Environment (Wales) Act 2016 Part 1 – Section 6
The Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems Duty
Report 2025
FELINFACH COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Felinfach Ward is small, consisting of three communities Llandefalle, Llanfilo & Talachddu. We provide very few services to our local community but those that we do have an impact on biodiversity.
• We are responsible for a number of green spaces two Churchyards and one Children’s Play
Park.
• Funding – The Community Council provide grants to the local Community Halls and Chapel, which will be encouraged to implement biodiversity into the management of these sites.
• Volunteers litter pick in conjunction with keep Wales Tidy organisation, Recycling all collected.
• Planting of insect friendly flowers.
We as a community encourage sustainable practices through Planning applications regarding wildlife, hedge removal, noise, visibility, traffic flow.
We are already a very biodiverse region, but always striving to maintain & improve
We serve approximately 550 residents. The Precept for 2025-2026 is £12,000
It is almost exclusively an agricultural region with no major industry.
Action Report
Embed biodiversity into decision making and land management.
• Changes will be made into the management of the areas that we are responsible for which will increase ecosystems and reduce climate change.
Raise awareness of biodiversity and its importance
• Encourage the Community to get involved with creating biodiversity habitats within their own gardens and join the committee to help improve the green spaces within the ward.
• Reached out to residents by means of adverts on our website and notice boards along with newsletters in Felinfach & LLanfilo.
Safeguard principal species & Habitats.
• Ensure no negative impacts on species from pesticides and sprays.
• Management of centuries old Yew Trees
Restore and create habitats and resilient ecological networks.
• Plant planters and wild areas with local wild native flowers encouraging repopulation of existing flowers,
• The wildlife areas in both Churchyards have created a habitat for wildlife which has increased the nesting and hibernation capacity for birds and insect
2025
Trees
Two Crab-apple trees have been donated to the Community by Mr & Mrs Ian Rowlands which have been planted along the river Dulus in Felinfach.
• We have continued to mow grassed areas in Llandefalle & Llanfilo Churchyards with designated areas managed to help wildlife, flora & fauna, this consisting of only two cuts per year one after flowering and one at the end of the season.
• The mowing regime in Felinfach has continued to evolve with the three designated areas of unmown grass creating established habitats
• The Felinfach Play Park has an area designated to “Its for Them” campaign which is runs in conjunction with Powys County Council.
BIRD BOXES
• Bird Boxes were made out of off cuts of wood by Mr Howard Noble who lives in Felinfach and Bee Hotels made out of recycled bottles & bamboo sticks by Mr Ian Rowlands these have been positioned through the Three wards.
The BIRD BOXES have been erected in :
• Italian P.O.W wood above Felinfach
• Talachddu Church
• Maes-y-Bellan Chapel
• Llandefalle Churchyard
• Llanfilo Churchyard
• Felinfach old Road
• Felinfach Griffin.
• The BUG HOTELS have been erected in
• Llandefalle Churchyard
All boxes have been erected by Ian Rowlands and maintained every year since, recording the number of boxes used, and the cleaning of them to prevent the spread of disease.
2023
2024
2025
The Robin nest boxes have been the most disappointing with just one nest recorded fro
Tackle negative factors:
• Sustainable procurement policy put in place, which includes recycling of Ink cartridges, purchasing recycled Photocopy paper.
• Car sharing to meetings is practiced where possible
• Support capacity and other organisations
BRECHFA POOL (SSSI AREA)
Over the past few years, the Community Council have been supporting Natural Resource Wales to find a solution to combat the spread of crassula Helmsii weed(New Zealand Pigmy Weed) at the pool, Moyra Gall from NRW has been very proactive and has been researching other areas that have experienced similar Crassula issues. One exciting research method that has proved suitable is the
use of mites – it has been trialled at Llanelli Wetlands and shows promising results. Crassula is a food source for the mites, so that they will control the level of Crassula (not eradicate). . The mites cost £15000 per introduction and would require to be introduced twice a year. The Welsh Government have agreed to fund the project which will see the mites introduced in July 2022.
NRW has carry out a peel off of the weed to clear an area of water, this will be dried on site and burnt, a fence has been erected around the area of the mites, this is a long-term project to which the Council and the Community will be involved.
Report from Cabi in conjunction with NRW – January 2023
In mid-September we were able to revisit the site and assess the mite population to see whether it had survived, grown, and spread since the release we made in June. We were pleased to find that despite the drought and heatwave, the mite population had survived in good numbers: an average of 50 galls (or mite colonies) were observed in the original release patches, while an average of 327 galls were found in the wider 50 x 50 cm area surrounding the release patches. In some cases the mites had spread up to 2 metres. These are promising results after a first release, and demonstrate the suitability of the site for mite survival, at least during the summer months. Their survival over winter is crucial for establishment, and we plan to return in late spring to see how the mite population has fared, and to provide a top-up release of more mites where necessary, most likely in the same area as the previous release in order to supplement the population and hopefully promote sustained survival and spread of the mite in 2023.
I look forward to getting back to the site in the spring. – Suzy Wood – Cabi.
Review of S6 duty
The S6 Duty will be assessed 3-yearly and published thereafter.