Upper Conwy Catchment Project

Project

Three people walking past a river on the Migneint, Conwy — Walkers on the Migneint

Llyn Serw with yellow lilies on the Migneint, Snowdonia — Llyn Serw, Migneint

The entire Conwy catchment covers over 574 km² - an area the size of the Isle of Man. There are busy tourist towns including Conwy and Betws y Coed, rural villages such as Cwm Penmachno and remote hill farms such as those on the Ysbyty Ifan estate.

The habitats change across the landscape, from blanket bog and moorland in the higher reaches of the Migneint to ffridd and woodland as you wind down towards lush lowland farms, meadows and estuaries. Rivers travel the entire length of the landscape connecting habitats and homes with the source of water up on the Migneint to the sea at Conwy.

While our work is focussed in the Upper Conwy, we hope to have positive impacts downstream and across the entire Conwy Catchment, as demonstrated by the map and video below.

Floods along a river at Capel Curig, Snowdonia

Why is this project so important?

Find out how are we working towards creating bigger, better more joined up habitats in the Upper Conwy, that benefit people and wildlife.

Carrog farmhouse next to Cwm Penmachno sign in Snowdonia — Carrog farmhouse, Cwm Penmachno

Carrog: a flagship farm

Find out how Carrog Farm at Cwm Penmachno is set to become one of the Upper Conwy Catchment projects' flagship sites.

Find out more

Working with communities

By involving local communities and working together we can achieve great things! We've organised drop in sessions and special events, as well as attending communtiy events and forging new links within the Conwy catchment.

Group of primary school pupils designing the mythical Afanc, Conwy — Pupils design their version of Yr Afanc from the Mabinogion

Using the Mabinogion to explore flooding reality

Are you familiar with the tale of Yr Afanc? According to legend, Yr Afanc was a mythical creature living in the Conwy Valley.

Find out more about Yr Afanc

Latest posts

01 Sep 17

A new mascot for the Upper Conwy?

We’ve teamed up with RSPB Cymru to fit a satellite tag and track a young hen harrier, the first for Wales using this technology. As part of the RSPB’s Skydancer project a total of 16 hen harriers have been tracked across the UK. For the first time, people will get to view the flight patterns and distances travelled by Lia, a hen harrier born on the Ysbyty Estate, an area which appears to be growing in popularity with these species. An adventurous harrier, she’s already flown to South Wales and is now near the border at Powys.

11 Jun 17

Carrog BioBlitz

To celebrate Wales Nature Week and Open Farm Sunday we held a BioBlitz event at Carrog this summer. The local community and partner organisations such as Cofnod, Snowdonia Mammal Group, OPAL and Plantlife came along to help us record as many species as we could in one day.

Wood mouse discovered at Carrog Farm, Cwm Penmachno

07 Dec 16

New farm set to become flagship site for project

We recently purchased a 78 acre farm at Cwm Penmachno in Snowdonia, with the aim of helping to restore natural habitats and help alleviate flooding whilst still maintaining the tradition of farming at Carrog. In December we introduced the team, the project and our ideas for Carrog to the local community at a well-attended open day in the village.

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