Cwm Ivy Woods

Cwm Ivy Woods is a 13.5-hectare woodland near Llanmadoc and Cwm Ivy on the north-west tip of the Gower peninsula in South Wales. The site centres on an ash-dominated wood with an old limestone quarry and a separate area called Betty Church Reserve. A saltmarsh that was restored in the mid-2010s lies just north of the trees. The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales owns 2.4 hectares outright and holds a sixty-year lease on the rest. In 1983 local landowner Betty Church donated another 2.2 hectares, now the Betty Church Reserve. WWF and the Pilgrim Trust helped fund the original purchase. The whole area is managed for natural regeneration of native trees and forms part of a well-used walking network. Visitors follow a single footpath that crosses the main wood, the limestone quarry and the reserve. The ash wood contains old trees and a rich ground layer of wild flowers such as lily-of-the-valley, woodruff and early purple orchid. In autumn fungi appear along the route. The quarry has its own lime-loving flora, including crosswort and wild thyme, while the reserve offers hawthorn scrub and meadow species like daffodil and oxeye daisy. Birds are the main wildlife seen along the way.