The high peaks of Eryri support 59 of our 152 widely recognised mountain plant species, and lots of rare mountain invertebrates. Sadly, many of these species are severely threatened in Wales.
Victorian over-collection played a large role in their rarity, but three modern factors also pose a clear and present danger: changing land-use patterns (inappropriate grazing regimes, recreation and tourism), increased air-born nitrogen deposition, and climate change.
Mae gobaith / There is hope.
The Tl.M.E. project will work with volunteers, mountain guides, horticulturists, zoos, land managers and upland ecologists to revive populations of our target species. We will bring the mountain tops, metaphorically, down the slope- so that new audiences can engage with these inaccessible treasures. With our partners, Plantlife, This will be achieved through three themes:
Eryri is a landscape of princes and kings, of dragons and of precious commodities like gold, silver, and copper. All these things have their place, yet none are more precious than those species that have been here the longest.
Tl.M.E. will gather the most up to date ‘where, what and how’ data for those species, guiding our actions and creating a baseline for measuring our impact.
We will create a recording and survey volunteer group for plants in difficult to reach places - Criw Garw Cymru/Rough Crew Wales (CGC). CGC will pioneer the use of new skills to collect distribution data for the species in our mountains. Critically, CGC will future-proof specialist skills essential to our species’ future.
New habitat maps for the Rainbow Beetle and Arctic Pea Clam will enable targeted survey for these notoriously difficult to find species. The Arctic Pea Clam has only ever been found in 4 upland lakes in Wales and Tl.M.E will resurvey these and other suitable lakes to ensure this species still exists in Wales. The Snowdon Rainbow Beetle requires habitat rich in Wild Thyme to breed and so we will ensure that calcium rich montain grassland is protected so it has as much habitat available as possible.
Eryri is a landscape where time is important, understanding our species in the context of time helps us to understand their past and the potential for their future.
Tl.M.E. will work to create landscape-scale restoration sites, with grazing monitored and managed more effectively. These will support recolonisation of the land through natural processes and targeted introduction of ex situ material, propagated by harnessing the combined expertise of local horticulturists and volunteers.
At least one site will aim to explore a new way forward for the uplands, where both farming and nature can work in harmony; an exemplar of what can be achieved by true partnership. Grazing management will enable the reintroduction of Irish Saxifrage, lost from the wild in Wales since the 1960s. Another site on Yr Wyddfa plans to engage visitors with arctic-alpines and provide appropriate habitat for the Rainbow Beetle. A third site will encompass an area where the Snowdon Hawkweed and other target species are found, allowing population expansion and altitudinal migration. Given the rural location of most of the sites minimal interpretation will be used, unobtrusive. project branded QR code fence post signage will enable visitors to access information about Natur am Byth and the individual project by directing them to website information. These signs will also contain grid reference info which is useful for locating people in mountain rescue situations.
Restoring Eryri is one thing, but the restitution of the people with the land is quite another. These species are deep time survivors, and their story is powerful. Through the creation of a book, we have an opportunity for people to see these species as part of their cultural heritage as much as their natural heritage. Helping us to make that connection between the species, the places and the people will be a new group of species ambassadors from across the range of communities found in the mountains of Northwest Eryri.
Sheep and goats, introduced by man, greatly affect our target species. Through reduced sheep numbers, ‘off summering’ or foggage of sheep, increasing carefully managed cattle grazing and demonstrating the economic benefits of traditional practices, we will look differently at upland farming. Goats are quite literally the rock stars of our mountains, and they divide opinion deeply. Tl.M.E. will collect all the existing knowledge, and share ‘Y Gwir am Geifr/The Truth about Goats’, telling their story in an unbiased manner.
The world over the rainbow is a symbol of hope, with over 2500 mm of rain annually that symbol of hope, that sunshine may return, is ever more felt in Eryri. Welsh Covid hospitals were named Enfys (Rainbow) hospitals for this hope and so we wish to work with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) to use Eryri’s Rainbow beetle as a further symbol of hope for a green recovery from COVID 19. The first thing we plan to do is to rewarding positive actions towards sustainability initiatives with Rainbow Beetle pin badges.
We aspire to bring the mountains to Ysbyty Gwynedd by creating a Mountain Jewels Garden. People will be able to see mountain species in a space where nature, health and wellbeing meet. And for those that can’t get outside hospital walls will become gardens through art and photography.
The rainbow is also a symbol of the LGBTQ+ Pride. We will engage LGBTQ+ audiences with our mountains - the home of the Rainbow Beetle. Making Eryri not only a safe space for our rainbow beetle but also for our rainbow community will create caring for this species and the places it lives.
The Welsh Mountain Zoo will also work towards a captive breeding programme, to expand and reinforce wild populations of the rainbow beetle. We will use the closely related Rosemary Leaf Beetle to create a breeding protocol that will give us hope that the Snowdon Rainbow Beetle can be bread in captivity should we be able to find sufficient numbers to start an ex-situ colony.
Yr Wyddfa and its fragile alpine habitats (home of many of our species) are dominated by single use plastic pollution. We will work closely with the mountaineering community to bring hope for the highest mountain in England and Wales by clearing up this pollution from some of its most difficult to reach places – the Trinity Gulleys of Clogwyn Y Garnedd.
Tlysau Mynydd Eryri aims to provide resilience to those species that belong to the mountains, it will make the unfamiliar familiar to the people of Eryri, and it will build the relationship between the place, its most threatened species and the people who equally experience ‘cynefyn’ in Eryri.