- Newport Wetlands Reserve
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Newport Wetlands Reserve is a wildlife reserve between Uskmouth, Nash and Goldcliff, in the south-east of the city of Newport, South Wales.
Contents
History
Wetlands visitor centre, Newport
The reserve was first established in 2000 to mitigate losses of wildlife habitat when the Cardiff Bay Barrage scheme was undertaken.
The site is owned and managed by the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW). A new visitors and education centre was opened in Nash at the site in March 2008 by the RSPB with help from Newport City Council and water level management assistance by Caldicot and Wentloog Levels Internal Drainage Board[1].
The reserve covers 437 hectares (1,080 acres) [2] of the Caldicot Level, a low lying area of land bordering the northern shore of the Severn Estuary. Part of the site is a reclaimed fuel ash disposal site, although some farmland in Goldcliff and Nash has also had to be flooded to complete the work.
The reserve was made a National Nature Reserve on 16 April 2008[3].
Habitats and species
Newport Wetlands Reserve, showing a typical reen and a viewing platformThe reserve includes a wide variety of habitats which include grazed pasture with hedgerows, ditches, reens, reed beds and grasslands. These help to attract breeding birds such as lapwings, redshanks, oystercatchers, little ringed plovers and ringed plovers, as well as visitors such as wigeons, shovelers, teals, shelducks and pintails, bitterns, hen harriers and short-eared owls.
Lighthouses
East Usk lighthouse, NewportEast Usk Lighthouse is within the area of the reserve. The more substantial West Usk Lighthouse, currently operating as a hotel, is on the opposite (west) bank of the River Usk and can be viewed from the reserve.
References
External links
Categories:- Culture in Newport
- Education in Newport
- Wetlands of Wales
- Nature reserves in Wales
- Nature centres in Wales
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Wales
- Protected areas established in 2000
- Visitor attractions in Newport
- Newport geography stubs
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