The Story So Far… 

For many years, the Cwmbach Wetlands has been an area that many people have walked past but never really noticed, this however began to change during the lockdown in 2020. This project began when Neil Wroblewski posted on Facebook about birds being shot on their nests and this was seen by a number of people who decided that enough was enough and something had to be done about it. The Wetlands began to be visited and watched by many people during their daily walks, with many of them beginning to engage with nature during their allowed lockdown hour of exercise. It was during this time that our female swan, Haru, successfully hatched two cygnets, much to the delight of the local community and again, something that would have gone unnoticed in normal times and busy lives became an event that caused a lot of interest and excitement among people. 

Unfortunately, both cygnets were found dead in the water some weeks later, resulting in great upset. As a response to this, we established a closed Facebook group called Haru’s Babies as due to the heightened nature of lockdown, people needed a safe and secure platform to express this grief and upset. The Facebook group became very popular very quickly developed into a community that loved nature and wanted to work together to make sure that this area came under some kind of protection and that the wildlife there was safe and it was very evident that this was an area of the valley that was used a lot and meant a great deal to the community. A committee was set up with a purpose of locating the owner of the land and if they agreed to sell it to us to purchase it to safeguard it as a protected habitat for nature and for future generations to connect with and enjoy.