Nature

The Prysor river feeds into Trawsfynydd's man-made lake, and runs out of the lake from the far left hand side via the Maentwrog dam, travelling onto the Llenyrch Gorge into the Dwyryd river before reaching the sea at Porthmadog.

Prior to the lake, the river ran through a marshland know as Gors Goch. It was a regular sight to see people with cages on their backs walking the pathways to Gors Goch to gather peat for their fires.

Peat Land

Peat is a type of soil; a mixture of partially decomposed vegetation in an anaerobic environment. peat land is very wet which is why it thrives in this location.

By storing carbon the peat helps to mitigate climate change. It is very important in terms of its ecology due to its ability to filter water naturally, and its ability to store water in extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain or dry periods.

In 4,000 B.C. this area was a large and ancient forest.

Forestry

The oak woodlands around Trawsfynydd support a huge variety of wildlife, including mosses, liverworts and lichens as well as rare birds and a variety of mammals such as the lesser horseshoe bat.

These Atlantic Oakwoods demand a humid and temperate climate and are unique and of great importance to the west coast of Britain. After the last ice age, this locality, as much of Britain, was covered by deciduous woodlands. Over the centuries, many were cut for agricultural use or, due to the value of the timber, for construction work or as fuel. Most of the oak trees we see in this region are no older than 150 years old.

During the 20th Century the Forestry Commission converted much of the farmed land into forestry land. Farmers and their workers found new homes, and for many their new income came from forestry work .

For more information on the wildlife at Llyn Trawsfynydd click here.