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Time to recap on the winter 2024-2025 activities of LARC .
We now have 43 members, which demonstrates a wonderful level of support within our small rural community.
We hosted a talk by Emma Withers (West Wales Rivers Trust) on efforts being made to care for Pembrokeshire’s waterways. One practical outcome of our engagement with WWRT was a training session for National Trust volunteers and the community’s “adoption” of the Colby River. It’s encouraging that more people in our community are now keeping an eye out for signs of pollution in our rivers and streams.
Our second talk was an enthusiastic presentation by Cathy Jewson from the Vincent Wildlife Trust on the Barbastelle bat and the results of an acoustic bat survey in the New Inn valley. Ten landowners participated in this initial survey, and 13 species of bat were recorded—including a significant new roosting site for the endangered Barbastelle. Our valley is indeed a notable place for bats in south Pembrokeshire.
In January, Jon Hudson presented the findings of the Nature Recovery Action Plan developed for our ward. If you would like a copy of the report, please get in touch. There are many ideas for improving and protecting nature in our area, and LARC will be exploring these in future. One upcoming initiative is a proposal to restore historic ponds and create new ones, given their importance for wildlife. If you would like to be involved, please contact us.
On the last Friday of March, we held our AGM. As part of the evening, we showed a 54-second animation on the shifting baseline theory. In under a minute, viewers were taken on a canoe journey down a river, guided by the voices of three generations from one family.
The grandparents remembered a river full of life—otters, eels, salmon—and water clean enough to swim in safely. The parents saw less life, but still had some connection to it. The youngest generation liked the river too, but it was silent. Lifeless. Swimming often led to skin rashes, and no one dared put their head under the water. A sobering message for our times.
And yet, the animation ended in hope. The canoe floated forward into a vision of what the river could become—restored, full of life again. Otters, fish, birds—all returning, if communities cared enough to protect and restore it.
Because shifting baselines work in both directions. Landscapes can degrade—but they can also recover.
Our AGM concluded with an engaging talk by Jack Gradidge, Conservation Officer at Folly Farm, who wowed the audience with the life history and status of the diminutive harvest mouse in Pembrokeshire. These remarkable little creatures weigh just 2–4 grams—about the size of a thumb.
Two days later, Jack organised a field survey with local volunteers at Goetre Farm, where we’re gradually renaturing the land and have seen the return of harvest mice. Since 2022, we’ve planted over 7,500 native broad-leaved trees—twenty three species in total. In between them, tussocky grasses have returned, creating ideal habitat for small mammals. Incredibly, Jack’s volunteers found 16 harvest mouse nests over two sessions.
We don’t know where they came from. Perhaps they clung on in the hedgerows, or arrived from neighbouring ancient woodland. But we didn’t reintroduce them. We simply gave nature a bit of space—and they came.
A small, joyful sign that baselines can shift in the other direction.
We always look forward to welcoming people to our group. Please come along to future meetings and get involved.
