Three televisions, tyres, a car battery, drainpipe, children’s shoes and part of a microwave – all items collected by hardy volunteers helping to clean up the Morfa Berwig water vole site, an old fly tipping hotspot. Braving inclement weather, volunteers worked hard to help members of the Llanelli Water Vole Action Group clear the site at Morfa Berwig where conservation work for the rare water vole has been taking place for some time. Organised through the Carmarthenshire Association of Voluntary Services’ Green Days Environmental Volunteering project, tipped material that was damaging water vole habitat was cleared from ditches and reed beds on the site.

The clean up was part of Keep Wales Tidy’s Tidy Towns Project, which is a three-year Welsh Assembly Government-funded initiative aimed at restoring pride in the aesthetic appearance of villages, towns and the countryside of Wales.

Ironically considerable effort must have gone in to dumping the material here when there are civic amenity sites close by. The project site, as well as important for its wildlife, is also now well used by local people through the path creation project. The efforts of volunteers are making a real difference on the site so hopefully this will discourage future tipping of material.

The recently completed path is being well used by local people. The benefits of being outdoors are well known and this path offers local people a chance to experience a range of habitats and the possibility of seeing some of Wales’ rarest wildlife so close to Bynea.