly larger than the female, weighing on average 990 g against her 850 g...
and Common Pochard occupy the open water. Other birds recorded are Eurasian Bittern and Grey Heron
Grey Heron
The Grey Heron , is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in the milder south and west, but many birds retreat in winter from the ice in colder regions...
. Invertebrates include water beetle
Water beetle
A water beetle is a beetle adapted to living in water. Water beetles rise to the water surface and take atmospheric air into their tracheal systems. There are approximately 2000 species of water beetles. The rest marine species tend to live in the intertidal zone...
s (Hydrochus brevis) and Hairy Dragonflies
Hairy Dragonfly
Brachytron is a monophyletic genus of European dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae containing the Hairy Dragonfly , also known as the Hairy Hawker.- Description :...
.
Conservation
Malltraeth Marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in West Gwynedd. It is notable for its breeding bird community, its lowland damp grassland, its reedbeds, the threatened habitat of wet meadows, and the botanical importance of its ditches and watercourses. A Royal Society for the Protection of BirdsRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
is situated in the northeast corner of the SSSI.
Management options undertaken to conserve the marsh land consists of: Maintaining water levels by proper upkeep of clay lined ditches to conserve flora and fauna; maintaining an exclusive swamp area to breed bittern; creation of shallow water ditches along old water courses to drain large land areas where waders can feed; establishing water control structures on secondary drains to maintain high ground water table during the spring season; control of introduced invasive plant species such as fairy fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
, Australian stonecrop and Himalayan balsam
Himalayan Balsam
Impatiens glandulifera is a large annual plant native to the Himalayas. Via human introduction it is now extant across much of the Northern Hemisphere.-Etymology:...
; reduce risk of predation (by predators such as crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s and mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
s) of birds by constant conservation and preservation of hedges; encouraging grazing during winter season and reducing it during summer to attract ground nestling birds; and controlled agricultural management to provide nestling sites for waders.