Project Monitoring

In order to assess the effectiveness of the habitat restoration work being carried out through the LIFE Blanket Bogs in Wales project, a full programme of monitoring will take place. This includes hydrological, vegetation, and parasite monitoring.

Vegetation monitoring will be carried out in each of five catchments flowing into Lake Vyrnwy using a series of 30 transects, each with 10 equally spaced 1m2 quadrats. These quadrats will be visited in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and the species composition, abundance and height of the plant species present recorded, alongside a number of other variables.

Hydrological monitoring will record the level of the water table, flow rates, water quality, and sediment within a sample of areas around Lake Vyrnwy.

Tick monitoring will occur in April and August of each year, and will take place in a sample of sites in the Lake Vyrnwy area.

The aim of the monitoring work is to assess the impact of the ditch blocking work upon the hydrology, and in turn, the impacts of these changes upon plant composition and the condition of the habitat. This will provide the LIFE project and others with a quantifiable assessment of the impacts of the work carried out.