LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENT

OUR DUTY IS TO PRESERVE & PROTECT A MOST SPECTACULAR COUNTY

The Green Bridge of Wales

Pembrokeshire’s rugged coastline creates a peninsula that is the most westerly point in Wales, with the cliffs at St David’s Head rising a dramatic 594 feet (181 metres) above the sea, while the Preseli Hills in North Pembrokeshire reach 1,760 feet (536 metres).

The 613 square miles (1,588 square km) of Pembrokeshire is mainly rural, although there is a very significant industrial sector, centred on the Milford Haven estuary in the south. This, together with agriculture, and increasingly tourism, are the main areas of employment.

Being such a beautiful county it is not surprising that the number of visitors attracted to Pembrokeshire is rising year on year. The county offers a wide variety of holiday experiences from family beach holidays at places such as Tenby, to visiting the many castles and many places of historic and archaeological interest, to vigorous activity holidays - walking, rock climbing or sailing.

Pembrokeshire also boasts the only national park that is predominately coastal, with a coast path that runs from Amroth in the south for 299 spectacular kilometres to St Dogmaels in the north.

An extraordinary variety of geology and scenery
Pembrokeshire is one of the most geologically varied counties in the whole of the British Isles. This variation of geology is what makes the county's coast and mainland areas so interesting from both a scenic as well as a scientific viewpoint.

Geologically the county can be divided into a northern section, which is mainly Ordovician and Silurian strata, and a southern section of carboniferous rocks, Old Red Sandstone and narrow belts of Silurian rocks, which is the westerly continuation of the South Wales coalfield.

The Pembrokeshire coalfield itself – stretching from Amroth on Carmarthen Bay in the east, to Newgale at the northern end of St Brides Bay in the west – was extensively worked for centuries, producing very high grade anthracite.

The Geological periods
The area around St David’s has the oldest rocks with Pre-Cambrian granite rocks and volcanic rocks.

Between Porth Clais and Solva, the various layers of Cambrian sedimentary rocks can be seen in the cliffs. And in Caerfai Bay you’ll find the distinctive purple sandstone which was used to build St David’s cathedral.

Following the Cambrian period, the Ordovician period (495 - 443 million years ago) gave Pembrokeshire its wide variety of igneous rocks interspersed with black slates. You can see rocks of this age in the northern coastline of Pembrokeshire and on Ramsey Island, and they also underlie the Preseli Hills.

From this period came spotted dolomite – outcrops of which you can see at Carn Menyn, the source of the famous Stonehenge bluestones.

In the south of the county, Marloes Peninsula and the outlying islands are formed from a strip of Silurian rocks. These are mainly sedimentary and contain the fossilised remains of sea creatures.

One of the most distinctive rocks of South Pembrokeshire, Old Red Sandstone –which can be seen along the cliffs of Milford Haven and around Stackpole Quay – were formed about 400 million years ago.

Most recently (a mere 300 million years!) came the Carboniferous rocks – the oldest of which are the grey limestones which occur on long stretches of the south Pembrokeshire coast.

The limestone was used extensively as building stone, and also burnt in kilns to provide lime mortar and soil conditioner. You can still see many of these limekilns, which were often built by harbours along the north Pembrokeshire coast.

Fault finding
All along the Pembrokeshire coast there’s evidence that the rocks have been deformed by movement of the Earth’s crust. There are very good examples of folds to be found at Ceibwr Bay, St Ann’s Head, Stackpole Quay, Monkstone Bay and Saundersfoot.

The enormous forces was sufficient to turn mudstone into slate – a material on which a large and one time prosperous industry was based. The workings at Rosebush are well worth a visit, as is the Blue Lagoon – a now flooded quarry on the north coast.

The Gwaun Valley

Shaping the landscape
The landscape of Pembrokeshire has also been greatly shaped by the action of streams and rivers which cut through the soft sediments exposing the hard underlying rocks to produce the prominent tors that are now a common feature of the Pembrokeshire landscape.

The Ice Age left an indelible mark on the landscape too. The beautiful Cwm Gwaun, for example, is a glacial valley.

A warm welcome
Being bathed by the Gulf Stream, Pembrokeshire is blessed with a very mild climate, even in winter. No wonder its award winning sandy beaches are so popular. And no wonder the famous Pembrokeshire Potatoes are able to be planted in mid to late February.

In fact, overall, the area has the third highest annual sunshine hours in Britain over the last 30 years. Not surprisingly, parts of Pembrokeshire can be compared to the Mediterranean with lush vegetation, palm trees, warm red rocks and very white sands.

A county ablaze with colour
From the headlands of St David's, with their purple and yellow swathes of heather and gorse, to the flower-rich commons of mid-Pembrokeshire, the county has an enormous diversity of plant life. During the summer, the coast is ablaze with colour as Thrift and White Sea Campions as well as Bluebells and Common Campions all flower simultaneously.

Pembrokeshire is renowned as having the finest hedgerows in Britain – rich with a plethora of wildflowers. In the spring, snowdrops and primroses give way to bluebells, foxgloves, and spires of wild orchids. Inland meadows and woodlands are transformed into carpets of blue by the sheer numbers of bluebells.

There’s an extraordinary variety of over 300 mosses in the county too, including four which are considered to be nationally rare and 55 that are nationally scarce.

Pembrokeshire Wildlife

Stunning wildlife
Pembrokeshire has an amazing array of wildlife too. Indeed such is the importance of the habitats that many areas are designated nationally and internationally for nature conservation and protection.

There are over 300 species of bird alone in the county, including buzzards, storm petrel choughs, kingfishers, and the peregrine falcon, the second fastest bird in the world, which can reach speeds of up to 120 miles per hour.

Four of the best seabird islands in Europe can also be found in Pembrokeshire. The world's largest breeding population of Manx shearwater, is centred on Skomer, which like its near neighbour, Skokholm, plays host to the clown-faced puffin, as well as guillemots, razorbills and more. While Grassholm island has the world’s fourth largest colony of gannets, with around 33,000 breeding pairs.

Stars of the Sea

Stars of the sea
Just off St David’s peninsular, Ramsey Island has the second largest grey seal colony in Britain, where seals can be seen all year round, basking on rocks. And Pembrokeshire is one of the best places in Britain to see the Harbour Porpoise – almost the smallest cousin of the great whales.

In Fishguard and Newport Bays during the summer you can often see Bottlenose Dolphins. Sightings of other dolphins such as Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, Common Dolphins, White Sided Dolphins, Striped Dolphins, and Risso’s Dolphins are all possible too.

So, from every aspect, Pembrokeshire is a haven for wildlife – as much of a haven as it is for the many visitors we welcome each and every year.

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