National Trust officials have been accused of mismanaging a Cwmtydu beauty spot which is home to a rare colony of blue butterflies.

A local nature-lover claims the National Trust have ‘wantonly’ felled mature trees in Cwm Soden wood in the hope of turning it into meadow to boost numbers of the pearl bordered fritillary.

Eifion Wakefield, a 22-year-old student studying countryside management and conservation at Aberystwyth University, maintains the NT have also ruined tracks and neglected their role in maintaining access.

The NT insist their aim is to improve the habitat for one of Wales’s rarest butterflies and are in consultation with Butterfly Conservation and Natural Resources Wales.

“Cwm Soden is an incredibly beautiful place,” Mr Wakefield told the Cambrian News. “I’ve lived just above the woodland since I was a child so it’s very close to my heart.

“Last winter was the first year of their three-year plan with the next winter promising a larger area to be cut.

“I intend to survey the site that they intend to cut so the damage if it can’t be prevented will be catalogued.”

Mr Wakefield outlined his concerns in an email to Alan Kearsley-Evans, Coast and Countryside Manager for Gower and Ceredigion, saying that, in addition to the loss of mature woodland, the installation of barbed wire to contain small ponies was ‘unsightly and unnecessary’.

“In the name of expanding the area suitable for pearl-bordered fritillaries (the ranger) has damaged unsuitable woodland whilst ignoring the older coppice which would be perfect habitat for them if it was managed,” he added.

“I’m concerned that the decision has been made to acquire the largest timber value rather than conserve the habitat of this butterfly."

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