Thursday 4th March 2010 Skomer Island's new warden starts work
Chris Taylor has started his job looking after Skomer Island, which is
off the Pembrokeshire coast. The island is home to the largest puffin
population in southern Britain. Mr Taylor takes over from the previous
warden for six seasons. Mr Taylor, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, was
formerly an assistant warden there.

Mr Taylor told his local newspaper, The Gazzette, about how thrilled
he was to have secured the job saying: "I am absolutely pleased as
punch, I am just massively excited about starting work now. This is
just one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. As soon as I heard
about the job I just knew I had to apply." West Wales

Wednesday 24th February 2010 Wild birds rescued from Pembrokeshire oil spill
The RSPCA has helped to rescue birds caught up after oil seeped into a
lake near Fendrod business park near Llansamlet. Animal welfare
experts rescued ten swans from the site but the RSPCA said up to 60
birds may need treatment.

Gethin Russell-Jones, an RSPCA spokesperson, told the press that there
were 25 swans, 25 Canada geese and a number of coots at the lake.

"There's quite a strong smell of oil and [the birds] have a light oily
sheen on their feathers," he said. "It takes away their waterproofing,
and if they are not taken away, they'll freeze to death." West Wales

Tuesday 26th January 2010 Bee project in prize running
A Pembrokeshire project to protect bees is in the running for a UK
prize. The competition, run by the EOG Association for Conservation
and Live for the Outdoors website, and carries a first prize of
£25,000. The Pembrokeshire project, a collaboration between Bumblebee
Conservation Trust, MoD, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority
and the Countryside Council for Wales, aims to expand the existing
Pembrokeshire habitat for the shrill carder bee. The shrill carder bee
is Britain’s rarest bee, it is only found in six populations in the
country. The project’s site near the Ministry of Defence facility at
Castlemartin is one of the six habitats.

Dr Pippa Rayner, from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said: "Like
many bumblebees, it's had such a huge decline and that's essentially
due to the loss of wildflowers. We used to have so many more
wildflower meadows. We've lost 98% of our grassland so it's not
surprising they're in trouble really." West Wales

Thursday 12th November 2009 Pembrokeshire in underwater renewable energy trial
The Cardiff-based firm Tidal Energy Ltd has received the first stage
of planning permission it needs to test its Deltastream tidal
generator on the sea bed at Ramsey Sound, near St Davids. The firm
wants to trial the equipment with a view to generating renewable
electricity from underwater tidal currents. The units, each with three
fan driven turbines on a triangular frame, are the invention of
Pembrokeshire engineer Richard Ayre.

The planning permission has been granted allowing shore-based support
structures in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The company are
now applying to the UK and Welsh governments for permission to lay and
underwater cable and one DeltaStream device on the seabed. West Wales

Monday 26th October 2009 Welsh eels get a leg up
The Environment Agency in Wales has taken some drastic steps to try
and reverse the decline of eels, which are reckoned to have declined
by 95% in recent years. Concern was raised by experts who said the
snake-like fish cannot pass man-made obstructions in the rivers, such
as weirs. The answer to the plight if the eels has come in the shape
of brush-like ‘ladders’ that help the eels climb to reach their
habitats. Eels behave in the exact opposite way to salmon, they go out
to sea to breed and then swim back up stream. Their young, meanwhile,
get distributed over Europe’s rivers by the flow of Gulf Stream

The ladders have been fitted to rivers in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion
and Bridgend as part of a wider plan by the Environment Agency to
reverse the decline of fish stocks in the rivers. West Wales

Monday 5th October 2009 U-boat listening station for sale
Prospective buyers only have a few days left to submit sealed bids for a former U-Boat listening station in Pembrokeshire. The red brick building was built to monitor radio transmissions from Nazi submarines during WWII but has recently been used to store farm machinery.

The structure is situated within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park which has very strict planning regulations so the new owner may have a struggle if they intend anything grander than the building, which stands 600ft above sea level just below Garn Fawr. Present owner John Davies has put the property on sale via estate agent JJ Morris who has asked for sealed bids in excess of £45,000 West Wales

Tuesday 22nd September 2009 Rare bats head west
The Bechstein’s bat is one of Europe’s rarest breed of these unique mammals, it’s an elusive creature that is normally found in parts of mainland Europe. However, researchers have discovered the bat living in Pembrokeshire, further west than it’s ever been recorded before. The bats prefer dry conditions making it’s appearance in Wales even more puzzling to experts.

The National Trust's head of nature conservation, David Bullock, said: "We can only speculate where this male Bechstein's bat might have come from. He either made an incredible journey from the Forest of Dean or Herefordshire or more likely there are other roosting sites waiting to be discovered in Pembrokeshire." West Wales

Friday 10th July 2009 Big cash boost for Welsh fishing
The Welsh fishing industry is set to benefit from a £930,000 funding boost to help with projects including cleaning riverbanks and help for deep sea fishing in Cardigan Bay.

The money includes £537,534 from EU Fisheries Funding while a further £245,000 is earmarked for an RNLI man-overboard scheme. Plans are being formulated to mix satellite technology with early warnings to help trace fishermen swept from their vessels.

Rural affairs minister Elin Jones visited a fish farm in Anglesey to publicise the new funding and said: “This is the first in a series of funding announcements for the Welsh fisheries.” West Wales