Yet More Greed and Wanton Habitat Destruction in Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd, North Wales

- A Destructive Practice of Ignorance For Ever More Land, Sheep, and Payments...

2018:

[ 21st May ]
destruction of fenland area below the B4418, bordering Arfon Llyni
destruction of otter habitat
destruction of skylark habitat, including that of nesting birds with fledglings
destruction of dragonfly habitat
destruction of butterfly habitat, including red listed species
destruction of embankment area, including the destruction of saplings
destruction of wetland habitat and permanent grassland
major contamination and disruption of river tributaries
sprayed with strong herbicide 40 days prior to the allowed date for spraying, that being the 30th June
river tributaries oversprayed
destruction of fallow areas
work undertaken by Gwynfaes Farm, Llanllyfni, LL54 6RR

:: video 2 :: As It Was
:: slides 2 :: Apocalypse Now: Scorched Earth
:: video 3 :: Buffer Strip Destruction
:: slides 3 :: Cover-Up
:: slides 4 :: Sea of Mud

5th July 2019: the area in question, whilst still lacking much of its original character, has now recovered quite well; also, to their credit, the farmers have been leaving this alone, mowing later on in the year, and leaving the border areas intact. The drainage channels have been re-colonised to a large extent, too, and for the time being, at least, even if doubtless unintentially after discovering the meaning of soakaway, this area is serving as a good example of how an area can be (or can revert to) semi-improved without loss of use to the farmer.

- location and Land Registry map of destroyed fenland area -

Location: (OSGB36)
Easting = 248288
Northing = 352867
Grid Ref = SH48285286
National Grid Field No = SH 4852 2886
Latitude = 53°3'4.31"N
Longitude = 4°15'49.32"W
Latitude = 53°3.0718'"N
Longitude = 4°15.8219'"W
Latitude = 53.051196
Longitude = -4.263699
Postcode = LL54 6HG

[ 6th August ]
major trimming and thinning of boundary hedgerows and copse areas¹

2019:

[ 19th May ]
local quarry site found to be being used a tip by Gwynfaes Farm, with evidence of household, construction, and farming equipment being dumped there:

http://insurgent.info/.video/videoQuarry

[ 22nd May ]
overspraying of the entire field area on the Lôn Ddwr side with strong herbicide extending from Gwnfaes Farm right the way across to within a field distance of Bro Silyn.
included two semi-improved or EIA areas (one definitely unimproved)
destruction of skylark habitat
destruction of dragonfly habitat
destruction of butterfly habitat, including red listed species
destruction of protected plant species, including native bluebells
cutting back of trees, at least 4 months before allowed date (with RPW derogation, or 5 months without).
further destruction of wetland habitat
removal of drainage ditches, resulting in both contamination and disruption of river tributaries
overspraying with agri-chemicals, including strong herbicide, directly into river tributaries
sprayed with strong herbicide, again 40 days prior to the allowed date for spraying
damage to fallow areas
work undertaken on behalf of, and by, Gwynfaes Farm, Llanllyfni, LL54 6RR and involved an older style blue New Holland tractor with a red boom sprayer

http://insurgent.info/.video/videoSpray

[ 18th June ]
further spraying using strong herbicide on unimproved land directly below Tanyrallt with an orange and white tractor, again using a boom-sprayer²
destruction of skylark habitat
destruction of butterfly habitat, including red listed species
contamination of river tributaries
sprayed with strong herbicide 2 weeks prior to the allowed date for spraying
destruction of unimproved permanent grassland area
the work is understood to have been undertaken by Gwernoer Farm, located en route to Nantlle from Talysarn and just off from the B4418.

[ 24th June ]
destruction of a small wooded copse on the other side of the floodplain, just below Tanyrallt, involving the cutting-down of trees (many mature) and grubbing-up of old hedgerows, including the use of mechanical diggers to remove the stumps, with both the diggers and a tractor being used to grade and compact the land to try and hide the evidence.
destruction of nesting bird habitat
destruction of small mammal habitat
destruction of saplings, scrub, and mature trees
destruction of protected species of both fauna and flora, including bluebells and bat habitat
destruction of butterfly habitat, including red listed species
this work was also undertaken by Gwynfaes Farm, Llanllyfni, LL54 6RR

[ 7th July ]
I had an interesting conversation with one of the farmers cutting the grass on an area of fenland by the leisure centre and just below the B4418, on the outskirts of Penygroes, today. After the usual guff about farming being hard work (it is, but, speaking as someone who has worked on a farm previously, it is no harder than many other manually-intensive jobs that involve being outside, and working outside, in all weathers throughout the year), it transpires that the two main reasons for cutting the sward at this time of year are heather and that it is dry.

These arguments are both hollow: the council makes arrangements with the local farmers to full-cut the verges at the back-end of the year, with weather increasingly remaining consistently dry until October, so there is no reason why that field area could not be cut then. Their second argument is that of heather poisoning sheep, which is absolute total nonsense: sheep and heather get along just fine.

Disappointingly too, the person cutting the sward was driving a tractor belonging to the Pant Du Vineyard. Further to this I spoke to a lady several months later who, I am certain, is the wife of the family who own the vineyard and I was disappointed, again, to hear her talking of bats which are no longer present at the site. Disappointed again because Pant Du Vineyard, whilst making a point of promoting the environmental side of their business, sprays their orchards with strong non-selective pesticide very early on in the year (early May this year), every year, invariably killing many insects (including early butterflies, moths, bees, and a good number of other important pollinators, - all essential bat food, - right about the time that the bats need it the most), and herbicide is applied to areas around the drive and footpath routes leaving an ugly mess of dead, brown, vegetation behind.

At the beginning of this year the verge at the bottom of their drive was also chopped-up with an excavator leaving behind little but a tiny berm of earth that still looks a mess and took months to recover. Ironically, too, the vineyard also owns an apiary on land above the vineyards and close to one of the sites where they spray pesticide, and part of the land belonging to the vineyard (with rights of way across it) is supposed to be a butterfly reserve ...right next to another of their sprayed orchards. Note that this, too, is not detailed anywhere on Pant Du's website or in their claims of environmental responsibility.

[ Notable Wildlife ]
Reed Warblers [ Acrocephalus scirpaceus ], Sedge Warblers [ Acrocephalus schoenobaenus ], and Grasshopper Warblers [ Locustella Nævia ] can also be found among, and nesting, in the reeds along the bank of the river, along with Grey Heron [ Ardea cinerea ] (sadly nowhere near as many as would normally be expected in such a location), and Jays [ Garrulus glandarius ]; all of which would be fantastic were it not for the ongoing threat of further destruction and spraying with agri-chemicals.

Fenland or Permanent Grassland, - Which Is It?
Greening, GAEC, Cross-Compliance, and SFP

During the period from August through to September, 2018, under the guise of ploughing and rolling, several tons of crushed aggregate were also buried in the ground in order to eradicate the wetland structure of the ground and to firm it up for sheep grazing. In the process several of the original drainage channels (which were likely put in place by Dŵr Cymru during the laying of a waste water pipe across the floodplain several decades ago) were, likewise, removed, infilled with crushed stone and earth, and compacted or so badly damaged that they no longer serve any purpose.³

This has not only completely destroyed a valuable wetland habitat, making it all but impossible to restore in the process, but has also turned a natural soakaway into a compacted mass of stone and clotted earth that will ultimately become absolutely worthless and serve no purpose beyond causing massive surface erosion and a great deal of debris run-off into the river (which is already silting-up and flooding partly as a direct consequence of this addled approach to land management).

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening application should also have been submitted on this land (and never was) and breaching the regulations is both illegal and a potentially prosecutable offence, with a requirement to reinstate the land to its previous condition and/or a Cross Compliance penalty on the farmer's Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) or Rural Development Scheme payments.

Using DEFRA's CAP search pages, it would appear that those responsible for destroying the soakaway below the B4418 place plenty of 'value' in the environment:

- amounts received under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2016 showing combined payments of £66,250.54, including £13,266.97 for Greening -

- amounts received under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2017 showing combined payments of £89,491.14, including £17,719.89 for Greening -

...unfortunately, whereas most people value the environment as something to benefit us all, it would appear that they only value it in a form that lines their pocket, so to speak.

Notes:

[ ¹ ] Cross-Compliance and Greening rules disallow the trimming and removal of brush, copse, and hedgerow between the 31st of March and the 31st August, but a derogation for situtations where the farmer is planting rape seed or temporary grass seed at the same time means that this work can be carried-out at any time in August (ie: up to a month earlier than would otherwise be allowed).
[ ² ] if you see a tractor with a large tank, possibly a boom too, mounted on the back or other similar farm vehicle configurations engaged in spraying activities in Dyffryn Nantlle [ the Nantlle Valley ] area anytime before the 30th of June, please photograph or video it (if possible) with timestamp, obtain the registration number of the vehicle (if possible), the map grid reference, make a report to the RPW and, if there are water courses anywhere in the vicinity, the local Environmental Protection Agency, who might also be able to use water samples taken from the site at the time of spraying.

Most importantly of all, check the field number on DEFRA's MAGIC website and add that into your report. Provided you have evidence of the alledged activity, the farmer can hide their tractor, obscure themselves from view whilst spraying, whatever, but all RPW require is something to show that the alledged activity has taken place (even if it is only the withered remains of the field a couple of weeks later) along with the field number, and they can apply sanctions or suspend payments to the farmer(s) or landowner(s).

Please, too, report any areas that you know to have already been sprayed, providing whatever additional details you can in the process and maintain an ongoing timeline with additional photographs taken on later dates, and ensure that the report, especially those of "caught in the process" are posted everywhere, online and off, yn Cymreig a Saesneg!
[ ³ ] the self-same soakaway would also have been retained, originally, because it is (or was) the soakaway for a considerable amount of water that comes off the watershed leading up to a highway and housing on the hills above the B4418 side of the field; so the action of deliberately destroying it effectively constitutes a criminal act in the scope of its stupidity, not simply one of extreme ignorance where the environment is concerned.

The Welsh government's EIA department, in conjunction with the NRW, completely and totally failed to protect the fenland habitat, but this is influenced by a number of factors including (but not limited) to:
- their cases have to be uncontestable, so if work has already been completed on land it can be very difficult to determine whether or not that land was unimproved or not, plus existing plants on the site may not be enough to conclusively say whether or not a site has been worked, and clover (used in the key tests) will frequently colonize many areas (if allowed to) and give a positive on land having been worked even when it has not.
  
  On the plus side, the EIA has access to extensive ærial reconaissance photographs and heat-maps, plus ground-radar records, and can determine whether land should have had an EIA screening application even if it has been improved, or should any evidence of the land being unimproved have been removed. A farmer can then be prosectuted even up to 7 years later (and ordered to implement remedial work) should it be determined that they destroyed an area of unimproved land.
  
  DNA and soil-testing is also increasingly being used to determine cases, along with photo and video evidence from campaigners, environmentalists, and members of the public; not to mention the resources of, and checking by, local authorities, RPW, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Natural Resources Wales.
- the destroyed fenland area is not already, and was not previously, designated as a protected habitat; so this becomes a case of having to prove that this land should be protected or whether it would be better protected through a stricter observance of GAEC and Cross-Compliance.
- there is no legislation in place to protect the very habitats required by our protected species (unless the former condition applies); so it is considered unecessary to designate an area as protected just because of the presence of protected species, even if it is known that continued destruction of their habitats will result in their destruction too.
- under the circumstances, no checks are made to verify whether sites are semi-natural or not in the first place, ie: if a site is not already designated as being protected then that is that: short of direct intervention by llywodraeth Cymru [ the Welsh government ] an area, no matter how natural or unspoilt, essentially has no protection at all. That said, though, the government's EIA department, as detailed above, are able to determine whether a screening should have been applied to land that has been 'improved' and prosecute landowners and farmers, or even order resorative work, years after the initial destruction.
- whilst the presence of otters and skylarks, alone, within Dyffryn Nantlle is known, the EIA and NRW cannot give them any kind of special protection: their protection in undesignated nature areas comes down to little more than the Countryside and Wildlife Act in conjunction with GAEC and Cross-Compliance.

The area of destroyed fenland, itself, even after RPW sanctions, is still in direct contravention of GAEC 5 in that there are no sediment fences in place and most definitely no 5 metre strip of uncultivated or unimproved land between the reed bed of the river and the field area. This is also true of an adjacent area that was destroyed in a similar manner a good few years previously.

Please Note: this site is undergoing ongoing changes and amendments as further details and evidence is gathered and added to the site, so please feel free to use the contact details given at the foot of this page should you have any questions or should you wish to submit further details or evidence of your own; but please do not send attachments without first contacting me, as the attachments will simply be deleted by the mail server otherwise.

All the media material on this site is available by request, including copies of the original .jpg, .mov, .mp4 files and additional material that is not currently part of the online article; likewise all letters and emails relating to contact with Rural Wales, the Environment Agency, and Natural Wales.

For anyone wanting to make their own reports of similar activities in their area, please contact me via my secure email address, and via a Protonmail account (free accounts available), if possible. Field numbers are also essential for reporting incidents to Rural Payments, and these can be determined via MAGIC [ Maps > Interactive Map > Where Am I? top menu-bar button) > click on relevant area on the main map for the field number after zooming-in on, or searching for, that area) ].

I can also be contacted via Mastodon

Short URL: http://bit.do/DestroyedFenland

- Just John, @: Ex5NY27U corequery.uk

- secure email address as detailed above -

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