Vandals damage hides at Welsh reserve

Vandals have damaged hides at a nature reserve near Newtown – and the charity that manages the site said the problem has got worse over the past two years.

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust has been left dismayed after two hides at Pwll Penarth, Llanllwchaiarn, had been "severely" damaged over the Bank Holiday weekend. The large hide is currently closed for health and safety reasons after some of the supporting bolts had been removed.

One of the damaged hides at Pwll Penarth (Dan Evans).

"We're constantly repairing the hides down there," said Ceri Jones, Head of Living Landscapes at Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust. "It's not easy for us to keep patching things up. We don't have endless amounts of money to keep repairing hides."

The charity, which relies on donations and grants, said it may have to consider closing the large hide for good after years of vandalism. Ceri added: "It's always been a difficult site. We've had vandalism at the site over the years and as long as we’ve managed it but it does seem to have got consistently worse over the last couple of years. It just seems to get worse.

"Our reserves officer goes up and repairs all the boards and patches it all up and a couple of weeks or months it happens again. It's always disappointing and it’s always a small minority of people. It’s a shame because it’s a much-loved reserve in the area and a lot of people enjoy going down there using the hides."

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, which manages the nature reserve on behalf of Severn Trent, said there will be discussions with the police about installing CCTV cameras in the area.