Caeau Cwm

Situated near Upper Church Village, these species-rich marshy grasslands, with spots of peat bogs, smalls streams, and old hedgerows, is a fantastic mosaic of habitats.

Image caption

Stonechat | © Wayne Withers

Habitat

Here you’ll find fantastic species-rich marshy grassland (rhos pasture) and peat bog in the Big Meadow. These rare habitats at Cwm Fields are maintained with conservation grazing, so expect to be greeted by one of our curious cows!

When to Visit

From spring through to early autumn there is a succession of wonderful rhos pasture flowers and insects. Autumn is when you’ll see the colourful (and sometimes slimy) fruiting bodies of waxcap fungi. In the winter watch for linnet, goldfinch and greenfinch that feast on the fields’ abundant flower seeds, and snipe and woodcock that probe the wet soils for worms.

Biodiversity

Cwm Fields is a botanist’s delight. Look for heath spotted and southern marsh orchids, cross-leaved heath, tormentil, lousewort, petty whin, ivy-leaved bellflower, devils-bit scabious and many other wonderful rhos pasture flora. In May and June watch for small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies, named for the seven small white pearls on their hindwing underside. Stonechats will perch on gorse bushes, listen for their song which sounds like two stones being hit together. Brown-banded carder bees feast on trefoil and black knapweed, and grass snakes sunbathe at the bracken's edge.