We’re delighted to be a partner in Natur am Byth! – Wales’s new flagship Green Recovery project. Thanks to the players of the National Lottery, the partnership has been awarded more than £4.1m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver the country’s largest ever natural heritage and outreach programme to save species from extinction and reconnect people to nature.

With 17% of species in Wales threatened with extinction, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), declared a ‘nature emergency’ in Wales in 2021.

Natur am Byth! unites nine environmental charities with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to deliver the country’s largest ever natural heritage and outreach programme to save species from extinction and reconnect people to nature.

VWT is championing the secretive barbastelle, which has only been recorded in a few isolated colonies in Pembrokeshire. The barbastelle’s favoured habitat is old-growth forests with lots of oak and beech trees, where they prefer to roost under flaking bark, cracks and hazard beams, which are often associated with older trees that have been damaged or left to decay. Modern forestry practices tend to remove these trees due to health and safety concerns and lack of commercial value, which means fewer suitable roost sites for this woodland specialist. We will be working with volunteers to help with surveys, roost creation and habitat management to help the survival and spread of this species into more of the Welsh landscape.

Photo: Barbastelle ©Daniel Hargreaves