North west Wales' most popular visitor sites recorded fewer wildlife observations and greater environmental threats during the Summer of 2021, according to a recent study.
The assessment looked at key visitor areas, comparing the lockdown period in June 2020 with the busy tourist season that followed in June 2021.
Whilst just a snapshot, there are some interesting observations which can be considered to manage tourism in a more sustainable way as part of Wales’ green recovery out of the pandemic. It shows we all have a part to play in helping to tackle the Nature Emergency.
The original lockdown survey, undertaken in June 2020 at key sites in North West Wales, revealed that some bird life and plant life responded positively to the reduced disturbance, and levels of littering were greatly reduced. The opposite was found at the sites revisited in 2021 - less abundance and diversity of bird life was recorded, along with more litter and more footpath erosion.
Naturalist Ben Porter was commissioned by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Snowdonia National Park Authority and the National Trust to undertake the surveys. He visited the four upland sites of Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon, Cadair Idris, Carneddau and Cwm Idwal, and the lowland areas of Coed y Brenin, Ceunant Llennyrch and Newborough/Llanddwyn.
Reflecting on the surveys, Ben Porter said: “Whilst we know that longer-term data are needed for more reliable comparisons to the exceptional period of 2020 lockdown, there are clear signs here about our impact on the natural world.”
Fewer bird species were recorded after lockdown compared with during lockdown - a total of 65 bird species across the upland sites in 2020, compared to 50 in 2021.
There were other factors at play during the survey that likely played a big part in these differences too, especially in the upland areas. There was a stark contrast in the two seasons’ weather conditions, with a very cold spring in 2021 delaying breeding seasons for many bird species in the upland areas, leading to fewer fledgling birds recorded at the time of the survey in 2021.
Nevertheless, the role of increased disturbance from the return of high visitor numbers in some areas is a key factor that has played a part in the differences between 2020 and 2021.
A disheartening and clear contrast between 2020 and 2021 was of the amount of litter and waste recorded. The issue of fly camping was observed during the study - a significant problem since the re-opening, post-lockdown, with large numbers of people camping unlawfully around popular sites, often leaving litter, waste, and toiletries and popular footpaths were showing signs of widening and erosion as visitors returned.
There are plans to repeat the survey in years to come.
A detailed summary and individual site-by-site reports are available on the Snowdonia National Park Authority website.
Read what Angela Jones, Partnerships Manager, Snowdonia National Park Authority and the report author's Ben Porter had to say about the first report in this article written for CJS here.
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Posted On: 22/10/2021