North Region

CCW’s North Region covers the counties of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham and includes Snowdonia National Park and the Berwyn SSSI.

CCW’s North Region

The Regional Directors are Dr Maggie Hill and Dr David Warrall and there are Regional Offices in Bangor, Mold and Dolgellau.

Protecting a diverse Landscapes

This is an area of huge contrasts and outstanding landscapes – extending from the remote tip of the Llyn peninsula to the busy urban areas of Deeside and Wrexham.

North Wales is well-known for its upland areas: Snowdonia is world famous, and attracts an increasing number of visitors every year, the rolling moorlands of Berwyn and Hiraethog are renowned for their wildlife while the gentle hills of the Clwydian range form a distinct divide between the rural and urban parts of North Wales.

The upland oak woodlands that cover the slopes of the mountains and fills some of our deepest gorges is characteristic and has been named as the “rainforests of Wales”. Here the mosses, ferns and lichens that cover the ground, boulders and the trees thrive in the wet conditions. Some of the mosses and plants have survived here since the last ice age, and this is the only place in the world where they can be found.

By contrast, Anglesey and Wrexham are relatively flat and both counties are famed for their wetland habitats. One of the most important wetland sites if Fenns, Wixhall and Bettisfield Mosses, created as a result of the last ice age, that straddles the boundary between Wales and England near Wrexham. CCW is currently the lead partner in an initiative funded under the EU Life+ fund to restore and enhance the important wetlands of Anglesey and Llyn.

Around the coast

Large areas of the coast and the seas are recognised as being internationally important for their wildlife – including the Dee estuary and Liverpool Bay the unique environment of the Menai Strait between Anglesey and Gwynedd and the Pen Llyn a’r Sarnau area around the Llyn Peninsula and Northern Cardigan Bay. The islands around the coast add to the variety of habitats. Bardsey is perhaps the most famous – a place of pilgrimage and a home to thousands of Manx shearwaters and several pairs of chough.

Special Species

The charismatic black grouse has a stronghold in the heather moorlands of the Berwyn, Hiraethog, Ruabon and Llantysylio, while the intricate network of ponds in the north east support internationally important populations of great crested newt.

Amongst the other important species of the Region are the gwyniad a fish that is only found in Bala Lake as well as the lesser horseshoe bat and hen harrier.

The high quality of the north Wales rivers make them ideal conditions for species such as the otter, water vole and salmon.

Enjoying the Region

There are ample opportunities to go out and enjoy the variety that North Wales has to offer. Parks, greenspaces, woods and local paths are never far away, whether you live in a city centre or a rural village. As well as the popular attractions of Snowdonia or Newborough Warren, North Wales still has plenty of other remote areas where you can get away from it all.