Caernarvonshire has every habitat, from its mountainous area culminating in the highest peak south of the Tweed, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), wonderful rugged coastline around the Lleyn peninsula with its little offshore islands including Ynys Enlli (Bardsey) to the magnificent oak woodlands in the Conwy valley close to the county boundary and the Migneint, one of the largest upland blanket bogs in Wales. The plant diversity is therefore extensive and includes an important percentage of Britain’s alpine flora while the northern limestone headlands support a large number of rare and scarce species including Wild Cotoneaster, unknown elsewhere in the world.
County Recorder
Caernarvonshire recording group
The Caernarvonshire recording group meets once a month from April to September and anyone is welcome. Most tetrads, there are approximately 447, have been visited at least twice but there are many which are under-recorded and I can provide species lists for anyone who would like to adopt a 10k square or a tetrad or would prefer to do some casual recording.
The Caernarvonshire Rare Plant Register was produced in 2008 but it now needs updating and work is ongoing to provide better detail for a future register.
The only county Flora which has been published is J.E. Griffiths’ Flora of Anglesey & Carnarvonshire 1895, it is a valuable source of records and second hand copies may still be found.