4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313235353131 English Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en 2025-04-17T10:09:58.473Z NRW 1.0 wel NONE Monitoring of the Black Bog Ant Formica picea on Rhossili Down SSSI in 2022 Monitoring of the Black Bog Ant Formica picea on Rhossili Down SSSI in 2022 2023-04-01 NRW_DS125511 The Black Bog Ant Formica picea is rare in the UK where it is associated with bogs and wet heath at a small number of sites in southern England including the heaths of Dorset and Surrey and the valley bogs in the New Forest, with a single site in Yorkshire. In Wales, it is restricted to Rhossili Down on Gower, Cors Goch Llanllwch in Carmarthenshire and Cors Llanerch in Pembrokeshire. It was first recorded on Rhossili Down in 1913 and subsequently refound in 1996. A survey in July 1997 found 49 active nests along four east to west-oriented transects across the bog and flushed wet heath habitats to the east of the central ridge, with a further 23 active nests elsewhere on the site. It was estimated that between 840 and 4970 active nests were present across the site, representing the largest population in the UK. The current survey in August 2022 repeated the 1997 work, with a count of active nests along the four transects. The Black Bog Ant Formica picea is rare in the UK where it is associated with bogs and wet heath at a small number of sites in southern England including the heaths of Dorset and Surrey and the valley bogs in the New Forest, with a single site in Yorkshire. In Wales, it is restricted to Rhossili Down on Gower, Cors Goch Llanllwch in Carmarthenshire and Cors Llanerch in Pembrokeshire. It was first recorded on Rhossili Down in 1913 and subsequently refound in 1996. A survey in July 1997 found 49 active nests along four east to west-oriented transects across the bog and flushed wet heath habitats to the east of the central ridge, with a further 23 active nests elsewhere on the site. It was estimated that between 840 and 4970 active nests were present across the site, representing the largest population in the UK. The current survey in August 2022 repeated the 1997 work, with a count of active nests along the four transects. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme Formica picea Rhossili Down SSSI black bog ant NRW Thesaurus 2025-01-08 geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2024-06-19 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.rdf+xml IPSV Subjects List 2020-11-18 geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.subjects NRW SMNR Keywords 2024-06-26 geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-smnr-keywords There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely. no limitations © CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose. Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. English biota SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2021-01-06 ABERTAWE - SWANSEA -4.29569 -4.2671 51.56947 51.59727 2022-08-01 2022-08-31 Boyce, D.C. 2023. Monitoring of the black bog ant Formica picea on Rhossili Down SSSI in 2022. NRW Evidence Report No. 686. 21pp. Natural Resources Wales, Bangor. Monitoring of the Black Bog Ant Formica picea on Rhossili Down SSSI in 2022 Database The data archive contains: The final report in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats. Species records held in the Welsh Invertebrate Database (WID). Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation. false The technique used to record Black Bog Ant along the transects was a modified form of that employed in the 1997 survey. For each of the four transects, a strip approximately 10 metres wide centred on the appropriate grid line, was searched intensively following the method used on Cors Goch Llanllwch by Fowles & Hurford (1996). To facilitate recording, the transect was divided into ten-metre sample sections, each of which was assigned a unique sample number, starting at the western end of the transect. The main difference in methodology between the 1997 survey and the current monitoring was that in 1997, three surveyors walked in a line along each transect, whereas in 2022, over the same number of days, there was just the one surveyor. It would therefore be expected, given the cryptic nature of Black Bog Ant nests, that the earlier study would have produced more records than the latter. The technique used to record Black Bog Ant along the transects was a modified form of that employed in the 1997 survey. For each of the four transects, a strip approximately 10 metres wide centred on the appropriate grid line, was searched intensively following the method used on Cors Goch Llanllwch by Fowles & Hurford (1996). To facilitate recording, the transect was divided into ten-metre sample sections, each of which was assigned a unique sample number, starting at the western end of the transect. The main difference in methodology between the 1997 survey and the current monitoring was that in 1997, three surveyors walked in a line along each transect, whereas in 2022, over the same number of days, there was just the one surveyor. It would therefore be expected, given the cryptic nature of Black Bog Ant nests, that the earlier study would have produced more records than the latter.