This year one of the tasks the Conservation group has set itself is to monitor bird nesting sites using the survey that Richard Pryce did for the Heritage Project in 2015/16. To help us do this we are using the Merlin bird app which identifies bird songs, really accurately as we have been finding out, though up until this week the only birds heard singing in the Garden have been Robins, lots of them and the occasional Blue Tit. But this week was different.  Myself, Dafydd, Chris and Peter set out to Spring Woods and went around Pyll Yr Ardd and the three lakes and this is what we heard an ..read more

There were lots of little conversations about turning the overgrown shady space by the stream into a place for relaxation, reflection and general contemplation.  Various people wondered variously in there to think about various options but let’s just say shovels did not really hit the ground. But one day Jo quietly took herself into the overgrowth of nettles and brambles with a pair of secateurs and began the task of taming nature in order for The Live Well Growers to have our quiet space. (Otherwise possibly known as the  Zen Den, Relaxation Zone, Thinking Place and other opti ..read more

As I recent Biology graduate from the University of Exeter, I was thrilled to return to the Botanic Garden to embark on my new role as Quentin Kay Research & Collections Assistant, and I am now four months in. In 2021-2022, I spent a year as a Science Placement Student at the Garden as part of my degree, which gave me great experience in seed collecting and processing, and collecting Spreading Bellflower, Campanula patula, samples for population genetic analysis. Continuing this work as my first paid position is very exciting, while carrying forward the legacy of esteemed Swansea botanist ..read more

Nordicymru celebrates two years of instructing Nordic Walks at the Botanic Garden. You might have seen me walking around with my poles, rain or shine. My name is Catrin and I qualified as an instructor with British Nordic Walking in the Autumn of 2021.  The pandemic had a lot to answer for, not least a change in my personal mindset and lifestyle. Having spent too much time in front of my desk, I decided I needed to change my work-life balance and get outdoors in nature and move more.  Being a keen skier and walker, I was naturally drawn to find out more about Nordic Walking. It did ..read more

Bryophytes, including mosses, are some of the most incredible plants. A forest cloaked in bryophytes looks magical and the variation found amongst these plants is a hidden beauty. Subtle differences in colour and texture are revealed by a close inspection with a hand lens or microscope. Mosses are not only beautiful but also unique. They are different from other plants, reproducing via spores or plant fragments. They also have no true roots or vascular system, absorbing all their nutrients directly from the atmosphere or rain. Their leaves are usually only one cell thick and so they have no ab ..read more

October 31st Chris, John and Jean A green woodpecker flew from Ann’s Wood, next to the Circle of Decision. We regularly see and hear green woodpeckers in the Garden, usually around the Science Centre and Wild Garden near the bull sculpture. There were great tits on sapling apple trees in the new orchard, and nuthatch, great and blue tits in the Aqualab Woods. A red admiral butterfly flew through pampas grass near Llyn Canol. Gary, Colin and Angela We straightened up about a dozen of the saplings along the side of Llyn Mawr. November 7th Comma Jean I saw a heron flying near Pont Felin Gat and t ..read more

You may have heard the exciting news that the Botanic Garden has been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to digitise our collection of pressed plants. You can read an introduction to the project here: Plants Past, Present and Future As part of this project, a new Science Engagement Officer post has been made available until June 2026 and this role was offered as a secondment career development opportunity to current Garden staff. Having worked within the Horticulture Department for the past four years and being a photography graduate, how could I resist applying when the r ..read more

Introducing an exciting new three-year project. A room in the Botanic Garden’s Science Centre houses our Herbarium – a collection of around 30,000 pressed plants. ‘Herbaria’ are botanical archives. They have been used for centuries to document and study the diversity of plants around the world. Each preserved specimen acts as a permanent record, labelled with the plant’s name, where and when it was collected, and by whom. © Caroline Vitzthum Many of the Botanic Garden’s herbarium specimens relate to our scientific research, having been used to extract DNA. New specimens from Wales are also bei ..read more

By our Conservation Volunteers Grimia pulvinata 26th September From Hazel, Maud and Nicky There were only 26 moths of 15 species for us to identify. It had been a dry, occasionally cloudy night with a 2/3 moon. The most interesting moths were: A Light Emerald, which, like all the Emeralds, was happy to sit on an egg box and didn’t need to go in a pot. A very pretty Frosted Orange and an Angle Shades which spread its wings. We usually see one of these with the wings closed. From Chris, Howard and John We cut off the flower heads from about 60 Himalayan Balsam plants in Cae Trawscoed Meadow. The ..read more

The National Botanic Garden of Wales was thrilled to welcome Colin Greengrass on the 17th of November, who visited to present a donation of £3,500 from the Brecknock Gardening Association. This donation will be put towards our Apprenticeship in Botanical Horticulture Scheme, which provides practical training in botanical horticulture. Working alongside other horticulturists at the Garden, our apprentices gain confidence and work experience in all areas of horticulture at the Garden, including working in glasshouses, nurseries and display horticulture. Personal development is encouraged w ..read more