Newborough Warren
Newborough Warren (Welsh: Tywyn Niwbwrch) near the village of Newborough (Niwbwrch) is a large dune and beach system of 2,269-hectare (23 km2), approximately half of which is a conifer plantation. The whole of the site is a Site of special scientific interest and all of the site except the forestry is a National nature reserve.
The site is bounded to the south-east by Afon Braint and to the north-west by the Afon Cefni. It includes Llanddwyn Bay and Malltraeth Bay, divided by Ynys Llanddwyn, and part of the Anglesey Coastal Path.
There are large expanses of both active and fixed dunes, although many of the latter have been afforested, along with a freshwater lake, salt marsh and mudflats and a tidal island. The reserve contains an outstanding flora, interesting lichen and moss communities and a wealth of invertebrates. The intertidal mudflats and saltmarshes are important wintering grounds for waders and wildfowl regularly supporting over one per cent of the British population of pintail. Ynys yr Adar, near Ynys Llanddwyn, supports over one per cent of the British breeding population of cormorant.
At the extreme southern tip of the Warren is Abermenai Point, the location of probably the earliest ferry crossing over the Menai Strait to the Welsh mainland.
Afforestation of the shifting sands on the north side of the Warren began in 1947, partly to protect the village. Artificial dunes were created and the area planted with Corsican and Scots pine. During the late 1970s and 1980s and mid-1990s there were concerns that the water levels within the forest and within neighbouring Warren were falling due to a greater potential evaporation demand caused by afforestation, with the result that winter flooding was not to the same depth and that dune slack pools were drying out sooner. However most UK Atlantic dune systems also reported low water tables, due mainly to low winter rainfall during these times. To address these concerns clearings have been created in the forest, and the forest bordering the warren was heavily thinned. Proposals where put forward in 2004 to remove large parts of the forest. The local community and some conservation groups objected and the forestry Commission and the Countryside council for Wales are currently carrying out a public consultation that will shape the future management of the Newborough woodland.
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