Saltmarsh Volunteer Training Day & Habitat Surveys

As part of our work with the Mynydd i’r Menai bioregion, the team have been out groundtruthing some of the existing habitat data for the area along the Menai Strait.

This is part of a wider big picture project aimed at further understanding and improving the blue carbon zones situated on our shores. Our team undertook plant ID surveys to provide a summary of the species present across the salt marshes found at Malltraeth sands and Traeth Melynog/Afon Braint estuary. Rivers like the Afon Braint play a key role in this process, carrying sediment downstream that settles at the point where fresh and salt water meet, gradually building the muddy platforms that saltmarsh vegetation then colonises. Further visual surveys were undertaken to investigate the extent of common glasswort (Salicornia europaea), a key protected species in the Menai Strait special area of conservation (SAC).

On the 24th of September our team is hosting a free Saltmarsh ID training day, which will be led by the Field Studies Council. This training day will be focused around saltmarsh ecology, zonation, and species, as well as the importance of saltmarshes and habitat restoration. 

If you're interested in coming, sign up here: ttps://northwalesriverstrust.org/events/saltmarsh-survey-training-day